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There was a time when we were spending hours researching, testing and advising on hashtags. Some brands even had multi-page hashtag strategies. They were the backbone of social search and discovery, but today, they feel like digital relics. It’s time to consider if they are really dead or just evolving.
Think back to #ThrowbackThursday and #BlackFriday. They first exploded on Twitter in 2007 as a way to join conversations and surf cultural trends.
Soon, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and TikTok adopted them too, each adapting them for their own ecosystems. They thrived because they were easy to use, built communities and helped people discover new content organically.
Fast forward to 2025, the landscape looks very different. Platforms have shifted towards algorithm-driven feeds that prioritise personalised content over chronological or hashtag-driven search.
Meanwhile, search itself has progressed. As we’ve discussed before, keywords, natural language queries, and platform SEO features are taking centre stage. LLMs (Large Language Models) like ChatGPT, now favour content that answers real questions and reads naturally. This has only increased as Instagram announced it will index public posts too. Users are also increasingly discovering content through recommendations and curated feeds, not hashtags.
While hashtags still exist, they’re no longer the main discovery tool they once were.
So, what should brands do?
Start with audience-first thinking. Before adding a hashtag to your post, ask, “is my audience using or following this?”. If it’s too generic, leave it out.
For campaigns and events, branded hashtags can still work, but only if part of a clear strategy:
Define its purpose. Is it for UGC? Community building? Or simply tracking?
Promote it actively. It needs to be consistently used and reinforced across channels.
Avoid doing it for vanity. Adding your brand name doesn’t build connection. Instead, focus on something relevant and memorable.
Discoverability still matters and, in industries like tech, sustainability, or really niche communities, specific and well-researched hashtags help. But that requires understanding your audience’s language uses, tracking your competitors or industry leaders and using tags with active engagement.
Hashtags performance varies by platform, so before you fill your post with them, tailor your use:
Instagram: Once home to 20+ hashtags per post, Instagram now leans into Reels, personalisation and algorithmic discovery. In fact, it even removed hashtag following at the end of 2024. That, along with the fact public posts will be indexed, it’s clear hashtags are less relevant.
LinkedIn: Hashtags still help with content curation, especially in B2B conversations. They can help with communities’ alignment, but they aren’t core to discovery. With that in mind, keep them limited to between one and three, highly relevant to your content and audience.
TikTok: Hashtags blur with trending sounds and challenges, but the algorithm largely drives discovery. Users rarely search hashtags the way they once did—content finds them instead. They are still widely used on TikTok, as it is believed they still help the algorithm to find relevant audiences. Don’t rule them out, but focus on creating high-quality, keyword rich content over the hashtags you’re going to use.
X: Once the home of hashtags, it’s since seen a 30% decline in hashtag usage and has recently removed the ability to run paid ads with branded hashtags. They can still help to join real-time conversations, especially around an event. They should be used sparingly in this instance, with around one to two per post.
Essentially, hashtags still have a place. Maybe not for content discoverability, but instead for tracking, or aligning with niche conversations. And the hashtag strategies of the past are mostly unnecessary now.
Hashtags might be evolving, but there’s no shortage of ways to get your content in front of the right people. It simply takes a change in approach.
Focus on how your audience searches for your content. Consider the keywords and phrases they use. Ensure they’re embedded into your captions, your images and videos as well as your profile bios.
Don’t forget to lean into the platform specific, community-first features.
Obsessing over the perfect hashtags is no longer a good use of your time.
Instead, invest in content strategy, distribution and community building. Let the keywords, format and relevance drive your discoverability.
All that time you used to use on your hashtags, can instead be thrown into building authentic relationships with your audience and ensuring your posts are discoverable in other ways. If you’re unsure where to start, we can show you how to make your posts work harder and bring your content strategy into 2025.
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