The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Hashtags in 2020

Instagram hashtags are still an effective way to get more eyes (and engagement!) on your Instagram posts in 2020.

A post with at least one Instagram hashtag averages 12.6% more engagement than posts without a hashtag. So it really is worth creating a hashtag strategy for your brand if you want to grow your account!

This ultimate guide to Instagram hashtags will help you understand everything you need to know about using hashtags to get more followers, improve your posts’ engagement rates, and build a community around your business.

Ready to learn how to use Instagram hashtags strategically and what steps you need to take to implement an effective hashtag strategy? We bet you are!

Content Menu

1. Why Instagram Hashtags Are Important
2. The Top 50 Instagram Hashtags of 2020 (UP-TO-DATE)
3. The Top 50 Instagram Hashtags of All Time
4. The Different Types of Instagram Hashtags
5. How to Find the Best Instagram Hashtags for Your Account
6. How to Organize Your Instagram Hashtags
7. 7 Ways to Optimize Your Instagram Hashtags
8. Best Practices for Instagram Hashtags in 2020

Why Instagram Hashtags Are Important 

Instagram has gone through a lot of changes since its initial release in 2010. But through it all, one thing has remained consistent: the importance of Instagram hashtags.

Using relevant, targeted hashtags on your posts and stories is still one of the best ways to get discovered by new audiences on Instagram. And this can translate into more engagement, more followers, and more customers for your business.

Like on Twitter and other social media platforms, Instagram hashtags work by organizing and categorizing photo and video content.

If you have a public Instagram account and add a hashtag to a post, that post will be visible on the corresponding hashtag page (it’s basically a directory of all the photos and videos that were tagged with that hashtag).

Since hashtags are used with an intent to discover content, the right hashtags can put you in front of your target audience, even if they haven’t connected with you before.

For example, a food blogger might post a picture of a gorgeous smoothie bowl, and then use the hashtags #superfoods, #cleaneating, and #vegansofig when it’s uploaded to Instagram.

By using these three hashtags, the image is cataloged so other Instagram users who enjoy healthy foods can easily find it.

A few things to keep in mind:

• When people with private profiles tag posts, they won’t appear publicly on hashtag pages

• Numbers are allowed in hashtags. However, spaces and special characters, like $ or %, won’t work.

• You can only add hashtags to your own posts. You can’t tag other people’s photos/videos.

• You can use up to 30 hashtags on a post and 10 on a story.

The Top 50 Instagram Hashtags of 2020

While using ultra-popular hashtags isn’t always the best strategy for getting more engagement on your posts and stories (we’ll explain this more below), here is an up-to-date list of the top 50 Instagram hashtags of 2020:

1. #gym
2. #summer
3. #workout
4. #autumn
5. #model
6. #instapic
7. #happiness
8. #motivation
9. #life
10. #cool
11. #hot
12. #music
13. #hair
14. #instamood
15. #beauty
16. #landscape
17. #repost
18. #ootd
19. #photography
20. #inspiration
21. #design
22. #beautiful
23. #bestoftheday
24. #makeup
25. #instagram
26. #fit
27. #l4l
28. #goals
29. #style
30. #swag
31. #health
32. #nyc
33. #funny
34. #healthy
35. #friends
36. #blogger
37. #photo
38. #food
39. #fun
40. #happy
41. #artist
42. #pink
43. #instagood
44. #me
45. #f4f
46. #fitfam
47. #cute
48. #followforfollow
49. #pretty
50. #art

The Top 50 Instagram Hashtags of All Time

1. #love
2. #instagood
3. #photooftheday
4. #fashion
5. #beautiful
6. #like4like
7. #picoftheday
8. #art
9. #happy
10. #photography
11. #instagram
12. #followme
13. #style
14. #follow
15. #instadaily
16. #travel
17. #life
18. #cute
19. #fitness
20. #nature
21. #beauty
22. #girl
23. #fun
24. #photo
25. #amazing
26. #likeforlike
27. #instalike
28. #selfie
29. #smile
30. #me
31. #lifestyle
32. #model
33. #follow4follow
34. #music
35. #friends
36. #motivation
37. #like
38. #food
39. #inspiration
40. #repost
41. #summer
42. #design
43. #makeup
44. #TBT
45. #followforfollow
46. #ootd
47. #family
48. #l4l
49. #cool
50. #igers

The Different Types of Instagram Hashtags

Understanding the different types of hashtags and their corresponding audiences is key to developing an effective Instagram hashtag strategy:

#1: Community Hashtags

Community hashtags are hashtags that connect like-minded users around a specific subject. They’re a great way to connect with others, improve the searchability of your posts, gain followers, and grow your own community.

