Have you noticed your Instagram hashtags failing you recently? Posts not appearing in hashtag feeds, or plummeting engagement on images using tags that previously performed well?
You‘re not alone. With Instagram‘s algorithm evolving faster than ever, even savvy creators struggle maintaining hashtag relevance.
In this guide, we’ll unpack the leading reasons hashtags may stop working for you on Instagram and actionable solutions to troubleshoot each scenario.
Whether you want to resuscitate underperforming tags or avoid future issues altogether, these insider optimization tips can revive your Instagram hashtag strategy.
Why Hashtags Matter for Growing Your Reach
First, let’s quickly cover why hashtagging effectively holds the key for expanding your Instagram audience and traffic.
Main Benefits of Strategic Hashtag Use
Here are three core advantages hashtags offer when leveraged successfully:
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Increased visibility to non-followers: Hashtags allow your content to appear to users who don’t yet follow you, but align with your niche or interests via hashtag feeds and Stories. This means more eyes on your brand.
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New profile discoveries: When people click into a hashtag, they often browse the images and may discover brands relevant to their tastes. The right mix of niche and broadly-used tags can lead ideal potential fans to stumbling onto your page.
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Amplified engagement opportunities: Popping up in more hashtag category feeds and Stories expands possibilities for likes, shares, comments and clicks through to your bio/website. More visibility literally translates to higher engagement potential.
But issues can definitely still arise…
8 Reasons Your Instagram Hashtags May Stop Working
Have your previously successful hashtags seemed lackluster lately in regards to powering likes, comments and new followers?
Assuming you play by Instagram‘s rules, here are the most common culprits behind hashtags losing their mojo:
1. You Used a Banned or Restricted Hashtag
Repeatedly abusing prohibited Instagram hashtags—despite warning messages—can cause accounts to be restricted or penalized all together.
Always search unfamiliar hashtags first. If Instagram flags concerning content and restricts recent posts, avoid these tags to keep your account in good standing.
While keeping atop changing banned tag lists poses a challenge, investing effort here prevents major account issues.
2. Your Hashtags Are Too Generic or Irrelevant
While ultra-popular tags seem tempting for exposure, generic hashtags completely unrelated to your niche rarely convert. At best they’ll be ignored—at worst seem spammy.
Carefully tailor hashtags to content themes and your industry for suitable exposure levels and engaged new followers actually interested in your niche.
3. You Used Too Many or Too Few Hashtags
How many is too many…or too few? Instagram technically allows up to 30 tags per post. But in 2022 less is often more effective.
Too few limits reach severely. But flooding captions with 30+ excessive tags looks inorganic.
Based on recent experiments, approximately 15-20 varying hashtags emerge as the ideal range for maximizing exposure while avoiding “keyword stuffing”.
4. Your Hashtags Are Too Competitive to Gain Traction
Initially mega-popular tags like #foodie probably attracted plenty of likes and follows. But volume and speed eventually drowns out posts‘ visibility.
For the highest likelihood of staying visible in feeds long enough to engage viewers, tailor hashtags using:
- Specific flavors of major niches with under 500k associated images
- Industry jargon and slang
- Current event references and trending topics
Avoiding hyper-competitive tags showcases you understand how to play the hashtag strategy game.
5. You‘ve Been Shadowbanned
“Shadowbanning” means Instagram actively hides all or some of your posts and Stories from hashtag and Explore visibility. Too many follow/unfollows or continuing banned tag usage commonly triggers it.
Since directly appealing rarely succeeds, obsessively avoiding all shadowban red flags becomes pivotal. Limit follow/unfollow activity, dont use shady automation services, and double-check tags.
Prevention stands as your best solution.
6. You’re Experiencing Technical Difficulties
Before assuming your account is restricted, consider if platform bugs could temporarily interfere with hashtag updates.
Instagram‘s developers openly acknowledge needing to continually optimize hashtags behind-the-scenes. Glitches do sporadically disrupt tag functionality site-wide.
If formerly successful hashtags abruptly fail overnight, investigating current platform-wide issues with Instagram first proves wise.
7. Instagram‘s Algorithm Shifted
Since early 2022, Instagram‘s algorithm update dramatically deprioritizes quotes and explicitly favors unique content.
If you heavily incorporated quotes or reposted content and are now seeing hashtags underperform, adapting to the new algorithm standards will prove essential to regain visibility.
Shift to original photos/videos and captions communicating your brand story and persona for the best shot at staying aligned with Instagram‘s preferences.
8. You Keep Using the Exact Same Hashtags
Falling into autopilot mode copy-and pasting identical captions with generic #food #instafood #yum risks missing key opportunities.
Finding balance between repurposing relevant yet unique hashtags fitting the specifics of new images and offerings prevents appearing spammy.
While its wise to develop a bank of strong hashtags to mix and match from, rearrange combinations and test new timely tags with each post.
How Your Niche Impacts Ideal Hashtag Range
Now that we‘ve covered various reasons behind poor hashtag performance, let‘s analyze recent data revealing ideal hashtag numbers varying across top content categories:
Hashtag Range Comparison By Industry
| Niche/Category | Recommended Hashtag Range |
|---|---|
| Food & Drink | 15-25 tags |
| Travel | 20-25 tags |
| Fashion & Beauty | 18-22 tags |
| Fitness & Health | 10-15 tags |
| Photography & Cinematography | 20-30 tags |
As the above data highlights, ideal hashtag quantities differ significantly between industries.
This stems from factors like:
- Overall levels of niche saturation
- How quickly content moves through vertical-relevant feeds
- Whether in-the-know lingo and trending topics influence engagement
Due to fierce competition and transient trends, aesthetically-driven verticals like Travel, Fashion and Photography perform best utilizing larger hashtag ranges spanning 20-30.
Evergreen and tips-focused industries like Fitness & Health however accumulate value from smaller quantities while emphasizing precise targeting.
No matter your niche, always use strategic hashtag analysis to fuel decisions rather than guessing. Let data guide you.
Optimizing Your Approach
Armed with insider knowledge on why Instagram hashtags may fail unexpectedly, let‘s cover actionable solutions to rehabilitate your tagging strategy:
🔎 Vet Prospective Tags Thoroughly
Research unclear hashtags via Instagram’s search bar before using to understand current limitations, banned content associations and ideal pairing opportunities.
📈 Track Performance Over Time
Leverage free analytics or paid automation tools to benchmark historic hashtag performance. Identify true top performers consistently sparking engagement.
🔀 Blend Tried & True With New
Repurpose proven hashtags that continually work well while testing real-time trending topics and references fitting your niche.
🚫 Prune Irrelevant Hashtags
Assess hashtag data every 2 months, pruning ones clearly not benefiting reach/engagement anymore to make room for timely additions.
📐 Ideal Hashtag Range Rules Of Thumb
We just saw quantitative guidance varying drastically between industries. Use the above niche-specific ranges as a starting point while tweaking based on first-hand data.
🧐 Vet Automated Suggestions
Cautiously approach computer-generated “best” hashtags detached from human common sense. Manually review before copy-pasting mismatched machine-suggested tags.
The reality lies in hashtags remaining vital for expanding Instagram reach and traffic…when leveraged strategically.
But doing so requires continually monitoring performance, responding to trends and reacting to algorithm shifts.
By removing outdated assumptions and past limitations, your hashtag strategy can stay aligned to Instagram‘s persistent changes and unlock the exponential growth possible in 2023.
I wish you the best of luck connecting with fresh, eager audiences this year! Now dive in and put these pro tips into play. Your expanded reach awaits…