Instagram: limiting hashtags to 5 – how will it affect engagement?

Forget about the large number of hashtags under the posts. Instagram has announced a global update: now only five tags are enough to promote posts and Reels. Let’s consider why this happened and how it is correct to apply them now.

A feed of 30 hashtags used to be the norm, but times have changed. The company cited two key reasons for the innovation:

1. Fight against garbage. Many users have abused inappropriate tags to artificially inflate coverage that degraded the quality of the content in the feed.

2. New algorithms. Today, Instagram shows content mostly based on AI recommendations, analyzing your interests and behavior, not just tags. The influence of hashtags on distribution has become much smaller.

As the company said, this decision is not sudden – the restrictions were checked during the year, and now it will become a single rule for everyone.

How to use hashtags now to make them useful? The main principle now is quality, not quantity. Instagram recommends choosing tags more carefully. Here are some tips:

Be specific. Use hashtags that describe your content as accurately as possible. Instead of #beauty, it is better to apply #skin care or #evening makeup.

Keep the niche in mind. Add 1-2 highly specialized tags to attract exactly your target audience.

Don’t neglect them completely. Although their role has become smaller, hashtags still help algorithms better classify your post and show it to interested people.

The era of “hashtag spam” is officially over. Instagram emphasizes quality content and intelligent algorithms. Your new strategy is 3-5 well-targeted, relevant hashtags.

to share