How to add an Instagram feed to a GoDaddy website

First, which kind of GoDaddy website do you have?

GoDaddy sells several products that all end up as “a GoDaddy website”, and the way you add code is different for each. Before you start, check which one your site uses:

The rest of this article focuses on Websites + Marketing, because that is where most of the questions come up. The WordPress and HTML cases are covered briefly near the end.

What you need

1. An Instagram professional account (Business or Creator). Social Feed by grip space reads your posts through Instagram’s official API, which works with professional accounts. A personal account can be switched for free in the Instagram app. If you are not sure which type you have, see our guide to Instagram professional accounts.
2. A Social Feed by grip space account. You sign up with an email address. The Free plan needs no credit card and includes one widget.
3. Access to edit your GoDaddy site, so you can add a section and publish.

Step 1: Create your feed and copy the embed code

1. Sign up for Social Feed by grip space and open the dashboard.
2. Click “+ Connect Instagram account” and sign in with your Instagram professional account.
3. Open “Settings & preview”. Choose a grid or a slider and set the number of posts and columns. For a GoDaddy site, read the section on sizing below before you decide; a slider is usually the easier fit.
4. Save, then click “Copy” under “Add the embed code to your website”. The code is a single script tag that looks like this:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://n246.grip.space/api/v1/instagram/widget/xxxxxxxx"></script>

The feed appears exactly where this code is placed. Settings you change later in the dashboard appear on your site automatically, so you only paste the code once.

Step 2: Add an HTML section in Websites + Marketing

These steps follow GoDaddy’s help article “Add HTML or custom code to my site”. GoDaddy updates its editor from time to time, so button labels on your screen may differ slightly.

1. Go to your GoDaddy Products page, expand Websites + Marketing, and select Manage next to your site. Then select Edit Website to open the website builder.
2. Go to the page where you want the feed. Hover over the place where the feed should go and select Add Section.
3. Search for HTML, then select Add.
4. Paste the embed code into the Custom Code field.
5. Optionally add a title for the section, such as “Follow us on Instagram”, and adjust the alignment and accent color. Leave the height field empty for now; the next section explains when to set it.
6. Your changes are saved automatically. Use Preview to check, then publish your site.
7. Open the published page in a normal browser window, on a computer and on a phone, to see the feed as visitors see it.

GoDaddy also warns that embedded code can affect how your whole site works, and that while it explains how the HTML section works, it cannot troubleshoot third-party code you add. The Social Feed embed is a single script that only draws the feed where it is placed and does not change the rest of the page. If something goes wrong with the feed itself, contact us rather than GoDaddy.

How GoDaddy displays embedded code: inside an iframe

GoDaddy’s troubleshooting article for the HTML section explains that embedded code is placed inside an iframe, which is a separate, framed area within your page. The article mentions some consequences: the embedded content may not be responsive even if the original content is, it may respond more slowly than the original content, and GoDaddy recommends using HTTPS rather than HTTP and opening links in a new tab.

For an Instagram feed, the iframe affects four things. Each is explained below with what you can do about it.

Width and columns

The Social Feed widget measures the actual width of the space it is placed in, not the width of the screen. Inside a GoDaddy HTML section, that space is the iframe. If you set four columns and the frame is narrow on a phone, the widget automatically uses fewer columns so that each image stays at least about 100 pixels wide. The number of columns you set is the maximum.

This is why the width usually needs no attention: the feed is responsive to the frame it lives in. What the widget cannot control is the frame itself. If the frame is narrower than you expect, the feed will be too. The widget’s maximum width setting (0 to 2,000 pixels; 0 means no maximum) can make the feed narrower than the frame, which is useful for keeping images from getting very large on wide screens.

Height: the part you may need to set by hand

GoDaddy’s article says you can leave the height field empty for automatic height or enter a height in pixels, and that a height of 0 pixels is the same as deleting the section. Its troubleshooting article adds two tips: if a widget does not appear, set the height to a higher value, and for embedded content whose height changes as people interact with it, fix the height at a value that leaves room for those changes.

GoDaddy does not document how automatic height measures content that a script adds after the page loads, which is how the feed is drawn. We cannot confirm from GoDaddy’s documentation whether the frame grows to fit the feed in every case, so check the result on the published page:

1. If the whole feed shows and there is no large empty area below it, leave the height empty.
2. If the bottom of the feed is cut off, or nothing appears, enter a fixed height that is tall enough for the full feed, publish, and check again.
3. If there is a large empty gap below the feed, lower the fixed height.

