Someone once told you that the secret to Instagram was hashtags, so you copied a long block of popular ones from a website and pasted it under every post. Nothing much changed, except that a few odd accounts started following you and your captions now look cluttered. You are left wondering whether hashtags matter at all.
They matter a little, in a specific way, and far less than they used to be sold. This guide explains what hashtags for business actually do now, how to use hashtags so they help rather than hurt, how to choose relevant and local tags, and which kinds of tag to avoid. It deliberately gives no magic number of tags, because there is no reliable one.
What hashtags do today
A hashtag is a word or phrase with a # in front, which makes it a clickable link to other posts using the same tag. Historically they were one of the main ways people found new posts on Instagram. Today they play a smaller, supporting role.
On Instagram, hashtags mainly help the app understand what a post is about, alongside other signals such as the caption text, what is shown in the image or video, and how people interact with it. They can also put your post on the page for that hashtag, where some people browse. Instagram search increasingly looks at ordinary words in captions and profiles too, so a clearly written caption does part of the job hashtags once did.
In practice, this means:
- A few relevant hashtags can help the right people find a post.
- Hashtags will not make a weak post travel.
- Irrelevant or spammy hashtags can make a post look low quality and attract the wrong audience.
Choosing hashtags for business: relevant beats popular
The instinct is to use the biggest hashtags, the ones with huge post counts, because more people must be looking at them. The opposite is usually true for a small business. A huge tag is flooded with new posts every moment, so yours disappears almost immediately, and the people browsing it are rarely your customers.
A relevant tag describes exactly what the post shows, to people who might actually want it. Compare:
| Broad, crowded tag | Specific, relevant tag | Why the second works better |
|---|---|---|
| #food | #bengalisweets | Reaches people interested in that specific cuisine |
| #fashion | #handloomsarees | Matches what is actually in the photo |
| #fitness | #physiotherapy | Speaks to people with a need you can meet |
| #home | #modularkitchen | Signals a clear purchase interest |
| #love | (none needed) | Says nothing about your business at all |
Before using a tag, tap on it and look at the posts already there. If they look like your customers’ interests and similar businesses, it is a good fit. If they are unrelated, spammy or full of bots, skip it.
Local hashtags for local customers
If you serve a particular town or neighbourhood, location tags are often the most useful ones you can add. Someone browsing a local tag is far more likely to be able to visit you than someone browsing a global one.
Useful local tags combine a place with your field, or simply name the place:
- A neighbourhood or city on its own, such as #saltlake or #kolkata.
- Place plus category: #kolkatabakery, #howrahinteriors, #salonsinbangalore.
- A local event or market that your post relates to.
Check each one first, the same way as above. Some local tags are busy and active; others are barely used. Alongside tags, add the location to the post itself when the app offers it, and mention the area in your caption in plain words. People searching “cake shop Salt Lake” may find you through that text even without a hashtag.
How to use hashtags on each platform
Hashtags work differently from one platform to another, and what suits Instagram can look out of place elsewhere.
Tags on Instagram
The platform where hashtags still do the most. Use a small set of relevant ones per post, a mix of what the post shows, your field and your location. They can go at the end of the caption. Keep the caption itself readable first.
Tags on Facebook
Hashtags are clickable on Facebook but play a much smaller part in how people find posts. One or two at most, or none, is usually fine. Facebook posts tend to read better as plain, friendly text.
Tags on LinkedIn
LinkedIn supports hashtags for topics, and a couple of relevant professional ones can help a post be associated with a subject. Long strings of tags look out of place in a professional feed.
Tags on YouTube
Hashtags can be added to a video’s description, and some may appear near the title. They help a little with topic grouping, but the title and description wording matter much more.
A simple way to choose tags for each post
Rather than reusing one pasted block every time, pick tags for each post from a short list you keep on your phone. A method that takes a minute:
- Describe the post in a few words. “A handloom saree in indigo, new stock, at our Gariahat shop.”
- Pick one or two tags for what is shown. #handloomsaree, #indigosaree.
- Pick one for your field. #sareeshop or similar.
- Pick one or two local tags. #gariahat, #kolkatashopping.
- Add your own brand tag if you use one.
- Remove anything that does not describe this specific post.
Rotating tags to match each post also avoids posting an identical block every time, which can look automated.
Your own branded hashtag
A branded hashtag is a tag unique to your business, such as your shop name or a campaign phrase. It does not bring new people on its own, because nobody searches for a name they do not know yet. Its value is in collecting posts together.
It can help when customers post their own photos of your products, when you run a photo competition, or when you want to group a series of posts. Choose something short, easy to spell and not already used by someone else; search for it first. If you plan to repost customers’ photos that use the tag, ask each person’s permission first. Our guide to sharing customer photos with permission explains how.
Tags to avoid
Restricted or misused tags
Instagram limits or hides results for some hashtags that have been heavily used for spam or for content against its rules. Some of these look perfectly innocent, because the problem is how others have used them. If you tap a tag and see a notice that recent posts are hidden, or only a few posts show, leave it out. Using such tags can make your post less visible.
Follow and like bait
Tags that ask for follows or likes in exchange for follows or likes attract accounts that will never buy anything and that unfollow later. They also signal to anyone checking your profile that you are chasing numbers. The same goes for any scheme that inflates your audience artificially; our post on the risks of buying followers explains why.
Irrelevant trending tags
Adding a trending tag about a cricket match or a film to a post about plumbing services will not reach future customers, and it can look like spam to the people browsing that tag.
Hashtag walls
A long block of tags makes a caption hard to read and makes a business account look careless. If you need that many tags to describe a post, the post is probably trying to do too much.
Checking whether hashtags help
Instagram’s insights for individual posts can show how people found them, including from hashtags, though the exact breakdown shown changes over time. Compare a few posts with your usual tags against a few with carefully chosen local and specific ones. If hashtag discovery stays small whatever you do, that is normal for many small accounts. Your effort is better spent on the post itself, a clear caption and steady posting.
Hashtags are a small part of a much bigger picture. For what to post, see our list of post ideas by type, and for the overall plan, our social media marketing guide. For how social fits with search and ads, there is our digital marketing hub.
Frequently asked questions
Do hashtags help my business show up on Google?
Not in any meaningful way. Hashtags work inside each social platform. Being found on Google depends on your website, your Google Business Profile and the content on them. A public social profile can appear in Google results for your business name, but that comes from the name and profile, not hashtags.
Should hashtags go in the caption or in a comment?
Putting them at the end of the caption is the simplest and keeps everything in one place. Some people put them in the first comment to keep captions tidy. There is no clear evidence that one placement performs better for a small business, so choose whichever keeps your caption easier to read.
Can I use hashtags in stories and reels?
Yes. Reels take hashtags in the caption just like feed posts. Stories can include a hashtag sticker or typed tag, and a location sticker can be as useful for local businesses. Use them in the same way: relevant, specific and few, rather than as decoration.
Is it a problem if I use the same hashtags on every post?
Repeating your brand tag and a couple of core local tags is fine. Pasting an identical long block on every post regardless of content is less helpful, because many tags will not match what that post shows. Adjust at least the descriptive tags each time so they fit the specific photo or video.
A few well-chosen tags from someone who knows your customers will always go further than a copied list. Captions, tags and the rest of the posting are part of what our social media management work covers, for owners who prefer to hand it over.
Next in this series: LinkedIn for Small Business: Page, Profile and Posts