Here are 9 different types of community hashtags you can use for your business:

1. Hashtags indicating your product or service, like #sweater or #coffeeshop
2. Hashtags indicating your niche in your industry, like #weddingphotographer or #travelphotographer
3. Hashtags for Instagram communities in your industry, like #bakersofinstagram or #foodiesofinstagram
4. Hashtags for special events or seasons, like #whiteday or #nationaldonutday
5. Hashtags using location, like #pastrynyc, #madeintoronto, or #sydneysweets
6. Daily hashtags, like #mondaymotivation, #tuesdaytip, or #wellnesswednesday
7. Hashtags with phrases relevant to what you do, like #becreative or #bakerylove
8. Hashtags with acronyms, like #qotd (quote of the day) or #ootd (outfit of the day)
9. Hashtags with emojis, like #👟 or #🌞

We recommend using a variety of hashtags on your posts and stories so your posts can reach different communities. For instance, if you have a bakery in NYC, you can use #nycbakeries to reach those looking specifically for bakeries in NYC, but also use #bakerslife for those who are interested in your day-to-day life as a baker.

Tip #1: Check Your Instagram Hashtag Analytics

Looking at the performance of the hashtags you’ve used in the past can be a great way to decide what hashtags to use again in the future.

Instagram’s native analytics tool Insights keeps some of this data — you can track how many people landed on your profile based on the hashtags you used:

If you’re on one of Later’s paid plans, you can also use Later’s Hashtag Analytics to track key insights about the hashtags you use, including a breakdown of which hashtags are driving the most likes, comments, impressions, saves, and reach on your Instagram posts.

Plus, as you continue to add new hashtags, you’ll be able to accurately track how they perform for your content. 

Instagram Hashtag Analytics are available on all Later business plans, starting at $19/month.

Tip #2: Try to Get Into the “Top” Results for a Hashtag

If you’ve ever searched for a hashtag on Instagram, you’ve probably noticed a grid “Top Posts” at the top of the results page.

It used to be on the mobile Instagram app that you would only see the top 9 posts for each hashtag, but thanks to a recent update, you can now toggle between “Top” and “Recent” posts when searching for a hashtag (note: it’s still just the top 9 posts on the desktop version of Instagram).

Getting in the top posts for a hashtag is a great way to get discovered by new users. Like getting featured on the Explore Page, it can results in a huge network effect that essentially makes your post go viral on Instagram.

So how do you actually get on the Top Posts for a hashtag?

Based on our experience, the two factors that play the biggest role in determining whether a post gets into the top posts for a hashtag are how much engagement the post gets, and how quickly it gets that engagement.

Top posts generally take their position within the first 24 hours of posting, so you need those likes and comments to roll in quickly after posting. If you can generate a lot of engagement on your Instagram post shortly after posting, this signals to Instagram that your post is quality, engaging content.

Tip #3: Include Your Branded Hashtag in Your Instagram Profile 

Thanks to a recent-ish update, you can now add clickable hashtags (and usernames) to your Instagram bio, making it a lot easier to build an Instagram bio that converts to website visits!

What’s so great about this feature is that it makes your bio even more functional — you can use hashtags for everything from promoting your Instagram community to highlighting your branded content and announcing your Instagram campaigns.

All you have to do is include a “#” before any word in your bio and it will automatically become a clickable link that leads visitors to that hashtag.

Tip #4: Add Hashtags to Your Instagram Stories 

Did you know you can add hashtags to your Instagram Stories too?

Adding hashtags to your story is a great way to give your content an added chance to be discovered by new audiences.

When people search for a hashtag on Instagram, if it’s popular enough, they’ll be able to see a collection of tagged stories on the search results page — including yours!

You can add as many as 10 hashtags to each Instagram story, including 1 clickable hashtag sticker.

And if you’re worried about how hashtags will impact a carefully crafted aesthetic, there are a few hashtags hacks to make them seamlessly fit in with your post, or be hidden completely.

For example, you can make your text-based hashtags smaller (just ‘pinch’ the text) and hide them under a GIF or sticker.

TIP: Don’t make your hashtag text too small — if it becomes illegible, Instagram won’t pick up on it and it’s unlikely your post will appear in any hashtag searches.

Tip #5: Entice Your Followers to Follow Your Branded Hashtag

In a big update from 2018, Instagram added the ability to “follow” hashtags, meaning you can now stay up-to-date on various topics (or communities) by following a hashtag related to your interests.

Following a hashtag works just like following a user’s profile. When you find a hashtag you’d like to follow you simply open the hashtag page and tap on the follow button.

For brands and businesses, this opens up a great opportunity to regularly appear in a follower’s feed. For example, if you have a branded hashtag for your business, you can invite your followers to also follow your unique hashtag.

