Between about 2012 and 2018 a good set of hashtags could put a post in front of thousands of people who had never heard of you. Businesses built whole strategies on it. Then the platforms replaced hashtag feeds with recommendation systems that decide what to show from the content itself, and hashtags stopped being the engine.
They did not stop being useful. They changed jobs. Here is what they do now on each platform, and how to use them without wasting time.
What hashtags do today
A hashtag is a label. It tells the platform, and anyone searching, what a post is about. Recommendation systems read the caption, the audio, the on-screen text and the way people respond to a post; a hashtag is one more signal, useful for niche topics where the system needs a hint, nearly irrelevant for broad ones.
That is why “#marketing” does nothing (the system already knows, and the tag is a sea of noise) while “#amersfoortbakkerij” can still bring the right local people.
Platform by platform
Instagram. Hashtags are searchable and contribute to topic classification. Instagram has said a handful of relevant tags is enough; long blocks add nothing. Keyword search on captions now matters as much.
TikTok. Tags help classify the video, but audio, captions, on-screen text and watch time dominate. Two or three specific tags, plus a clear spoken or written description, beats twenty.
LinkedIn. Hashtags are followable and searchable; two or three professional tags widen reach slightly. The words in the post carry more weight.
X. Still the platform where hashtags matter most, around live events and trending topics. Outside those moments, the effect is small.
Pinterest. Keywords in titles and descriptions do the work; hashtags are close to irrelevant.
Three myths that cost people time
“More hashtags, more reach.” The opposite, past a small number. Long tag blocks read as spam to people and add noise for the system.
“Hashtags make posts go viral.” Nothing does on its own. Posts spread when people watch, share and save them; a tag only helps the first few people find it.
“AI made hashtags pointless.” For broad topics, nearly. For niche and local topics, the tag is still the clearest label you can give.
How we use them for clients
- Three groups. Niche tags (your specific service or product), community tags (what your audience already uses) and occasion tags (an event, season or location). One or two from each, never the same set twice in a row.
- Place them properly. In the caption, after the text. First-comment hashtags are not reliably indexed.
- Measure. Insights on Instagram and TikTok show reach by source. If hashtags and search bring under a tenth of non-follower reach, the tags are not the lever; the content is.
- Write for search. Social platforms are now searched like Google. A caption that says plainly what the post is about (“small bathroom renovation, Amersfoort, before and after”) does the job a hashtag block used to do, and reads better.
Branded and unbranded
A branded tag is useful for tracking a campaign or collecting customer posts. An unbranded community tag (“#morningworkoutclub” rather than “#fitwithbrand”) invites people in. Use one of the first to measure and one or two of the second to grow.
The short version
Use three to five relevant, varied hashtags as labels. Spend the time you save on the caption, the first three seconds of the video and the reply to every comment. That is what moves reach now; our plain-English guide to the algorithms explains why, and our social media team can build the plan around it.
How many hashtags should I use on Instagram?
Three to five relevant ones. Instagram has said a few specific tags work as well as a long list, and long lists look like spam to readers.
Do hashtags work on TikTok?
They help classify a video, but audio, on-screen text, captions and watch time matter more. Two or three specific tags are enough.
Should hashtags go in the caption or the first comment?
In the caption. First-comment tags are not reliably read, and the caption is what search and recommendation systems index.
Are banned hashtags real?
Yes. Instagram restricts tags that have attracted spam or rule-breaking content. Using them can limit a post’s distribution. Check a tag’s page before using it; if it shows a warning, skip it.
Do hashtags help with SEO on Google?
Not directly. Google indexes some social posts, but ranks them on the text. Descriptive captions help more than tags.