How to Find Hashtags on Instagram: Best Tips for Success

Hashtags are still a useful way to organize content and improve discovery on Instagram. While they don’t boost reach the way they once did, they can still help your posts appear in searches, Explore pages, and hashtag feeds—especially when used with focused content. This is particularly helpful with Reels, which often reach viewers beyond your followers.

With over 2 billion Instagram users on the platform, the competition is real. Using the right Instagram hashtags gives your posts a better chance to show up where it matters. In this guide, you’ll get simple, practical tips to find smart hashtags, use them effectively, and build a strategy that works with how Instagram functions today.

Key Takeaways

• Hashtags still have a role in 2025—while they don’t guarantee reach, they can help categorize your content and improve visibility, especially on Reels and the Explore page when paired with engaging posts.

• You don’t need fancy tools to find trending Instagram hashtags. Use Instagram’s built-in features or smart tools like Later and Hashtagify to stay ahead.

• Mix popular Instagram hashtags, niche, and branded hashtags to boost visibility and connect with the right audience—strategy beats guesswork every time.

The Types of Hashtags and When to Use Each

Not all hashtags are created equal. If you want real results on Instagram, it helps to know which type to use—and when.

Community Hashtags

These bring together people who share similar interests. They’re perfect for finding your niche. For example, if you’re sharing plant-based meals, tagging #veganrecipes connects your post with users already searching for that. It’s less about going viral and more about showing up in the right circles.

Location Hashtags

Trying to reach people in a specific area? Location-based hashtags help with that. A local bakery in Chicago might use #chicagoeats or #lincolnparkfoodie. These tags make it easier for nearby users to discover your content—especially helpful for small businesses or local creators.

Event Hashtags

Posting about a specific event or holiday? These hashtags help you join ongoing conversations. During something like #coachella, users search or follow the tag to keep up with real-time content. The same goes for #blackfridaydeals or #metgala2025—if you’re posting something related, tag it and jump in.

Branded Hashtags

These are custom hashtags made for a business, product, or campaign. Brands use them to build community and track engagement. For example, Later uses #lifeatlater so fans and team members can share content under one tag. It keeps things organized and builds brand identity.

Trending Hashtags

These are the fast-moving tags you’ll see during viral moments. A great example is #barbiecore, which trended heavily during the Barbie movie hype. While trending hashtags don’t guarantee reach like they used to, aligning your content with a relevant trend early on can still improve its chances of being seen—especially if it fits naturally with the topic.

Mixing these hashtag types smartly can help you reach both the right audience and a bigger one—all at once.

How to Find Hashtags Inside Instagram Itself

You don’t need fancy tools to find great hashtags—Instagram already gives you a bunch of ways to spot what’s working. You just have to know where to look.

Explore Page

The Explore page is full of content based on what you’ve liked, saved, or searched. While it doesn’t show trending hashtags directly, it’s still a useful place to spot what kind of content is gaining traction in your niche. When you scroll through posts that match your interests, pay attention to which hashtags are being used—especially on posts with lots of likes and comments. These tags might be helping those creators get noticed, depending on how well they match the content.

Search Bar Autocomplete

Start typing a keyword into Instagram’s search bar, and it will auto-suggest hashtags related to your query. While Instagram no longer consistently displays the number of posts for each tag, these suggestions are still helpful for spotting active hashtags. For example, typing “skincare” might bring up tags like #skincarejunkie or #skincareroutine. This can guide you toward relevant hashtags that fit your content—without relying solely on massive, overused ones.

Influencer and Competitor Research

If you follow influencers or brands in your niche, take a look at their most engaging posts. Which hashtags are they using? Are they going with broad, popular tags or smaller, more specific ones? You don’t need to copy them, but it’s smart to borrow the structure. This is especially useful if they consistently get strong engagement—odds are, their hashtags are pulling some weight.

Check Stories and Reels

Don’t forget Instagram Stories and Reels—they can give you a sense of what’s trending in real time. While you can’t browse popular Stories by hashtag directly, you might see location-based or tagged Stories appear in Explore. Reels, on the other hand, are easier to track through hashtags since you can explore content tied to specific tags. These formats move quickly, so they’re useful for spotting what’s hot right now.

How to Evaluate Hashtags

Not every hashtag is worth using. Look for ones with solid engagement but not millions of posts. If a tag has too many posts, your content may disappear quickly. If it’s too small, it might not help with reach. Aim for a mix—some high-volume, some mid-range, and a few niche.

Best Free and Paid Tools to Discover Hashtags

If you want to go beyond the Instagram app, there are tools—both free and paid—that can help you find the best hashtags faster. These tools do the heavy lifting so you can focus on creating content that actually gets seen.

Hashtag Generators

Hashtag generators are helpful when you're short on ideas. Tools like Sistrix, Keyword Tool, and All Hashtag let you type in a keyword (like “fitness” or “DIY crafts”) and give you a list of related hashtags. Some tools, like Sistrix, also show how often certain hashtags are used, which helps you spot active—but not overly crowded—tags. Others, like All Hashtag, focus more on suggestions without offering popularity or competition data. Either way, they can speed up your research and help you build smarter hashtag sets.

