Instagram Hashtags

This has been a strange year for hashtags. Some people feel they’re a dated strategy that doesn’t help engagement or can make your content look spammy. In fact, Instagram itself recommends using no more than 5. But we found the picture to be more complex than that.

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—Most popular instagram hashtags

#photography, #love and # art are the most popular hashtags.
—Instagram hashtags & engagement

Using 11+ hashtags actually increases the engagement rate of posts.

Most popular hashtags on Instagram

Unsurprisingly, super-general Instagram hashtags like #photography (141,546 occurrences), #love (120,501 occurrences) and #art (105,994 occurrences) are still the most widely-used. That sounds exciting — but with millions of posts a day going out under these tags, it really just puts you at risk of getting lost in the noise. So choose carefully, and only use these top Instagram hashtags if you've got a really good reason.

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Number of posts vs. Hashtag

Number of posts

How many Instagram hashtags should I use?

Posts that used over 11 hashtags actually did the best, followed by those that used four. So if you want to make hashtags part of your strategy, your best bet is to fully commit and go hard.

Average engagement rate vs. Number of hashtags

Average engagement rate

The most engaging hashtags on Instagram

Sorted by both engagement and engagement rate, over half of the 10 most engaging hashtags were Reels or short video-related. Reels (and short-form video) certainly seems to have worked for creators. The top 3 most engaging hashtags on Instagram are #reelstrending, #calisthenics and #funnyvideos.

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Average engagement vs. Hashtag

Average engagement

How many Instagram hashtags should I use in North America?

Sorted by both engagement and engagement rate, over half of the 10 most engaging hashtags were Reels or short video-related. Reels (and short-form video) certainly seems to have worked for creators. The top 3 most engaging hashtags on Instagram are #reelstrending, #calisthenics and #funnyvideos.

Average engagement rate vs. Number of hashtags in North America

Average engagement rate

How many Instagram hashtags should I use in the UK?

Looking closely at our data, it's clear that in the UK, posts with 4 and 11+ hashtags outperform the rest. While 4 hashtags yield an average engagement rate of 5.86%, more than 11 hashtags surprisingly push this number even higher to 5.92%.

Average engagement rate vs. Number of hashtags in the UK

Average engagement rate

Most popular hashtags on Instagram in North America

In North America, the most frequently used hashtags on Instagram are #photography, #love, and #art. These tags have been used 41,091, 39,422, and 36,792 times respectively.

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Number of posts vs. Hashtag in North America

Number of posts

Most popular hashtags on Instagram in the UK

In the UK, the top three most popular hashtags on Instagram are #london, #photography, and #art. They've been used 24,089, 11,530, and 9,096 times respectively.

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Number of posts vs. Hashtag in the UK

Number of posts

The most engaging hashtags on Instagram in North America

In terms of engagement on Instagram in North America, the hashtags that really shine are #reelsofinstagram, #reelitfeelit, #catsofinstagram, #trendingreels, and #instareels.

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Top 20 hashtags by engagement in North America

Average engagement

The most engaging hashtags on Instagram in the UK

When it comes to high engagement on Instagram in the UK, the most effective hashtags are #reels, #reelsinstagram, #lgbtq, #luxury, and #visitlondon.

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Top 20 hashtags by engagement in the UK

Average engagement

Instagram hashtags: tips and tricks

Hashtags play a critical role on Instagram, acting as a magnet to attract users who aren't already your followers. These tags allow users to explore and follow topics they're interested in, delivering the top-rated content in these categories directly to their personal feeds. Astute use of hashtags can make your posts more visible, even landing them on the Explore page - a highly popular feature used by 200 million people each day.

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5 main categories of Instagram hashtags

Location

#London, #exploreBC
Branded

#AbsolutVodka, #GotMilk, #NikeByYou
Industry

#MakeupLovers, #cars
Community

#arianators, #lakersnation
Descriptive

#eyeshadow, #homedecor

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