The age-old dilemma of how many hashtags should you add in your Instagram post to get maximum reach and engagement has been gnawing creators on the platform forever. It’s time we gained clarity on the topic.
Hashtags on Instagram are an effective tool for discoverability. Insta Influencers and creators use hashtags to appear on the explore page and hashtags pages and gain new followers. However, these hashtags are turning out to be a double-edged sword. Using too many of these hashtags can negatively affect your reach, engagement, or worse, get your account shadowbanned on Instagram. So the mystery remains, how many hashtags are too many?
How Many Hashtags Should You Really Use For Growth On Instagram?
Instagram declared in 2021 that using 3-5 hashtags on their posts is the best practice. Yes, it startled us as well, especially when IG purportedly urged creators early this year to strive for 8-15 hashtags. And then, there was a wave of popular opinion that putting 30 hashtags in your IG post is the best way to maximize your reach.
So what exactly is the magic number when it comes to using hashtags on Instagram?
According to our experiment, where we used 15-20 hashtags for a week and then used 3-5 hashtags for a similar account in the same niche. The results will stun you. The more hashtags we used, the better engagement and discoverability we recorded.
Although IG allows users to use 30 hashtags on their posts, it’s better to use 20-25 hashtags to not get under the radar of the Instagram algorithm.
Instagram Hashtag Best Practices
- Avoid Banned Hashtags: Conduct proper research before using a hashtag on your IG account. If you simply search for a hashtag while uploading a post (We’ve all been there!), then there are chances you might end up using a banned hashtag. Adding a banned hashtag can get your account shadowbanned on IG. That’s a disaster, right there. So don’t take your hashtag research lightly. Keep a prepared list of hashtags of your niche handy at all times. There are plenty of online free tools that help you choose the best hashtags for your Instagram posts, reels, and stories.
- Don’t use irrelevant and Repetitive Hashtags: Adding a hashtag because it has a significant search volume but has nothing to do with your content is another big red flag. It might not seem to cause an issue instantly, but the algorithm catches irrelevant hashtags and flags them spam. And spams are punished by blocking content and reducing account reach. Nobody wants that. Stick to hashtags that are relevant to your niche and content. Don’t repeat hashtags. Find new and better hashtags. You can repeat a couple of hashtags but don’t copy-paste the same hashtags for every post. That’s not something the IG algorithm appreciates.
- Use hashtags in Insta Stories: Using hashtags in stories can help you get discovered from the stories.
Conclusion
To grow on Instagram, you must use a set of relevant and intent-driven hashtags. The number of hashtags you need to maximize engagement on the platform is 15-25. Stick to the practice of using analytical tools before adding any hashtag on your Insta account.
Now that you know how many hashtags should you use on Instagram to keep growing your followers, use this amazing tool effectively and keep multiplying your reach with every IG post.