The trick is to start broad and then narrow down. If you type “travel,” you might get #travelgram or #solotravel, but digging deeper can uncover niche ones like #budgettravelers that might match your audience better.

Social Listening Tools

Tools like Brand24 and Mention track what people are talking about online—including hashtags. They’re more advanced and usually paid, but they help you find trending hashtags and spot trends as they’re happening. If you want to know which hashtags are picking up momentum before everyone’s using them, these tools are great for that.

They also help you understand what kind of content is tied to a hashtag, which makes it easier to decide if it fits your brand.

Instagram Schedulers with Built-In Hashtag Tools

Platforms like Later and Sprout Social do more than just schedule posts. They also let you save commonly used hashtags or captions, and track which ones perform best over time. This is super helpful if you post regularly and want to stay organized without retyping your tags each time.

While these platforms don’t let you create formal “groups,” you can save different hashtag sets—like for “beauty,” “product launch,” or “quotes”—and rotate them depending on what you're posting.

Free vs. Paid: Which Should You Use?

Free tools are great when you’re starting out. They give you quick results and decent suggestions. Paid tools offer more data and save time in the long run, especially if you post a lot or manage multiple accounts.

Whichever route you take, build a hashtag bank—just a saved list organized by topic or campaign. It’ll save you time and keep your hashtag game strong.

Crafting a Strong Branded Hashtag Strategy

Branded hashtags aren’t just for big companies—they’re for anyone who wants to build a community around their content. Whether you're promoting a business, a campaign, or just your own personal brand, a good hashtag can help people connect, share, and remember you. It’s a key part of any strong Instagram hashtag strategy, helping you build recognition while encouraging others to join the conversation.

Creating a Branded Hashtag

Your hashtag should be short, easy to spell, and clearly tied to your name or message. Think of it like a digital signature. Brands like Later use #lifeatlater, which is simple, catchy, and brand-specific. It works because people instantly know what it’s about—and it encourages them to share content under the same tag.

Avoid using long phrases or complicated spellings. The simpler it is, the more likely people are to use it.

Promoting It

Once you’ve picked a solid hashtag, don’t just add it to one post and call it a day. Use it often—in your Instagram bio, your captions, your Stories, even your packaging if you’re selling a product. Want more people to use it? Just ask. A simple call-to-action like “Tag us using #YourBrandHere for a chance to be featured!” can go a long way.

You can also run giveaways, challenges, or collaborations that require users to post with your branded tag. It’s a fun way to increase visibility and gather user-generated content.

Tracking Its Performance

You can track how your branded hashtag is doing with Instagram Insights or tools like Later or Sprout Social. Focus on how often your branded hashtag is being used, how much engagement those posts are getting, and whether it’s helping generate more visibility or user-generated content for your page.

If the numbers are low, don’t ditch the hashtag—just keep using it consistently. Sometimes it takes time to catch on.

Smart Hashtag Usage: What Works Now (2025 Edition)

Knowing how to use hashtags is just as important as picking the right ones. The right mix, count, and placement can seriously change how your content performs—especially with how Instagram works today.

Ideal Hashtag Count

Using 20 hashtags per post is still considered the sweet spot. Instagram allows up to 30, but adding too many can start to look messy or even spammy if they aren’t relevant. According to data from Later, posts with around 20 well-targeted hashtags tend to get higher reach and engagement than those with just a few or too many random ones.

It’s also about context. For Stories, fewer hashtags—around 3 to 5—keep things clean without overwhelming the viewer. For Reels, where discoverability relies heavily on relevance and engagement signals, using a thoughtful mix of hashtags—rather than just a large number—can help improve your chances of being surfaced in more feeds.

Caption vs. Comment Debate

Some people swear by putting hashtags in the caption, others tuck them into the first comment. Both methods work, and Instagram doesn’t officially say one is better than the other. The main difference? Aesthetics. Hashtags in the caption are visible right away, which can look cluttered. Putting them in the first comment keeps your caption clean, especially if you're trying to highlight a strong message or CTA.

Functionally, Instagram still indexes hashtags placed in both captions and comments. However, for search and keyword SEO, only captions are indexed in Instagram’s search results. So while both placements work for hashtag functionality, using captions may give you an extra edge in visibility—especially when using top Instagram hashtags.

Combining Broad and Niche Tags

One of the smartest things you can do is mix large, popular hashtags with smaller, more targeted ones. Broad hashtags like #fitness have millions of posts, so your content might get buried fast. But a niche tag like #fitover40 or #womenshomeworkouts reaches a more specific audience—people more likely to engage.

This combination gives your post a better chance of being seen by both large audiences and highly engaged niche groups. It’s not about casting the widest net—it’s about catching the right kind of attention.

The bottom line? Hashtag strategy in 2025 is all about balance: enough tags to boost reach, the right mix of broad and niche, and placement that fits your content style.

