Short answer: Yes, but they do a smaller job than they used to. Hashtags now mainly help platforms and searchers understand what a post is about; they rarely put you in front of a big new audience on their own. Use a handful of specific tags (Instagram is moving every account to a maximum of five per post, and X recommends no more than two) and put most of your effort into the content, captions and on-screen keywords.
In the early days of Instagram and Twitter, a well-chosen hashtag could put a post in front of thousands of strangers browsing that tag. Since then, feeds have moved to recommendation systems that decide what each person sees based on their behaviour. Hashtags have not disappeared, but their role has changed, and the rules now differ a lot between platforms.
What do hashtags actually do in 2026?
On most platforms, hashtags now do three things:
- Classify your content. They are one of several clues, alongside captions, audio, visuals and on-screen text, that tell the system what a post is about. TikTok, for example, lists captions, sounds and hashtags as part of the video information it uses for recommendations.
- Make posts findable in search. People can still tap or search a hashtag to see related posts, especially for events, communities and niche topics.
- Group campaign content. A branded tag for a competition, event or product launch makes entries easy to collect.
What they no longer do reliably is push a post to a large audience just because it sits under a popular tag. Generic tags such as #fyp or #explore attach your post to millions of others and tell the system very little.
| Platform | Current rule or official guidance | What hashtags are good for now |
|---|---|---|
| Gradual cap of five hashtags per post or Reel, announced December 2025; hashtags can no longer be followed | Topic signals and hashtag search | |
| TikTok | Hashtags are part of the video information used for recommendations | Classification and TikTok search |
| YouTube | Up to three hashtags shown near the title; more than 60 and all are ignored; tags must be relevant | Hashtag results pages and topic context |
| X | No more than two per post recommended | Joining live conversations and trends |
| LinkedIn says hashtags are no longer needed for relevant posts to surface | Light context and event tags |
What changed with hashtags on Instagram?
A maximum of five per post
For years Instagram captions could carry long blocks of hashtags. After about a year of testing lower limits, in December 2025 Instagram announced on its creators account that it would gradually reduce the number of hashtags allowed in the caption of a post or Reel to five. Its advice was to use fewer, more targeted tags rather than many generic ones, and it warned that broad tags such as #reels or #explore do not help content reach Explore and can even hurt performance.
You can no longer follow hashtags
In late 2024 Instagram removed the option to follow a hashtag, so followed tags stopped feeding posts into people’s home feeds. Instagram said it would keep surfacing relevant posts through recommendations in Feed, Explore and Reels instead. Hashtags still work in search, so a specific tag can still help someone looking for that topic find you.
For the bigger picture of what drives Instagram reach, read how the Instagram algorithm works.
Do hashtags still work on TikTok and YouTube?
TikTok
TikTok says its For You recommendations rely mainly on how people interact with videos, with video information such as captions, sounds and hashtags as another input. In practice, a few accurate hashtags help TikTok place your video in the right topic, while words in your caption, on-screen text and what you say out loud matter just as much for search. Our guide to ranking in TikTok search covers keywords in more depth.
YouTube
On YouTube, hashtags in the title or description link to a results page for that tag, and up to three hashtags from the description can appear next to the title. YouTube’s rules are strict: if a video has more than 60 hashtags, YouTube ignores all of them, over-tagging can get a video removed from search, and hashtags that are unrelated or misleading can lead to removal under its misleading metadata policies. Two or three relevant tags are plenty. Titles and descriptions do most of the work, as explained in our guide to YouTube SEO.
Are hashtags worth using on X and LinkedIn?
X still treats hashtags as a way to join conversations: tapping one shows other posts with the same tag, and popular tags can become trends. Its own help centre recommends using no more than two per post. Use them for live events, news and community chats rather than as a list at the end of every post. For how X decides what appears in the For You feed, see how the X algorithm ranks posts.
LinkedIn scaled hashtags back in 2024, removing the hashtags creators used to display on their profiles. It told Social Media Today that hashtags were no longer needed to help the most relevant posts surface, because its systems can identify topics and keywords within posts. One or two tags for an event or a well-known topic will not hurt, but clear writing matters far more; our explainer on how the LinkedIn algorithm works explains why.
How do you choose hashtags that still help?
- Describe the post, not your hopes. Choose tags someone interested in this exact topic would search, such as #sourdoughstarter rather than #food.
- Go specific. Mix one broader topic tag with two or three niche or local ones, and keep within each platform’s limit.
- Check the tag before using it. Search it and look at the recent posts. If it is full of spam or unrelated content, skip it.
- Use the same words in your caption. Keywords in the caption, title and on-screen text reinforce what the tags say.
- Keep a branded tag for campaigns. It is useful for collecting entries or customer posts, even if it does not drive reach.
- Avoid tag walls and copy-paste sets. Repeating the same block on every post looks spammy and adds nothing. If reach collapses after a change, our guide on checking for a shadowban helps you rule out other causes.
Frequently asked questions
Should Instagram hashtags go in the caption or the first comment?
Put them in the caption. Instagram’s announcement about the five-hashtag limit refers to hashtags in captions, and keeping tags with the post makes its topic clear to both people and the system.
How many hashtags should you use on TikTok?
TikTok does not publish an ideal number. Three to five specific, relevant tags alongside a clear, keyword-rich caption is a sensible default.
Can the wrong hashtags hurt your reach?
Yes. Instagram has said generic tags can hurt performance, and YouTube ignores all hashtags on a video with more than 60 and can remove content with misleading ones. Irrelevant tags also show your post to people who are unlikely to engage.
Do branded hashtags still work?
They work for organising content, such as competition entries, event photos or customer posts, and for making your community feel part of something. They rarely bring in new audiences on their own.
Sources: YouTube Help: Hashtags, X Help: How to use hashtags, TikTok Newsroom: How TikTok recommends videos #ForYou