A fixed height is the same on every screen, but a grid feed is not. Images in a grid get smaller as the frame gets narrower, while the number of rows can go up when columns are reduced on a phone. Twelve posts in four columns make three rows on a computer; on a phone, the same feed may show three columns and four rows. One fixed height may therefore leave a gap on one device and cut off posts on another.

Two settings make the height much more predictable:

1. Use the slider layout. A slider is always one tile high. Visitors swipe, scroll sideways or use the arrow buttons to see more posts, so the height does not grow with the number of posts. This is the same advice we give for Wix, which also shows embedded code in a fixed-size box.
2. Set a maximum width. Tiles are square and their size depends on the width of the feed divided by the number of columns. If you set a maximum width, for example 900 pixels, tiles cannot grow beyond a certain size on very wide screens, so the height you need stays in a narrower range.

The account header above the feed (profile picture, name, number of posts and follow button) also takes up some height. If you turn it off in “Settings & preview”, the section only needs to fit the images themselves. If you keep it, remember to leave room for it when you set a height.

For more on choosing between the two layouts, see Grid or slider? Choosing a layout for your Instagram feed.

The lightbox inside a frame

By default, clicking a post opens it larger in a lightbox, with the caption and the like count if you choose to show them. The lightbox normally covers the whole browser window. Inside an iframe, it can only cover the frame. On a GoDaddy page, that means the larger view appears within the area of the HTML section, not over the whole page.

If the section is tall, for example a gallery-style grid, this works fine. If the section is short, such as a one-row slider, the lightbox has little room and images and captions may look cramped. You have three options in “Settings & preview”:

1. Open on Instagram: clicking a post opens it on Instagram in a new tab. This avoids the space problem entirely and suits a feed whose main goal is to gain followers.
2. Keep the lightbox and hide the caption: the image gets more of the limited space.
3. Do nothing on click: the feed becomes a purely visual strip. Visitors can still follow you through the header’s follow button if it is shown.

Links in the widget, such as “View on Instagram” and the follow button, already open in a new tab, which matches GoDaddy’s advice for links inside the HTML section.

Language of the widget’s own text

The widget shows a few words of its own: the default follow button label, the word “Posts” in the header, and “View on Instagram” in the lightbox. It shows them in Japanese on pages whose language is set to Japanese and in English on all others. It reads the language from the page it runs in, and if no language is set there, from the visitor’s browser.

Inside a GoDaddy HTML section, the page the widget runs in is the iframe, and we cannot confirm from GoDaddy’s documentation which language setting that frame carries. In practice this only matters if some of your visitors use a Japanese browser. If you want the follow button to say exactly the same thing for everyone, type your own label in “Settings & preview”; text you type yourself is always shown as is.

Where to put the feed on a GoDaddy site

Because each HTML section belongs to a single page, choose the pages where the feed does the most work:

1. Homepage: below your main message and call to action, a slider or a single row of posts shows that your business is active. Avoid placing it at the very top, above your most important content.
2. About page: photos of your team, space or work make the page more personal.
3. Contact or booking page: a short strip of recent posts can reassure people who are about to get in touch.
4. A gallery or “Instagram” page: the one place where a taller grid makes sense, as long as the height works on your site.

You can create more than one widget and give each page a different look or a different selection of posts, for example only posts whose captions contain a certain word. The Free plan includes one widget, the Light plan three and the Standard plan an unlimited number. Each widget has its own embed code. Compare the plans in the pricing section.

Cookies, tracking and your privacy settings

GoDaddy’s help reminds site owners to let visitors set their cookie and tracking preferences when you use tracking tools. The Social Feed widget itself does not set cookies and does not store anything in the visitor’s browser storage. Images and videos are loaded directly from Instagram’s servers, and the widget counts views of your feed so you can see them in the dashboard and so plan limits can be applied. How you describe embedded third-party content in your privacy policy is your decision; if you are unsure, ask whoever advises you on privacy.

If your GoDaddy site runs on WordPress

If you sign in to a WordPress dashboard to edit your site, use the WordPress block editor rather than the GoDaddy builder steps above. GoDaddy’s own help article “Add a Custom HTML block in WordPress” describes adding the block through the block inserter (the plus icon), switching it to Custom HTML, pasting your code and selecting Update. Our WordPress guide covers the same steps in detail, along with widget areas and block theme templates, so you can show the feed in a sidebar or footer across the whole site.

