How many Instagram hashtags should you include?

That depends …

Instagram allows a maximum of 30 hashtags. But how many should you use?

**Don’t make a hash of hashtags** Include the right number for reach and engagement. *Image by Lim Yong Hian*

That depends. Are you aiming for more reach? Or higher engagement?

Posts with at least 9 hashtags got the highest engagement in a report by Track Maven. In another study, posts with 30 hashtags received almost twice the engagement of those with 5 or less, according to a Later analysis of 18 million IG feed posts.
20 hashtags is ideal for reaching more viewers, according to Later’s research. Posts with 30 hashtags got the second-highest average reach.

**Fully engaged** Posts with 9 hashtags did much better than those with 8 or fewer, *according to an analysis* of Instagram feed posts. *Infographic from Track Maven*

Bottom line: More is more. Posts with more hashtags perform better.

TIP: If you don’t want to exhaust your 2,200-character caption limit for hashtags, you can also add hashtags as comments.

**Expand your reach** Posts with 20 hashtags reached the most audience members, according to research by Later. Those with 30 performed almost as well. *Infographic by Later*

How long should hashtags be?

Posts with 21-character hashtags received much more engagement, on average, compared to those with fewer or more hashtags, according to Track Maven.

What’s the best Instagram caption length for you?

Of course, different caption and hashtag lengths may perform differently for different accounts. Play around with your caption and hashtag lengths, and see what works best for your audience, brand and type of content.

How long should your content be?

How long should your blog post be? Your mobile headline? Online paragraphs? Sentences and words?

Learn to write readable content-marketing pieces that don't overwhelm readers — even on their smartphones — at Get Clicked, Liked & Shared, our content-writing workshop that starts April 18.

You’ll learn the most effective length for content-marketing pieces, online paragraphs, sentences and words. Then you’ll analyze your message with a free online writing tool and get tips and tools for meeting those targets.

Plus: Entice visitors to read more of your story by hitting one key on your keyboard more often. And learn to avoid using one “unretweetable” punctuation mark.

Save up to $100 with our group discounts.