How to Use Hashtags on Instagram

Instagram now allows five hashtags per post. That turns hashtag strategy into one question: which five tags describe this post to the people who’d want it?

What hashtags actually do

A hashtag is a label. It files your post on that tag’s page, lets people who follow the tag see it, and tells Instagram what the post is about. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, said in 2022 that hashtags help Instagram understand a post and might help it appear on a hashtag page, but warned against treating them as a way to get more distribution.

In December 2025 Instagram cut the limit from 30 tags to five per post and Reel, saying a few relevant tags do better than long lists of generic ones. So the old “30 tags for reach” habit is gone, and relevance is what counts.

Practise: sort the tags for one post

Here’s a real-world kind of post and ten tags someone might add. Choose five and read why each one helps or doesn’t.

The post: a photo of a sourdough loaf from a small Leeds bakery that sells at a Saturday market.

Tap up to five tags for this post

Each tag you tap shows its reasoning here.

A five-slot recipe

  1. One broad tag for the subject (#baking). Big and busy, so it helps least, but it anchors the topic.
  2. Two niche tags for the community (#sourdough, #realbread). People follow these on purpose.
  3. One or two specific tags for this post: the place, event, product or series (#leedsmarket). Fewer posts, and the searchers want exactly this.

The hashtag generator gives you fifteen ideas already sorted into these tiers, so you only have to pick.

Where to put them

Put them in the caption. Instagram has said hashtags in the caption are the clearer signal, and they stay attached to the post. End of caption or woven into a sentence both work; one line at the end is tidiest.

Tags to avoid

  • Generic tags (#love, #instagood, #photooftheday) that describe every post.
  • Off-topic tags used just because they’re popular. Instagram’s Community Guidelines discourage misleading content, and people who search the tag won’t engage.
  • Restricted tags. Instagram limits some tags that attract rule-breaking content. Search a tag first; if the page shows few recent posts or a notice, skip it.
  • Engagement-bait tags (#followforfollow, #like4like) that bring empty follows.

Beyond hashtags

Instagram search also reads captions, names and alt text. Name the thing plainly in your caption, put a searchable keyword in your profile’s name field (the bio generator helps), and add alt text in advanced settings. Posting elsewhere too? See the TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn and X generators, each set to that platform’s rules.

Sources: Instagram’s @creators account and Help Center; Adam Mosseri’s Instagram Stories Q&A (March 2022, reported by Hootsuite); Instagram’s December 2025 hashtag-limit announcement (reported by Shopify and others); X Help Center, “How to use hashtags”; YouTube Help, “Use hashtags for video search”.

Questions people ask

How many hashtags should I use on Instagram?

At most five: Instagram announced a five-hashtag limit per post and Reel in December 2025. Before that the limit was 30, and Instagram’s own advice was already to use a handful of relevant tags.

Do hashtags increase reach on Instagram?

Not directly. Adam Mosseri said in 2022 that hashtags help Instagram understand what a post is about and might help it show up on a hashtag page, but that they aren’t a way to get more distribution.

What are banned hashtags?

Instagram restricts some hashtags when they’re widely used for content that breaks its Community Guidelines. When you search a restricted tag, Instagram may show few or no recent posts, or a notice. There’s no official public list, so the practical check is to search the tag before using it.

Can I follow a hashtag?

Yes. Open the hashtag page and tap Follow. Posts using it can then appear in your feed, which is one reason accurate niche tags reach interested people.

Should I use the same hashtags on every post?

No. Copying one block onto every post means most tags won’t match most posts. Choose tags for what each post actually shows.

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