Using Hashtags in Stories and Reels

Hashtags don’t just help regular posts—they also play a key role in getting more eyes on your Stories and Reels. While these formats are short-lived or fast-moving, a smart hashtag strategy can give them a much longer reach.

Hashtags in Stories may still help with reach, but they no longer appear in dedicated hashtag Story feeds like they used to. Even though Stories no longer appear in hashtag search feeds, hashtags may still help Instagram understand the content for audience targeting. This is a quick, free way to reach new viewers without boosting your Story.

If you don’t want hashtags cluttering your visuals, there’s a trick: you can shrink the text way down or match the color of the hashtag text to the background. This keeps the tag working without distracting from your content.

Reels, on the other hand, live longer and perform better when tagged well. Instagram’s algorithm pulls Reels into Explore and Reels feeds based partly on hashtags. So if your content is about home workouts and you use #homeworkoutsforwomen, that tag helps surface your video to users interested in that topic—even if they don’t follow you.

As for best practices, stick with 3–5 relevant hashtags for Stories, and aim for quality over quantity in Reels—up to 30 is allowed, but relevance matters most. Keep them highly relevant to the video or image you’re posting. Using too many broad or off-topic hashtags won’t help—it could even hurt your reach.

The more closely your hashtags match your content, the better chance your Story or Reel has of landing in front of the right people.

Measuring and Tracking Hashtag Performance

Using hashtags is great—but if you’re not tracking how they’re doing, you’re kind of flying blind. The good news is, Instagram offers basic built-in tools—like post-level Insights—for business and creator accounts to see how hashtags contribute to overall reach.

Start with Instagram Insights. For business or creator accounts, you can see how many impressions came from hashtags on each post. Just tap into your post’s insights and look under “Reach” to see where your views are coming from. If hashtags aren’t bringing in traffic, it might be time to tweak your strategy.

If you want deeper data, try third-party tools like Hashtagify, Later, or Sprout Social. These platforms offer insights into hashtag popularity, trends, and competition—though they typically don’t track performance on your individual Instagram posts unless integrated with your account.

The main metrics to watch? Reach, impressions, and engagement. Reach tells you how many unique users saw your post. Impressions show total views (including repeats). Engagement—likes, saves, comments—shows how people are interacting.

If a tag isn’t performing well, switch it out. Try mixing in smaller or more niche hashtags. The goal isn’t just to show up—it’s to show up in front of people who care. And a little testing goes a long way.

Mistakes to Avoid with Hashtags

Even the best content can get buried if your hashtag game is off. One common mistake is using banned or irrelevant hashtags—these can limit your reach or even flag your post to Instagram’s algorithm. Another issue? Overusing generic tags like #love or #instagood. They're so crowded your post gets lost in seconds.

Avoid tag-stuffing or copying the same hashtags for every post. It looks lazy and can hurt your engagement over time. And don’t forget to refresh your hashtag sets. What worked last month might not work now—Instagram trends move fast.

Action Plan: How to Stay Ahead in the Hashtag Game

If you want to keep your reach strong, treat hashtags like a living strategy—not a one-time task. Start by building a few rotating hashtag lists based on your content themes. Every month, take a few minutes to refresh and swap out stale tags.

Try A/B testing different hashtag sets on similar posts to see which ones bring in more engagement. And don’t just chase popularity—niche-specific tags often perform better because they reach people who actually care about your content.

Keep testing, keep tweaking, and your hashtag game will stay sharp.

Conclusion: Your Hashtag Strategy Starts Now

Hashtags might seem small, but they can have a big impact. The right ones help your posts get seen, spark engagement, and reach the audience you actually want. If you’ve ever felt like your content deserves more attention, smarter hashtag use could be the fix.

Don’t just set it and forget it—test, track, and tweak your hashtags as you go. Stay flexible and keep learning what works best for your content and niche.

Bottom line? Even the best post can flop without the right hashtags. Use them wisely, and watch your visibility grow.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if a hashtag is working?

Check Instagram Insights on each post. Look under “Reach” to see how many impressions came from hashtags. If that number’s high, your tags are doing their job. You’ll also start spotting patterns in which hashtags related to your niche are performing consistently.

Is it okay to reuse hashtags?

Yes, but with variety. Reusing the exact same set on every post can feel spammy. Create a few hashtag groups and rotate them depending on your content. Refresh them regularly and try to find relevant hashtags for each new topic or campaign.

What are banned hashtags and how do I avoid them?

Banned hashtags are ones Instagram blocks because of spam or abuse. If a tag doesn’t show results or is missing a hashtag page, don’t use it—it could hurt your reach. This is especially important when you’re using trending hashtags on Instagram, which can change quickly and occasionally get misused.

How many hashtags should I use in Stories?

Three to five is a solid range. Too many looks messy, and fewer targeted ones work better. You can shrink or hide them if you want a cleaner look.

Can hashtags really grow my account?

Absolutely. Hashtags help your content get discovered by people who don’t follow you yet. When used right, they can boost visibility, bring in engagement, and attract the audience you want.