What’s the Deal with Instagram Hashtags in 2026? - Grow Your Local Business

Podcast Summary: Grow Your Local Business

Episode Title: What’s the Deal with Instagram Hashtags in 2026?
Host: Leslie Presnall
Release Date: March 24, 2026

Episode Overview

In this timely episode, local marketing expert and life coach Leslie Presnall tackles the confusion surrounding the current state of Instagram hashtags for local businesses in 2026. Leslie explores the latest platform updates, shares best practices for using hashtags effectively, and explains the rising importance of SEO and keywords on Instagram. She also offers hands-on strategies for small business owners to be more discoverable by local clients, demystifying what actually works today—and what’s no longer worth your energy.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Hashtags in 2026: Are They Still Useful?

Are hashtags dead?
Leslie addresses the rumor: “So what's the deal with hashtags on Instagram in 2026? Are they dead? Are we still using them?” (01:23)
Limits have changed:
Instagram now only allows 3 to 5 hashtags per post or reel, a sharp decrease from the previous 30. Some users are seeing a cap of only 3.
No longer for reach:
“Hashtags no longer increase your reach ... Instagram has made much more of a shift to using SEO.” (03:00)
SEO is the priority:
Instagram now prioritizes keywords in captions, videos, images, and on-screen text over hashtags to determine audience targeting and content visibility.
“It's analyzing all of that over what hashtags you're using to determine, like, who to show your content to.” (03:30)

2. The New Role of Hashtags

Clickable and searchable:
Hashtags remain clickable and searchable. They enable users to find content related to specific tags, but not to push your posts into wider audiences.
Best uses:
- Local hashtags:
  Use your city name and popular local tags (“hashtag Baton Rouge,” “hashtag 225 Baton Rouge,” “hashtag Go Baton Rouge” [05:40]) to be discoverable within your community.
- Industry-specific local tags:
  Combine your city and industry for targeting: “Baton Rouge photographer,” “Dallas dentist,” or “Charlotte real estate” (06:10).
  
  “If you're using something like photographer, that's going to group you in with every single photographer in the world. That is not going to help you at all.” (06:30)
Ditch generic hashtags!
Drop tags like “Happy Saturday,” “blessed,” or pop culture phrases:

“Anything that's like Happy Saturday, hashtag blessed, hashtag eat, pray, love, like none of that is going to help you anymore. So not that it helped you before…” (06:45)

3. Instagram as a Search Engine

Rising importance of search:
Instagram has evolved into a powerful search engine. People may search for “Baton Rouge balloon artist” or “hashtag Austin Yoga Studio.” If you’ve used these tags, your content can surface (07:20).
Optimization over hashtags:
The best results come from optimizing your profile, captions, and content with local keywords. Hashtags play a supportive role only.

4. Proactive Outreach Using Hashtags

Find and engage with potential clients:
Leslie recommends actively searching local hashtags (like “Baton Rouge moms”), engaging with posts under those tags, and connecting with your target audience.
Instant visibility:

“This is how they see your name for free. You guarantee that you get in front of them. It's instant visibility.” (08:10)
You don’t have to wait:

“You can go out and find people. You don't always have to wait on people to find you. You don't have to post and hope—like, you do get to do both.” (08:20)

5. Strategic Takeaways

Hashtags still work—differently:
- Use limited, relevant hashtags as local discovery tools.
- Focus on SEO/keywords for reach; hashtags supplement this effort.
Balance proactive and passive tactics:
Diversify by both optimizing for discoverability and by going out to engage deliberately with potential clients.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Instagram’s new priorities:
“Instagram has made much more of a shift to using SEO, so search engine optimization... it's really prioritizing those keywords in your captions, in your videos, on your images, the text on screen.” (03:00)
On industry hashtags:
“If you're using something like photographer, that's going to group you in with every single photographer in the world, that is not going to help you at all.” (06:30)
On proactive engagement:
“This is how they see your name for free. You guarantee that you get in front of them. It's instant visibility.” (08:10)
On generic hashtags:
“Anything that’s like Happy Saturday, hashtag blessed, hashtag eat, pray, love—like none of that is going to help you anymore. So, not that it helped you before...” (06:45)
Summary advice:
“Do hashtags still work? Yes, they are useful. Do you need to spend all of your time on a hashtag strategy in 2026? No.” (09:30)

Important Timestamps

01:23 — Introduction: Are Hashtags Dead in 2026?
02:15 — New Hashtag Limits & Instagram’s Stance
03:00 — Hashtags Don’t Affect Reach; SEO is Key
05:40 — Best Practice: Local Hashtags
06:10 — Industry + City Hashtags vs. Generic
07:20 — Instagram as a Local Search Engine
08:10 — Proactive Discovery & Engagement
09:30 — Summary Advice: Hashtags’ Role & Where to Focus

Final Takeaways

Limit your use of hashtags to 3-5, prioritizing those that include both your local area and your business type.
Focus energy on strengthening your Instagram SEO with keywords in your captions, content, and profile.
Use hashtags as a tool to actively discover and engage with your ideal local clients—but don’t rely on them for massive reach.
Avoid generic, non-local, or unrelated hashtags entirely.
Balance optimization (being found) and outreach (finding others) to build a strong local presence in 2026.

