Export for 1080x1920 video looks worse than in the sequence

I have been trying to export a video from Premiere Pro that is only about 45 seconds long for socials and no matter how many times I've changed the settings the quality is worse upon export than it is on the sequence. Nothing has been able to change and I haven't had this issue before. I didn't shoot the footage so I'm not sure what it's being shot on but have used H.264 as well as other specific IG presets for the format have tried 23/25 FPS, clicked maximum render quality & Render at Maximum depth. Have tried VBR 1 and CBR. Nothing has worked to get the quality on export to match what it is on the timeline. Is it strictly because the video is scaled in (for close-ups of faces for socials) and becomes pixely on export? It doesn't look that way on the sequence so I'm not sure what to do. Please throw any suggestions, thank you.