List of Best Hashtags for Instagram for Likes and Followers(2026)
Growing up on Instagram nowadays is not all about good pictures or videos. Visibility is important, and hashtags still play an important role in helping your content to reach the right audience. Hashtags if utilised correctly, can help to increase likes, reach and genuinely reach followers without having to rely on paid promotions. In this article, we will discuss about best hashtags for instagram for likes and followers.
However, the use of random tags in hashtags, or the use of overused hashtags just doesn’t work anymore. Instagram, as well as now embarked on a strategy of relevance and engagement, which means that the smart hashtag selection is more important than the number of hashtags.
But do Hashtags Still Help Instagram?
Yes, hashtags still work – but it’s only when they are used in combination – in a strategic way.
Hashtags help Instagram to know what your post is about and reveal it to the people who are interested in similar content. When your post gets early engagement with the help of the hashtags, then it has better chances to hit the Explore page and the hashtag feeds.
Hashtags alone will not ensure a post becomes a viral post, but it ensures the post is discoverable and this is especially true for a new or developing account.
Best general Hashtags to get Followers
These hashtags they are pretty popular tags and help with overall exposure when its aiming along with the niche tags:
#instagood
#photooftheday
#instadaily
#explorepage
#trending
#viral
#likes
#followers
Because these hashtags are very competitive, they are best used with more specific ones relating to what you are posting about.
Best Instagram reels hashtags
At the moment, Instagram has given the most reach to reels. hashtag relating to Reel can be used to increase visibility- :
#reels
#instareels
#reelsinstagram
#reelitfeelit
#viralreels
#trendingreels
In fact, reels actually work better if the hashtags have a correlation with the topic of the video and don’t just correlate with trending words.
Hashtags That Do Their Part in Gaining Followers
If your goal is to increase followers as well as likes, certain hashtags will appeal to people who are looking for new people to follow:
#followme
#instafollow
#newaccount
#contentcreator
#growoninstagram
These should be used carefully and in conjunction with content-based hashtags so as not to be of poor quality and low grade engagement.
Why Niche Hashtags are More Important
Niche hashtags will be seen by a smaller audience but they are better engaged and interested in your content. This then often leads to better likes saves and followers.
For example, hashtags used by the travel creator can be related to destinations while hashtags used by the fitness creator can be related to workout or wellness-related hashtags. Niche hashtags are hashtags that will ensure that your content is being targeted to people that will be more likely to follow you in the long term.
Popular, medium and niche hashags should be used to get the best results.
How Many Hashtags Should You Use?
Instagram lets you have a maximum of 30 hashtags in each post by a user, but you don’t have to fill them all in.
Most creators are finding consistent results for 8 to 15 well-chosen hashtags. This ensures that your caption will not have spam signals, as well as increase your reach.
Hashtags can be mainly added in the caption or in the first comment – both equally work justly.
Mistakes to Avoid With Hashtags
- Using the same hashtag set for each post can cut into reach in the long run
- Adding random hashtags may help you get views, but it won’t add much to the value of engagement
- Tweeting under banned or spammy hashtags reduce visibility
- Relying on just trending hashtags that have no relevance in the context is hardly ever going to work
- Hashtags have to be based on what’s in your content and that’s what should be in your content.
When Hashtags Work Best
Hashtags are likely to work better the more your post gets engagement shortly after posting it. This requires you to post during the times that your audience is active, and you should match your hashtags with great visuals, descriptions and consistency.
Hashtags do help in the growth, but still, the quality of content comes first.
Conclusion
The best hashtags for Instagram likes and followers are not the most popular – it’s the most relevant. A balanced mix of trending, niche and content-specific hashtags ensure that your posts can reach the right audience and invite actual engagement.
Instead of trying to hop on every new bandwagon, you need to focus on your niche – post on a regular basis and make a good and positive use of hashtags. Hashtags are a powerful content growth tool when used with quality content, especially when it comes to Instagram content growth in 2026.
Also Read: Top 10 Most Viewed Reel on Instagram
