Hashtags help your posts reach people who do not already follow you. We pick them automatically based on three signals: your brand context, what is working for similar businesses, and what has historically performed for you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • How hashtags get picked
  • Your top performers
  • Adding your own hashtags
  • Banned or off limits hashtags
  • How many hashtags per post
  • Frequently Asked Questions

How hashtags get picked

  1. Brand context: your industry, location, and tone shape the starting list.
  2. Per post relevance: each caption pulls in tags that match the specific topic of that post, not just generic industry tags.
  3. Performance learning: every published post reports back its reach and engagement. Tags that drive results get prioritised in future posts. New tags rotate in so the system keeps testing.

Your top performers

Open Brand Kit. Above the hashtag input you will see a chip row labelled "Top performers", showing the hashtags from your published posts that have driven the most reach in the last 180 days. Tap any chip to add it to your standard list.

Adding your own hashtags

  1. Open Brand Kit.
  2. Type your custom hashtags into the Hashtag field (one per line or comma separated).
  3. Save.

Your custom hashtags get blended with the AI selected ones at post generation time. The system never overrides tags you explicitly added, but it may swap underperformers in or out at the edges.

Banned or off limits hashtags

Add anything you do not want appearing on your posts to the Exclusions field in Brand Kit. Useful for competitor tags, off brand topics, or anything Meta has flagged on your account.

How many hashtags per post

Your Hashtag preference in Brand Kit picks the volume:

  • None, captions stay clean.
  • Few, 3 to 5 hashtags.
  • Many, up to Instagram's 30 hashtag cap.

Stories include hashtags in the caption for searchability, but they do not display publicly on stories.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Do hashtags still work in 2026?
    Yes, especially niche and location based tags. The system focuses on tags that actually drive reach, not vanity volume.
  2. Why did my favourite hashtag disappear?
    If it consistently underperformed, the system rotated it out. Add it back manually in Brand Kit to keep using it.
  3. Can I see which hashtags are driving reach?
    Yes. The Analytics page has a Hashtag performance breakdown.