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It’s no secret, the internet is full of spam. Unfortunately, social media is no exception. In an effort to combat spam and spammers, Instagram has bots that ban certain hashtags. If you’ve had an Instagram post that doesn’t perform well, chances are that you might have used a banned hashtag. Today, let’s take a look at how you can find out what hashtags are banned.
How to Find Banned Hashtags on Instagram
Banned hashtags change daily, so there’s no single site that can keep an accurate list of all banned hashtags. However, it only takes a minute to check a hashtag. Here’s how:
- Go to Instagram, and click the magnifying glass at the bottom of the screen.
- Enter a hashtag in the search bar, tap ‘Tags’, and click the ‘Search’ button.
- Click on the hashtag you are looking up, then tap on ‘Recent’. If you see a message that posts are hidden instead of seeing recent posts, you’ve located a banned hashtag.
A Few Surprising Banned Hashtags
In doing research for this post, I found a handful of surprising banned hashtags. (Remember, these are currently banned but may not be banned forever.)
- #adulting
- #boho
- #dm
- #direct
- #hotweather
- #humpday
- #parties
- #snapchat
Putting This to Use in Everyday Marketing
It’s pretty obvious that if you want to do well on Instagram; you should avoid using banned hashtags. Using them could get your account flagged as spam and it could seriously limit your reach and engagement. But, it’s is pretty time intensive to search every hashtag before you use it. I’d suggest listing out the most common hashtags that you use and searching each of those every month or so.
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Since 2015, Christine Schinagl has been helping crafters start and run craft businesses through her blog, Cutting for Business. As a Silhouette and Cricut crafter herself, she has a unique take on what works and what doesn’t work in the craft business world. She also enjoys teaching other crafters how to create digital SVG designs, available at through the Design with Me series.