Instagram Hashtag Strategy: How Many and Which Hashtags to Use

Hashtags still help Instagram understand what your post is about and show it to interested people.

How many hashtags?

You can use up to 30, but 8–15 relevant hashtags usually work best.

The mix that works

• 2–3 big hashtags (over 1M posts)
• 5–8 medium hashtags (100K–1M posts)
• 3–5 small or niche hashtags (under 100K posts)
• 1–2 location hashtags, like #lucknowfood

Mistakes to avoid

• Using the same 30 hashtags on every post
• Tags that don’t match the post
• Spammy tags like #followforfollow

Get a ready-made mix with our free Hashtag Generator.