This means that your content could appear twice in a follower’s feed — once as they follow your profile, and once again as they follow the hashtag. It doubles your chances of engagement!

Tip #6: Run Hashtag-Based Campaigns & Promotions

Contests structured around user-generated content (UGC) are all the rage, and with good reason: they’re fun, popular, and great for both driving engagement and reaching a new audience.

Create a contest where your followers upload photos on Instagram and tag their post with your branded hashtag.

Tip #7: Avoid Using Banned Hashtags on Instagram 

Last but not least, our final tip is to avoid using banned hashtags on your Instagram posts.

Banned hashtags have been flagged and “disabled” by Instagram for infringing community guidelines — making them completely useless for your brand exposure.

What’s more, even seemingly innocent hashtags are on the banned list, such as #humpday and #elevator, so it’s definitely worth giving your tags a quick check!

You can also view a list of banned Instagram hashtags here.

Best Practices for Instagram Hashtags in 2020

Instagram hashtags can be a powerful tool for discovery when used properly — but they can also look spammy and hurt your account when used incorrectly.

Here are some rules to get more from your Instagram hashtags in 2020:

#1: When Should I Use Instagram Hashtags?

The short answer? As often as possible! Whenever you share content on Instagram, whether it’s a post or Instagram story, if your goal is to get it seen by as many people as possible, you need to be using Instagram hashtags.

That being said, there might be occasions where using hashtags isn’t necessary, like if you’re sharing a personal anecdote or story.

This is more often the case with Instagram Stories than with regular posts (because they tend to be more casual in general), but it varies from case-to-case. At the end of the day, it’s best to weigh the tone or topic of your post, along with what you’re hoping to achieve, and then decide if it makes sense to use hashtags.

#2: How Many Hashtags Should I Use?

Unfortunately, there’s no hard-and-fast rule when it comes to deciding how many hashtags you should use. While some experts like Alex Tooby recommend using the maximum number of hashtags allowed, because it gives you more opportunities to be discovered, others recommend using just 5-10.

We’ve seen all sorts of strategies and ideas on how many hashtags make the difference, but at the end of the day, it’s really up to you. If you can find 30 super-relevant hashtags to add to each post, then you should definitely go for it.

However, if you don’t feel comfortable using that many, feel free to use fewer. It’s okay to experiment with the number of hashtags you use in your posts — it’s all about finding your hashtag sweet spot!

#3: What Hashtags Should I Use?

The most important thing to keep in mind when deciding what hashtags to use is that you’re being intentional — as in, you’re using hashtags that your target audience is actually searching for and following!

According to Tooby, It’s important to switch up your Instagram hashtags in every post to avoid being “spammy.” It’s also a good idea to avoid gimmicky hashtags such as #likeforlike, and hashtags that have been used over 1M times. While these hashtags might get you a few extra likes, they aren’t going to help you grow a highly engaged, targeted following.

Instead, try looking for ultra-niche community hashtags that are specifically relevant to the content you post. It’s not a bad idea to use Saved Captions to build multiple hashtag lists that are organized by theme or category.

For example, if you’re a business that targets small business owners in the fashion industry, you may have multiple hashtags that you use on different topics.

Some may be specifically for small businesses, while others might be about fashion and ecommerce. The key is to collect and categorize them so that when they are used in a post, you can easily tell which pulls in the most engagement on your post.

And don’t forget to use your branded hashtag whenever it makes sense! The first step to getting other users to share your branded hashtag is to use it yourself.

Watch Alex Tooby chat more about Instagram Stories for small businesses, hashtags and building a strategy for success in this video:

#4: Should My Hashtags be Visible?

According to Instagram, you can add hashtags to either the post caption or the comments.

However, by adding hashtags to captions, you’ll benefit from the extra engagement as soon as you hit publish, rather than having to wait until your comment is written and posted.

If you prefer a tidier caption, you can also add line breaks between the main part of your caption and the hashtags. This will keep your hashtags neatly tucked away, so you can maintain a beautiful streamlined aesthetic:

If you’re a Later user, you can easily add line breaks to your captions with the Later app. All you have to do is press the return key while writing your caption and you’ll have lovely, spaced out captions for your Instagram posts!

Using Instagram hashtags strategically is a great way to connect with customers, find content created about you by your followers, and build long-term relationships with influential partners!

Ready to get moving with your Instagram marketing strategy? Later makes it easy for you to plan, manage, and schedule your Instagram posts!

Written By

Benjamin Chacon

Benjamin is a Content Marketing Strategist at Later and recent transplant from Toronto. You can follow his day-to-day on Instagram @benjaminchacs.