As any social media manager can tell you, hashtags are great for expanding your reach and building brand awareness, but if you use the wrong ones, your post could be forgotten forever.
But what happens if you place the right hashtags in the wrong place?
To satisfy our collective curiosity, I embarked on an experiment to get to the bottom of things.
In 2021, Instagram's official Creators account stated that hashtags should appear in the caption. Since then, we've followed that advice and religiously added hashtags at the end of the caption in our scheduled posts without ever questioning them.
methodology
As a dedicated social media scientist, I wanted to make sure I collected enough data, so my experiment lasted three weeks.
Here's what I did:
- I published 5 pairs of posts (10 posts total) for my vintage home decor business account, Dwelling on the Past
- Each pair of posts had similar images and captions
- One post from each couple had the hashtags in the captions, while the other post included the hashtags as a comment
- I published each pair's posts a few days apart so as not to oversaturate my audience with the same content
- I made sure to post around the same time of day to ensure timing didn't affect my results
- I checked the metrics for each post after 72 hours
Before starting this experiment, I followed Instagram's official best practices by posting hashtags only in the caption and using 3-5 hashtags per post. I had never tried including the hashtags in a comment.
Here is a sample pair of comparable posts. The images and caption are very similar and were posted around the same time, a few days apart.
This post has the hashtags in the heading:
Source: Living in the Past
Results
After publishing five pairs of posts, I examined the reach and engagement for each post.
Since Instagram stated that hashtags should be included in the caption, I looked at these numbers first:
Hashtags in the caption
| Article 1 | Article 2 | Article 3 | Post 4 | Post 5 | Average per post | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To reach | 224 | 185 | 185 | 162 | 186 | 188.4 |
| engagement | 14 | 17 | 12 | 27 | 22 | 18.4 |
| Article 1 | Post 2 | Post 3 | Article 4 | Post 5 | Average per post | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To reach | 477 | 193 | 327 | 190 | 326 | 302.6 |
| engagement | 61 | 16 | 22 | 20 | 36 | 31 |
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What do the results mean?
To do this, I took a look at the 10 suggested posts that appeared at the top of the page:
After all these analyses, I believe that the original hypothesis is correct: Hashtags are important for reach on Instagram, but it doesn't matter where you post them.
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Food stalls
Is it better to put my Instagram hashtags in the caption or in the comments?
The best place for your hashtags may depend on many factors, including the size of your account, the type of content you post, and how often you post. What works for one account may not work for another. It's best to experiment with hashtag placement to find what works best for your content.
Where should I place hashtags in my Instagram posts?
- Publish a few posts with similar images and captions
- For each pair, include the hashtags for one post in the captions and the hashtags for the other post in a comment.
- Post around the same time of day to ensure the timing doesn't affect your results
- Check the metrics for each post after 72 hours
What happens if I add my Instagram hashtags in the comments?
If you schedule posts in advance, you'll have to go back to Instagram after you publish the post to add your comment with the hashtags. If you're looking for a solution that you can set once and then forget about, add your hashtags in the post caption.
Grow on Instagram
