Hashtag Strategy on Instagram

Heisenberg's Hat · Apr 10, 2019

1. How many hashtags do you use? I used to do 30 every time, but am now at about 27. Should I use less?

2. I have a standard set of 19 hashtags that I use on every post, and then I add post specific hashtags. If 2/3 of your hashtags are always the same, does it hurt your post?

I have a business account, so I could see that my best post was 54% from hashtags, and my worst were 4% from hashtags, average about 15 - 20%.

steamsupreme · Apr 10, 2019

I do my best to keep it under 10 because I read on several sites if you use more you can get penalized and have a greater possibility of being shadowbanned from the tags you use repeatedly. I think reusing the same tags consistently does. I am pretty sure I'm shadowbanned from any hashtags on a new account I made where I only made one post a day for the past three days for travel using most of the same tags yet they're not coming up in the hashtag search whereas on another account where I also post daily but switch up the tags, I am not shadowbanned from hashtags.

A question that I would like to piggyback off yours is how long does a shadowban last? Should I just give up on Instagram for that account that appears to be having issues?

red333 · Apr 10, 2019

Heisenberg's Hat said:
1. How many hashtags do you use? I used to do 30 every time, but am now at about 27. Should I use less?

2. I have a standard set of 19 hashtags that I use on every post, and then I add post specific hashtags. If 2/3 of your hashtags are always the same, does it hurt your post?

I have a business account, so I could see that my best post was 54% from hashtags, and my worst were 4% from hashtags, average about 15 - 20%.

I´d suggest you to use https://displaypurposes.com/
You can type in related hashtags, such as #Berlin #architecture #architect #designer and it suggests you the best ranking hashtags (in this case even local hashtags due to the #Berlin hashtag).
You also have the ability to lookup the correlation between hashtags in the "map" selection at the top of the website (just a neat side-tool, which you probably will never need to use).

Recommended are 30 hashtags. You can post them in the post description. (for followers it might seems messy, so it´s better to post them with 5 dots as a comment.)
The comment won´t be shown in the preview picture mode, you will only see [...]
But this is also described on their website.

Using the same hashtags over and over shouldn´t be a problem (no guarantee though). But the counter-question is: Why should you use the same hashtag over and over? Are all your posts similar that you can´t find different (starting) hashtags to generate new ones?

However, don´t forget, if you´re shadowbanned you won´t even get into the hashtag

BrazilianBusinessman · Apr 10, 2019

I think hashtags become useless when you use them at the same time to the point your own posts are competing in the explore section

Heisenberg's Hat · Apr 10, 2019

red333 said:
I´d suggest you to use https://displaypurposes.com/
You can type in related hashtags, such as #Berlin #architecture #architect #designer and it suggests you the best ranking hashtags (in this case even local hashtags due to the #Berlin hashtag).
You also have the ability to lookup the correlation between hashtags in the "map" selection at the top of the website (just a neat side-tool, which you probably will never need to use).

Recommended are 30 hashtags. You can post them in the post description. (for followers it might seems messy, so it´s better to post them with 5 dots as a comment.)
The comment won´t be shown in the preview picture mode, you will only see [...]
But this is also described on their website.

Using the same hashtags over and over shouldn´t be a problem (no guarantee though). But the counter-question is: Why should you use the same hashtag over and over? Are all your posts similar that you can´t find different (starting) hashtags to generate new ones?

However, don´t forget, if you´re shadowbanned you won´t even get into the hashtag

Thank you. I also appreciate the link.

The regular 19 hashtags are about who I am as a creative - as I am not changing, they are not changing. They included location, type of work, type of job title.

The changing hashtags are about what's in the picture.

javadth · Apr 10, 2019

I use no more than 7 # for each post

I think more # can cause ban or limitation

red333 · Apr 10, 2019

Heisenberg's Hat said:
Thank you. I also appreciate the link.

The regular 19 hashtags are about who I am as a creative - as I am not changing, they are not changing. They included location, type of work, type of job title.

The changing hashtags are about what's in the picture.

Sure, if you think it´s worth trending in these specific location / type of work / type of job title , etc. hashtags you can keep them in your base hashtags and add 11 hashtags for each post changing / rotating.

javadth said:
I use no more than 7 # for each post

I think more # can cause ban or limitation

30 hashtags (at a maximum) won´t result in getting a ban.

John Johny · Apr 10, 2019

Repeating the same hashtags will definitely get you shadowbanned sooner or later - been there, done that. Shadowban has lasted for 14 days.

Try to increase your hashtag collection to at least 50 tags and create hashtag sets (like 5 sets of 10 hashtags etc.) and shuffle them in your posts.

TheGreyMatter · Apr 10, 2019

It really depends on what kind of account and post it is and what your goals(short-term and long-term) for the accounts are.

A lot of big accounts have cut down on using too many hashtags to avoid looking spammy while people are looking at their posts and maintain their reputation. This also ensures that in case of an Instagram algorithm change, they stay safe, just incase if IG plans to strike out on adding hashtag check in their spam filters.

Also, it's not suggested to use the same hashtags in all the posts and instead try using synonyms or similar hashtags to target a wider audience.

I generally limit it to 6-7 hashtags for long term quality accounts where the look and feel of the post is way more important rather than just the reach, as at times, you might achieve great reach but no conversions and often, the reach would be much lesser but the conversions would be really high.

