Hashtags still work, but only just: they label a post and group your own content, and they’re no longer worth much of your time. If you still have a note on your phone with 30 hashtags you paste under every post, you can delete it. Instagram has done the job for you.
In December 2025, Instagram announced it would limit captions on posts and Reels to five hashtags, rolling the change out gradually. Instagram’s own advice alongside the change was that a few targeted hashtags work better than many generic ones. That followed a year of testing caps with some accounts, and repeated comments from Instagram head Adam Mosseri that hashtags don’t meaningfully increase reach.
What hashtags do now
They used to be a discovery engine. You’d add #byronbaywedding and appear in a feed of everyone else using it, and people browsing that tag might find you. That mostly stopped working years ago, because those feeds filled up with spam and Instagram shifted to recommending content based on what people engage with.
What’s left:
They label the post. A hashtag is a signal about what a post is about. Mosseri has described them as a way to let people know what a post is about and to connect related posts, rather than a way to grow reach.
They group your own content. A branded hashtag (#yourbusinessname or a campaign tag) makes it easy to find all your posts, or all your customers’ posts, on a topic. Useful for events, giveaways and user-generated content.
They help on some platforms more than others. On LinkedIn and TikTok, hashtags still get used as topic labels, though both platforms lean heavily on the content itself. On Facebook they do very little for a business Page.
What they don’t do is put your post in front of thousands of strangers. If a post isn’t reaching people, hashtags won’t fix it.
Why keywords in your caption matter more
Instagram search has become much more like a search engine. People type “dog groomer Ballina” or “bathroom renovation ideas” into the search bar, and Instagram looks at what’s in your profile, captions and on-screen text to decide what’s relevant.
That changes where the effort should go. A caption like this does more for search than any set of hashtags:
Finished this bathroom renovation in Lennox Head this week. Walk-in shower, floor-to-ceiling tiles and a recessed niche.
It contains the service, the place and specific detail, in a sentence a person would write. Compare it with a vague caption and a block of tags:
Another one done! ✨ #bathroom #reno #tiles #renovation #homedesign
The first version tells Instagram (and the reader) exactly what it is. The second makes Instagram guess.
The same goes for your profile. Your name field and bio are searchable, so “Smith Plumbing | Ballina Plumber” in the name field helps people searching for a plumber in Ballina find you. Writing natural captions that include these words is covered in our guide to captions that sound like a person wrote them.
A sensible approach for a local business
You don’t need a strategy for this. You need a habit.
Use three to five hashtags, not more. Even where the limit hasn’t reached your account yet, there’s no benefit to going over.
Make them specific. One for your location, one or two for the service or product, and your business name if you want to group your posts. For example: #lennoxhead #bathroomrenovation #smithplumbing. Generic tags like #love, #instagood or #smallbusiness tell Instagram nothing useful about who should see your post.
Put the real effort into the caption. Say what’s in the photo, where it is, and one detail that matters. Use the words a customer would type into a search bar.
Add text on screen for Reels. A short headline on the video (“Bathroom reno, Lennox Head”) helps people understand it instantly and gives Instagram another clue.
Keep a short list, not a long one. A handful of location and service tags you rotate through is enough. If you plan posts in batches, as in our guide to batching a month of social content in one afternoon, add the hashtags at the same time and stop thinking about them.
Use a branded tag for campaigns. If you’re running a competition or asking customers to share photos, a unique hashtag makes them easy to find. Check it isn’t already used for something else before you print it on anything.
Where your time is better spent
If you used to spend ten minutes per post researching hashtags, spend that ten minutes on these instead:
- Take a better photo. Good light, a clean lens, the subject filling the frame. Strong images do more for reach than any tag.
- Write a better first line. It’s the bit people see before deciding to tap “more”.
- Reply to comments within the first hour or so. Conversation tells Instagram people care about the post.
- Make a Reel. They reach non-followers far more than standard posts.
- Share the post to your stories so your existing followers actually see it.
All of those affect who sees your content. Hashtags, at this point, barely do.
Frequently asked questions
Should I delete hashtags from my old posts?
No. There’s no benefit to going back and editing old posts. Just use fewer from now on.
Do hidden hashtags in comments or under dots still work?
Putting hashtags in the first comment, or hiding them below a column of full stops, was a workaround for messy captions. It doesn’t change anything about reach, and with a five-tag limit there’s no clutter to hide.
What about hashtags on LinkedIn?
Use two or three relevant ones at most. LinkedIn treats them as topic labels, and a long string of them looks spammy to the professionals you’re trying to reach.
Things change quickly on social platforms, and this reflects how Instagram works at the time of writing, late 2026. Keeping up with those changes is part of the job for our social media management service, along with the posting, captions and tags. It pairs well with a commercial photography shoot so there’s always something worth posting.