Unlike the Websites + Marketing HTML section, a Custom HTML block in WordPress is not placed in an iframe. The feed becomes part of the page, grows to its natural height and the lightbox covers the whole window, so the height advice above does not apply.

If you upload your own HTML files

If your site is a set of HTML files on GoDaddy hosting, paste the embed code into the page’s HTML, inside the <body>, at the place where the feed should appear, and upload the file. If the pages share a footer file or template, pasting the code there shows the feed on every page. The HTML guide has the details.

Troubleshooting

1. Nothing appears. Check that the widget is set to Published in the Social Feed dashboard, and that you published the GoDaddy site after adding the section. Then try a fixed height, since GoDaddy recommends a higher height value when an embedded widget does not appear.
2. You see the code as text. The code was probably pasted into a text section instead of the HTML section’s Custom Code field. Delete it and add an HTML section.
3. Only part of the code was pasted. The code must run from <script to </script>. Copy it again from the dashboard.
4. Posts are cut off at the bottom. Increase the fixed height, switch to a slider, or reduce the number of posts.
5. Large empty space below the feed. Lower the fixed height, or clear it to try automatic height.
6. The preview looks different from the live page. Editors often show embedded code differently while you edit. Always judge the feed on the published page.
7. New posts do not appear yet. On the Free plan, the feed is refreshed once a day. On paid plans, the latest posts load when the page is viewed. Filters such as a date range or caption keywords can also hide new posts.
8. The feed worked and then disappeared. Check the Instagram connection in the dashboard and your monthly view count. On the Free plan (3,000 views a month) and the Light plan (30,000), a feed that goes over the limit two months in a row stops showing from the following month until views come back under the limit. The Standard plan has no view limit.

Frequently asked questions

Short answers to the questions GoDaddy site owners ask most often about adding a feed.

Do I need a particular GoDaddy plan to use the HTML section?

GoDaddy’s help article on adding HTML or custom code does not mention a plan requirement. If you do not see the HTML section when you search for it in Add Section, check what your plan includes with GoDaddy.

Can I put the feed in my GoDaddy site’s footer?

Not with an HTML section. GoDaddy’s help says headers and footers cannot be added as sections. You can add an HTML section near the bottom of each page where you want the feed instead.

Will the feed update by itself?

Yes. You never need to edit the GoDaddy page again to show new posts. The Free plan refreshes once a day; the Light and Standard plans load your latest posts when the page is viewed.

Can I show someone else’s Instagram account or a hashtag?

No. Social Feed by grip space shows posts from Instagram professional accounts you connect yourself. It does not show hashtag feeds or other people’s accounts, and one feed shows one account.

Does the feed show Reels and videos?

Yes. Video posts and Reels appear as their cover image in the feed and play in the lightbox, muted at first with the usual controls. You can also show only Reels, leave Reels out, or leave out video posts entirely. Keep in mind that inside a GoDaddy frame, the lightbox only has as much room as the section.

Is the “Powered by Social Feed” credit removable?

On the Free plan, the credit is always shown. On the Light and Standard plans, you can turn it off.

Summary

1. Websites + Marketing: add an HTML section and paste the embed code into Custom Code, then publish.
2. GoDaddy shows embedded code inside an iframe. Width adapts on its own; height may need a fixed value, so check the live page on a computer and a phone.
3. A slider, a maximum width and a header you have planned for make the height predictable. In a short section, set clicks to open Instagram instead of the lightbox.
4. GoDaddy-hosted WordPress: use a Custom HTML block as described in the WordPress guide.

Ready to try it? Create a free account and get your embed code in a few minutes.

Sources

1. GoDaddy Help: Add HTML or custom code to my site — godaddy.com/help/add-html-or-custom-code-to-my-site-27252
2. GoDaddy Help: Troubleshoot HTML or custom code not displaying properly — godaddy.com/help/troubleshoot-html-or-custom-code-not-displaying-properly-28025
3. GoDaddy Help: Add a section to my Websites + Marketing site — godaddy.com/help/add-a-section-to-my-websites-marketing-site-20119
4. GoDaddy Help: Add a custom HTML block in WordPress — godaddy.com/help/add-a-custom-html-block-in-wordpress-32317