Hashtags on Instagram are still a complicated topic for many.
“How many hashtags should I put in my caption so that I get a good amount of views from them but also not look spammy?“
Every Instagrammer has thought about this question.
A lot has been going around social media about how many hashtags should be used in captions and whether they should even be used in the captions or posted separately in a comment.
For the longest time, it was suggested that you should be using all of the 30 allotted hashtags in your post’s caption.
But what is it like today?
Let’s have a quick discussion, shall we?
Table Of Contents
How many hashtags should you use in your Instagram posts
In the recent posts, Instagram has been talking about the hashtag strategy on the platform and they’ve been suggesting that the users put sometimes 3-5 or 8-15 hashtags.
But the number 30 never came up.
Instagram is continuously working on its SEO tools to make content visible more easily to the people interested in it. This makes it obvious that they would want people to use a lesser number of hashtags on Instagram.
Because when people use a lesser number of hashtags, the hashtags will be more closely related to the content of their post and this would, in turn, be beneficial for SEO purposes.
It will help Instagram to sort the gazillion posts that go up on the giant social media platform every day and curate people’s explore feeds according to their interests.
This will also prevent spammy hashtag use as often people use hashtags solely to reach more people even if the hashtag is not related to their post or even their type of account.
Also Read: Are you making these hashtags mistakes still?
You might have noticed that a few months back, the reels tab has started showing up in hashtags.
What I mean is, when you type in the search bar and enter a hashtag, earlier you had only two tabs – Top posts and Recent posts. But now, you’ll also see a Reels tab.
add reels ss hashtag
Every new feature that Instagram introduces, pushes it to the max. And this time it’s Instagram Reels.
Although we didn’t see the same enthusiasm for Guides, I wonder why not?
What the trends say about number of hashtags
On average, posts that have 20-30 relevant hashtags almost always get higher reach and engagement than the ones with fewer hashtags.
So, what should you do be doing?
Research your niche, find the hashtags that are relevant to you, and avoid using spammy hashtags like #followforfollow, #likeforlike, etc. That ship sailed years ago.
Don’t know how to find the right hashtags? Give this a read – How to make Instagram hashtags work for you: Why the most popular ones aren’t the best ones.
How to find the right hashtags on Instagram for your account
So, it has been settled that using about 20 or more hashtags is still fruitful.
But with a condition that your hashtags are relevant to the post that you’re sharing, your audience, and your brand.
Using hashtags that your target audience might be lurking on assures you that people who look at your post and more likely to engage with it.
You might not get a good reach from hashtags on Instagram, but they are always a bonus in the long term.
If your post becomes one of the top posts in a hashtag, you will keep receiving engagement because of it long after you’ve shared that post.
Let me break it down and make it simple,
Some examples:
Related to a niche – #productstyling #productphotographer #productstylist
Related to the community – #freelancerphotographers #photographersofinstagram #brandphotos
Descriptive hashtags – #skincarebrand #skincareproducts #sheabodybutter
Branded hashtags – #garimashares #garimasharesblog
Location hashtags – #delhigram #delhiphotographers #delhiproductphotographers
Quick tip! Follow the top creators in your niche and see what hashtags they have been using. Cherry-pick hashtags from their posts that are relevant to yours as well. Remember to click on that hashtag or search and see that it shouldn’t have too many, more than 500k posts in it.
Let’s connect on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Subscribe to never miss a post!
