AI Hashtag Generator

How Hashtags Work on Each Platform

Hashtags serve a different purpose on every major social media platform, and understanding those differences is key to getting the most reach from your posts.

Instagram uses hashtags as a primary categorization signal. When you add hashtags to a post, Instagram indexes them and may surface your content on the Explore page, in hashtag search results, and in the feeds of users who follow those hashtags. Instagram's algorithm considers hashtag relevance — posts that match the hashtag's typical content get prioritized. For Reels, hashtags also help with discovery in the Reels tab and search.

TikTok treats hashtags as a discovery and categorization tool for its For You page algorithm. Hashtags help TikTok understand what your video is about and who to show it to. Trending hashtags on TikTok move fast — a hashtag might dominate for a few days then fade. TikTok also uses hashtags to organize challenges and trending content themes.

LinkedIn uses hashtags to organize content into topic feeds. Users can follow specific hashtags (like #digitalmarketing or #leadership), and LinkedIn surfaces hashtagged posts in those feeds. LinkedIn hashtags work more like topic channels than discovery tools — they connect your content with professionals interested in specific subjects.

How Many Hashtags to Use

The old strategy of using 30 hashtags on every Instagram post is dead. Every major platform now rewards relevance over volume. Here's the current best practice per platform:

The consistent theme: quality over quantity. Three perfectly matched hashtags will outperform 20 vaguely related ones on every platform.

Popular vs Niche: Building Your Mix

Think of hashtag tiers like fishing in different-sized ponds. Popular hashtags (like #travel with 700M+ posts) give you access to enormous audiences — but your post competes with millions of others and gets buried within seconds. Niche hashtags (like #budgetbackpacking with 50K posts) have smaller audiences but much less competition, so your content stays visible longer and reaches people who are genuinely searching for that topic.

The winning strategy is to combine tiers. A travel photographer might use: one popular tag (#travel), one medium tag (#travelphotography), and two niche tags (#goldenhourshots, #japanstreetphoto). This gives you a shot at broad reach through the popular tag while also landing in highly targeted feeds through the niche tags.

Medium-tier hashtags are the sweet spot for many creators. They have enough volume to drive meaningful traffic but aren't so saturated that your post disappears instantly. When using this hashtag generator, pay special attention to the medium tier — those tags often deliver the best ROI.

Hashtags to Avoid

Not all hashtags help your reach — some can actively hurt it. Here are the categories to avoid:

Banned and restricted hashtags: Instagram periodically bans hashtags that become associated with spam or inappropriate content. Using a banned hashtag can shadowban your entire post. Always search a hashtag on Instagram before using it — if no results appear or you see a content warning, skip it.

Overly generic hashtags: Tags like #love, #instagood, or #photooftheday have billions of posts. Your content will be invisible within milliseconds. These tags add no targeting value and waste your limited hashtag slots.

Irrelevant trending hashtags: Jumping on a trending hashtag that has nothing to do with your content might seem like a reach hack, but algorithms detect this and may penalize your post for misleading categorization.

Repetitive hashtag sets: Using the exact same group of hashtags on every post signals spammy behavior to algorithms. Rotate your tags and generate fresh sets for each post — that's exactly what this tool helps you do.