Quantity

You can have up to 30 hashtags in a post, but we recommend 5 to 7. They are a good way to reach new people who otherwise wouldn’t come across your posts but you don’t want it to look messy.

Make them specific

If you narrow the hashtag you will reach a specific and more engaged audience. For example, if you’re sharing a guitar hook don’t go with #guitar or #music, but instead try #bestguitarhooks

Hashtag followers

When you type a hashtag, Instagram will suggest more and let you know how many people are following it. By using hashtags with millions of followers the feed will be full and your post may actually not even get seen. I recommend including a few in the millions, but also having a few with 10-30k thousand and a few with less than 4k. See which work best, keep track and switch them up every so often.

Research the best tag for your post

For example, if you’re posting about an event or news story, find out what the hashtags are that are currently being used for the discussion. If you cover a musician, hashtag the artists name as there is a chance that their fans will stumble across your work when looking for their stuff e.g. #edsheeran

Hashtag placement

Studies show that hashtags posted as a comment, rather than in the post caption bring the most engagement. This could be because hashtags in the post look like spam and deter organic engagement. Extra tip - Use location tags where appropriate.