While in the case of churn and burn accounts, we boost and use upto 22-24 hashtags and even more since we know the account is only being used for a few days/weeks, post which it won't be useful anymore so make the most of it while it lasts.

misterbarth · Apr 10, 2019

With the latest updates it's better if u use hashtags like this:

e.g You must use #hashtags instead of #words

- Always relevant to the pic, as AI will recognize what there is in the pic and if u are just publishing # for gaming the reach, you ll get the opposite
- Use no more then 3-4
- Always different
- Select those where u can trending ( u can use Hashatory )

N00bby · Apr 11, 2019

You are saying use just 3 or 4 hashtags?

What is that based on? Have you tested the results vs using 25-30 hashtags?

misterbarth said:
With the latest updates it's better if u use hashtags like this:

e.g You must use #hashtags instead of #words

- Always relevant to the pic, as AI will recognize what there is in the pic and if u are just publishing # for gaming the reach, you ll get the opposite
- Use no more then 3-4
- Always different
- Select those where u can trending ( u can use Hashatory )

misterbarth · Apr 11, 2019

N00bby said:
You are saying use just 3 or 4 hashtags?

Yes on bigger accs i don't even use # as they influence the potential of virality and it's better to leave the algorithm free to choose who must see the post, without hashtags factors but just based on audience connections, image recognition, interests and previous actions.

N00bby said:
What is that based on?

On my tests.

N00bby said:
using 25-30 hashtags

Don't do it, it's spam, in the long run u can be penalized, unfortunately these times are over.

N00bby · Apr 11, 2019

Interesting, thank you very much for your time and response.

Regards the tag thing with large accounts, it's the same on YouTube. The sheer volume of views something gets from an audience of a million plus drives the video straight into suggested/browse or on insta Explore anyway.
However this does not work on 99% of creators with low reach or search volume.
We must leverage what we have to move forward and grow.

What do you think about Alt Text?

misterbarth said:
Yes on bigger accs i don't even use # as they influence the potential of virality and it's better to leave the algorithm free to choose who must see the post, without hashtags factors but just based on audience connections, image recognition, interests and previous actions.

On my tests.

Don't do it, it's spam, in the long run u can be penalized, unfortunately these times are over.

perrymason · Apr 11, 2019

I used to go around 19 too on my personal account in the beginin, nowadays I go around 10.

Difference? not much, I remember getting few posts on explore with 19 hashtags and I've got few ones on explore as well using 10.

I believe it is more about the content and how accurate/related the hashtags are to it.

N00bby · Apr 11, 2019

I'm interested to know more out of curiosity because I'm using 25-27 relevant tags ( different difficultly some just a few k results some millions) and consistently hitting explore on Insta.

Aveil · Apr 11, 2019

I've been using always 30 for a lot of time and I've been wanting to test how will 5-10 work since every time a post of the accounts I follow goes viral it doesn't have more than 5-10.

misterbarth said:
Yes on bigger accs i don't even use # as they influence the potential of virality and it's better to leave the algorithm free to choose who must see the post, without hashtags factors but just based on audience connections, image recognition, interests and previous actions.

Also that kind of makes sense to me so why not test it. I will report back my results if you all are interested

Nicknames · Apr 11, 2019

There is no secret magic number of hashtags you should use that will make your post go viral.
It's far more important how you choose them.

Simple rules:
- forget about top100 or popular hashtags
- don't use banned hashtags
- always use hashtags related to your content
- update your hashtags at least weekly

I personally use always 30 hashtags because every one of them extends the reach to show my post to new people and adds a chance of going viral.

Advanced tip:
In a set of 30 hashtags, compose them with 33% small (below 50.000 posts), 33% medium (below 250.000 posts) and 33% big (250.000+ posts).
Obviously, if your account is already big you need to adjust the percentage to use a little bit more big hashtags.

Content is king, so you need to post high-quality content with a good caption.

Remember that you need to try again, again and again, to find what works best for you and your accounts

Hope it helps!

Lucy L · Apr 14, 2019

misterbarth said:
Yes on bigger accs i don't even use # as they influence the potential of virality and it's better to leave the algorithm free to choose who must see the post, without hashtags factors but just based on audience connections, image recognition, interests and previous actions.

I have noticed bigger accounts not using them. What would you consider to be a "bigger" account, though? Would you use them initially and then stop once you reach certain growth levels? And you recommend using less than 30, right..

Also, for a starting out account, lets say youre a business coach targeting relationship coaches. Would you use hashtags related to business or something like hashtag relationshipcoach?

Thanks a lot.

misterbarth · Apr 14, 2019

Lucy L said:
What would you consider to be a "bigger" account, though?

500K +

Lucy L said:
Would you use them initially and then stop once you reach certain growth levels?

That's depends on ur strategy if u re doing f/unf you can use it always as with the latest changes u ll never go viral, if u grow up virally don't use hashtags even on small accs.

Lucy L said:
Would you use hashtags related to business or something like hashtag relationshipcoach?

Yes Always use related # - but remember to Always change them, don't use the same for at least 15 days and use hashtags proportional to the reach/size of ur accounts

high mike · Apr 14, 2019

I just recently started using hashtags (30) and posting them in the comment section, so the description doesn't look messy (OCD)

I've noticed a nice boost in engagement, at least 10-15% compared to posting just to my followers.

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