A Guide to the Most Popular Instagram Hashtags in 2024

While Twitter (now X) was the first platform to introduce hashtags in 2019, other social media platforms also followed suit. Instagram was among them, going as far as allowing its users to follow certain hashtags.

Unlike Twitter, where most people recommend that you should not use more than two or three hashtags in a single tweet, Instagram encourages large-scale hashtag usage. It is common for people to include up to 20 hashtags in a single post, and many use the maximum they are permitted – 30 hashtags.

These hashtags may be related to an occasion, geographical location, business niche, feeling, or trending topic. You can use Instagram hashtags on posts, Stories, comments, and even bios. Let's take a look at some of the most popular Instagram hashtags that you can use in your personal or professional Instagram posts.

What Are Instagram Hashtags?

Instagram hashtags, just like hashtags on other platforms, are keywords or phrases that follow the "#" symbol. They are hyperlinked, meaning that when you click on one, you will see all the other posts that have used the same hashtags.

For example, #Instagram is a hashtag. #ShareACoke is another. The difference between these two is that the first is general, while the second one is a business hashtag. As a business, you can use both types in your post.

For example, Listerine uses its branded hashtag #Listerine along with general ones like #oralhealth and #oralcare in its Instagram posts. However, for personal use, generic, trending, and event-based hashtags are the most commonly used.

What Is The Purpose of Using Instagram Hashtags?

Hashtags are used to help you group content. These can either be general hashtags that everybody uses – in which case you are grouping your posts and images with others who upload similar content. Alternatively, many businesses create niche hashtags to develop interest, and to consolidate posts relating to a particular product or campaign together.

Most Instagram users love to boost their following. But there is little point in being followed by somebody with entirely different interests to you. By using appropriate hashtags with your content, you are making your posts available to people who have an interest in the same subjects. And if they like your posts, they are likely to follow you in the hope of seeing more content on the same topic.

Even if people don't go as far as following you, they may like the content of yours that they come across when searching for a particular hashtag. When you use hashtags, you are effectively helping Instagram sort and organize your posts – helping them reach people who will value them.

Effectiveness of Hashtags: Are Hashtags Even Worth it Anymore?

Recently, there has been some debate about the effectiveness of Instagram hashtags. Some people argue that most hashtags are saturated to the point that they no longer bring any significant reach or engagement. However, others still support the use of hashtags. Let's look at both sides.

Arguments In Favor of Using Hashtags

Many Instagram and marketing experts seem to believe that hashtags are still very much alive and important. For example, Benjamin Chacon, a content marketing specialist at Later, says,

He's not alone in his belief. Other experts back up the claim that hashtags are worthwhile on Instagram, including Christina Nicholson, a social media specialist at Huffington Post, who says,

Mention's Instagram Report also agrees with this notion. It found that Instagram posts that use 11 or more hashtags have the highest average engagement rate, with posts with 4 hashtags in second place. So, there's no denying that hashtags can still serve their purpose of improving discoverability and reach.

Arguments Against Using Hashtags

With enough evidence and expert backing to show that hashtags are beneficial, the counterarguments seem to stem from personal experience. Many users in the Instagram community argue that hashtags have lost their effectiveness and don't bring as much engagement as they used to. Some even believe that hashtags have become spammy and overused, causing them to lose their value altogether.

However, it's likely that this is due to the use of irrelevant hashtags. Instagram has a set of strict community guidelines and a list of over 60,000 banned hashtags. Some of these hashtags are as common and seemingly unharmful as #adulting and #alone. So, when you use these hashtags, your post won't show in other people's feeds.

The other likely reason is oversaturation. Single-word and generic hashtags like #love and #food have more than a billion posts associated with them. So, it's nearly impossible to get your post noticed among the masses. If you want hashtags to work, they have to be more specific and targeted. Otherwise, it'll just be a drop in the ocean.

The 100 Most Popular Instagram Hashtags

Currently, the 100 most popular Instagram hashtags are as follows:

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags for Likes and Follows

While these hashtags might not bring in the best likes and follows, they're still commonly used by Instagram creators to encourage other Instagram users to engage with their content and accounts.

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags for Pet Posts

If you've got a furry friend in your life, there are hashtags for that! While the majority of the more popular hashtags for pets on Instagram have to do with dogs and cats, you can pretty much put the type of pet you have followed by "OfInstagram" (as in "#GoldfishOfInstagram") and you'll find your people.

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags for Travel Posts 

If you're a travel influencer (or just love travel), you'll find quite a few popular Instagram hashtags to help you get your content found. Got the travel bug? A scroll through these hashtags will only make it worse.

