Direct answer: No. People generally cannot see when you search for them on Instagram. Your search activity is private to you, and Instagram does not notify other users when someone searches for them or views their profile via search. The only potential indirect visibility is if you interact with someone’s content (like, comment, save, or view their story), which might make your interest noticeable through engagement, but it does not reveal that you specifically searched for them. If someone does not appear in search results, it could be due to privacy or account visibility settings. If you’d like, I can explain how to review and clear your own Instagram search history or adjust privacy settings to manage how discoverable you are.