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags for Motivation Posts

Motivational posts are quite popular on Instagram, especially with regards to hustling and staying fit. You can also find inspirational business quotes on the platform using these hashtags.

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags for the Fashion Industry

Head's up, fashion influencers! Here are the most popular Instagram hashtags to join in the conversations that will get you noticed on the platform.

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags for Fitness Influencers

Are you a fitness influencer? Use these most popular fitness-related hashtags to reach the right people.

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags for Beauty and Skincare Industry 

Are you a beauty influencer or business? Here are some Instagram hashtags that can help you appear in search results for beauty-related keywords.

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags for Food and Beverage Industry

Food influencers and food lovers will want to check out these Instagram hashtags!

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags for Tech and Gadgets Posts

Instagram is also a great place to market your tech business or work as a tech blogger. The following hashtags are popular in this niche.

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags for Running a Contest or a Giveaway

Social media giveaways help attract new audiences and retain existing followers. You can use these hashtags in your contest and giveaways posts on Instagram.

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags for Reels

Your Instagram Reels marketing strategy can help make you more visible on the platform since Instagram is currently pushing Reels. Here are some popular Instagram Reels hashtags to use.

Most Popular Occasion-Based Instagram Hashtags

Occasion-based hashtags are popular among Instagram users because they are timely and can help you reach a specific audience. Here are some of the most used occasion-based hashtags on Instagram.

Most Popular Event-Based Instagram Hashtags

Popular events like the Met Gala and Olympics also have hashtags associated with them. Use the following hashtags when you create posts around these events.

How to Find the Best Instagram Hashtags

Instagram likes it when creators use different hashtags on different posts rather than using the same block of hashtags on every post. This means you need to build up a library of hashtags or hashtag groups with slight variations and then choose the right combination of hashtags for each post.

To find the right hashtags to use on your Instagram content, here's what you can do:

1. Use Instagram's Search Function

Instagram's search function is the easiest way to find relevant hashtags. All you have to do is type in a keyword related to your post, and Instagram will show you a list of related hashtags and their popularity. For example, if you want to look for hashtags for your clean makeup brand, just search #cleanmakeup. Instagram shows you all the popular hashtags you can use.

Instagram hashtag search

2. Use Hashtags Your Competitors Are Using 

You can also take a look at what hashtags your competitors are using on their posts. For example, as a clean makeup brand, you can search for other clean makeup brands and see what hashtags they are using. Then, use those hashtags in your posts and analyze their performance.

3. Use Hashtags Other People In Your Niche Are Using 

Besides competitors, you can also look at what hashtags other general users and influencers in your niche are using. Since your audience is already following these users, using similar hashtags will help you reach them.

For example, Cher Webb is a beauty influencer who shares clean makeup products. She uses hashtags like #cleanmakeup, #veganmakeup, and #simplemakeup in her posts. Brands in the space can also use these hashtags to reach her audience. 

What Are the Types of Instagram Hashtags?

Most Instagram hashtags are broad and subject-level. This makes them useful for any Instagram user adding content related to that hashtag. Sometimes, though, you need hashtags that are a bit more targeted. More targeted hashtags also tend to have less competition.

1. Brand Hashtags

Many brands create hashtags related to their brand or products. An excellent example of this is the global beverage company Coca-Cola. They encourage people to post pictures of themselves sharing a bottle of Coke using the #ShareACoke hashtag. This is also a great way to get user-generated content that you can then use (with permission) in your marketing.

A quick tip about branded hashtags: focus on your tagline or a hashtag related to your value proposition instead of your brand name. More people are likely to use the #ShareACoke hashtag than they would be to use #CocaCola.

2. Category Hashtags

Category hashtags can be broad, but you'll want to keep them closely related to the subject of your content. So, if you're sharing a picture of yourself running a road race like the Chicago Marathon, you'll want to stick to categories like #running and #marathon instead of #TrailRunning. These hashtags generally don't connect to any brand and are less focused. We recommend using category hashtags that are as narrowly focused as possible.

3. Event Hashtags

Event hashtags, as you can probably guess, relate to a particular event. So, using the Chicago Marathon as an example again, you might use #ChicagoMarathon or even #ChicagoMarathon2024. Event hashtags aren't limited to traditional events, either. They can be used to tag your content for television shows (#QueerEye), major sporting events (#Olympics), conferences (#MozCon), and more.

4. Campaign Hashtags

Many brands use campaign hashtags to organize the content they create around a specific campaign. These are typically used short-term and will last only as long as the campaign. You'll see lots of campaign hashtags for product launches.

How to Use Hashtags for Instagram?

As we've discussed above, Instagram hashtags are effective, but only if they're relevant and used correctly. Here's how to use Instagram hashtags strategically.

Optimize the Use of Hashtags 

You can use anywhere from one to 30 hashtags on Instagram, but that doesn't mean you should use all of them. Instagram had previously advised creators to use between 3 and 5 hashtags on their posts.

However, research by Later shows that the more hashtags to use, the better the results. Their analysis of 18 million Instagram feed posts found that 20 hashtags generate the most engagement. Besides Instagram post captions, you can also use hashtags in your Instagram Stories, bio, and comments.

Don't limit yourself to branded hashtags alone. Instead, use a mix of niche, trending, and branded hashtags to reach a versatile audience. Most importantly, do not use any of Instagram's banned hashtags, as your post will not be shown in the hashtag feed.

Follow Relevant Hashtags

Earlier in 2018, Instagram made a range of changes to its platform. This includes the ability to follow hashtags on Instagram.

This makes hashtag usage even more critical. Your posts have the chance to appear in the feeds of people who follow the hashtags you use.

This is probably another reason why you want to include some "long tail" hashtags on your posts, as it may make it easier for your posts to compete with the thousands, often millions, of others using popular hashtags.

To find suitable hashtags for your posts, you can follow industry-related hashtags. For example, if you are a fitness influencer, follow hashtags like #fitnessmotivation and #healthylifestyle to get inspiration from other users and also find new hashtags to use.

Besides following hashtags, you can also use them to search for related accounts and get content inspiration. Instagram’s March 2024 update has improved hashtag discoverability by showing you all search results for a hashtag.

Previously, Instagram only showed ‘’Top Posts’’ when you searched for a hashtag. Now, you can see accounts, audios, tags, places, and Reels that use the searched hashtag. So, there’s a higher chance of finding new hashtags and accounts to follow, making it easier for you to stay updated and on-trend in your industry.

Analyze Hashtag Performance

Keep an eye on how your hashtags are performing to decide if you want to continue using them or not. Instagram's built-in analytics show you post performance but not hashtag performance. So, you'll have to use a third-party tool. Our guide on free hashtag tracking tools provides a ton of options.

Don't Rely Too Much on Popular Hashtags 

By definition, the most popular hashtags are the most used hashtags. #love, for instance, has been used in 1.2 billion posts. This presents a problem if you are hoping to use hashtags that will make your posts stand out.

You need to balance your wish to use popular hashtags against the danger of being crowded out of high-demand topics. In many ways, this is similar to SEO when you try to chase keyword terms in Google's search engine. Most people will do better if they attempt to rank for long-tail terms, such as "men's fashion in New York," than they will for a broad term like "fashion."

You can also find a way around it by using more niche and specific hashtags. For example, instead of using #fitness, you can use #yogalove or #PCOSworkout to target a more specific audience and decrease competition.

Stay Updated With Algorithm Changes

Instagram also keeps updating its algorithm, which also impacts hashtag performance. Follow Instagram on popular social media platforms to stay updated with these changes.

For example, back in 2022, Instagram tested a change with a small group of users by removing the "Recent" tab in the hashtag search. The social media platform only kept "Top" and "Reels" tabs to help people find the most popular posts and Reels, the latter because the company has been pushing it for a while as a competitor to TikTok. Since then, the change has become permanent.

For a small group, we’re testing more recent and timely content in ‘Top’ and ‘Reels’ tabs in hashtags, and removing the ‘Recent’ tab. We want to see if this helps people connect with more interesting and relevant content on hashtags, while also keeping them across what’s current. pic.twitter.com/nLb6BiFRws

— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) April 19, 2022

Recently, Instagram also simplified the hashtag experience by letting people tap on hashtags to see search results related to them. The results are divided by accounts, audio, Reels, tags, and places, to make it easier to find the content you're looking for.

This update indicates that location, audio, branded, and Reel-based hashtags can improve your content's searchability.

Wrapping Up

With that, we've come to the end of our guide on the most popular Instagram hashtags. We've covered the best hashtags to use for different use cases and niches. It's also important to ensure relevance and diversity in your hashtag usage.

Keep monitoring the hashtags to use so that you can update or remove them as needed. Besides generic hashtags, you can also use campaign-focused, branded, event-based, and product-focused hashtags based on your posts.

If you want to learn how you can use hashtags to boost your Instagram presence, we have a guide on using hashtags to grow your followers that you can check out.

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Influencer Marketing Hub

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The Influencer Marketing Hub Team brings together a diverse group of experts with a passion for influencer marketing, digital trends, and social media strategies. Each piece of content crafted by this team is researched and written to provide valuable insights, tips, and updates for our readers. Our authors are dedicated to delivering high-quality, informative, and engaging articles that help businesses and influencers thrive in this rapidly changing digital world.