Resources Mentioned:

[Local Instagram Formula] (link in episode) — For mastering keywords and content optimization.
[Free Guide: How to Grow Your Local Instagram Following] (link in episode) — To find more strategies for outreach and engagement.

For any local business owner navigating the changing Instagram landscape, Leslie’s practical advice will help you maximize your discoverability and client connections in your city—no hacks, trends, or hashtag rabbit holes required.

Transcript

A (0:00)

Hey, before you dive into this episode, I want to invite you to a free live training that I'm hosting on Monday, March 30, where I'm going to share how to get more local clients on social media. Even if you have low reach. I know we all think low reach is the problem, but actually, the three things that we're going to cover in this training are. And once we fix these three things, your content will actually start converting into more local people reaching out and into more local people becoming your clients. So I'm going to cover the simplest way to start getting in front of more local clients. Exactly what you need to focus on. How to improve your results and start just getting more local people's attention without trying to keep up with every single trend. And how to stop stressing over your numbers and the metrics and focus on the one thing that matters the most, which is sales. Like local people actually coming to you. So this free training is happening live on Monday, March 30. There will be a replay available, but only to those who registered. So go to the bottom of whatever episode you're listening to right now and save your seat and I will see you there.

B (1:02)

You are listening to the Grow youw Local Business podcast, where local marketing expert and life coach Leslie Presnell shares the strategies and the mindset to help you reach more people in your city and bring in a steady stream of clients. All right, let's dive in.

A (1:23)

So. So what's the deal with hashtags on Instagram in 2026? Are they dead? Are we still using them? There is a lot of confusion around this and a lot of people are saying a lot of different things. Even this week, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, was talking about hashtags on his story. So clearly people are like, what's the deal? And if the head of Instagram is still talking about it and getting questions, I know you guys probably have questions too. So I wanted to break it down for you today. So, in short, are we still using hashtags in 2026? Yes and no. Technically, Instagram does allow you to use hashtags in your post. Currently, you can use up to three to five hashtags on a reel or in a post. Instagram has said that 5 is the limit and that they would gradually adjust this. And then what's happening is, for some people in the app right now, they are getting messages that they can only add up to three. It used to be 30 just for reference. So this is a significant cutback. And most of all this is most important. Hashtags no longer increase your reach. So used to when you would put put hashtags in your post, it would get your post shown to more people. But this isn't the case anymore. Instagram has made much more of a shift to using SEO, so search engine optimization. So it's really prioritizing those keywords in your captions, in your videos, on your images, the text on screen. It's analyzing all of that over what hashtags you're using to determine, like, who to show your content to, like who wants to see your content. So if you want to learn how to do this better, be sure to grab the local Instagram formula. I'm going to link it under this video. But it is all about using better keywords and localizing your content and really optimizing your content and feed. So Instagram does know who to show your content to, specifically people in your city. And just so more local people can find you and follow you and book with you. That's the goal. Now if you do use the three to five hashtags now, what's the point if they're not going to get you more reach? What is the point? That is a great question. So here's what hashtags can still do for you. Number one, hashtags are still clickable. So if someone clicks on a hashtag that they see on Instagram, say somebody else uses a hashtag or somebody has a hashtag in their bio, which I do not recommend, but if they do and they click on it and they see all the posts that have used that hashtag and you're there, they can find you that way. They can discover you that way. So as a local business owner, I have always had two best practices for hashtags, and that is that you use local hashtags and local industry specific hashtags in your post. So meaning using local hashtags like your city name and popular local hashtags. So for me, I'm in Baton Rouge, so I might use something like hashtag Baton Rouge, but we also have popular citywide hashtags that we just kind of made up and everybody uses. So for us that hashtag 225 Baton Rouge or we also have Go Baton Rouge and we spell go G E A U X because that's just what we do. So these are like popular ones that for sure people in my city are going to be using and clicking. So if they click on it and I have used that tag on a recent post, they can find me that way. And that's a beautiful thing. The other type of tag that you want to use in your post is a local, industry specific tag. So that means something like Baton Rouge photographer or Dallas dentist, or Charlotte real estate, because these are what local people who were looking for a specific service are going to be clicking on. If you're using something like photographer, that's going to group you in with every single photographer in the world, that is not going to help you at all. So you don't want to use that one at all. Just forget about it. Especially now that you can only use three to five hashtags, you want to make sure that your city and your industry are getting used to together, like all in one tag. And just as a rule of thumb, let's abandon all generic hashtags immediately. Anything that's like Happy Saturday, hashtag blessed, hashtag eat, pray, love, like none of that is going to help you anymore. So not that it helped you before, but let me circle back now. Hashtags are clickable. So if people see a hashtag, they can click on it and they can find your post. In all the other posts that have used that hashtag, hashtags are also searchable. So Instagram is becoming more and more of a search engine. So Instagram search engine is getting like so good. Which is why we want to make sure you show up when people are searching. Like when local people are searching for what you do, we want to make sure you show up. This is one of the things I help you with in the local Instagram formula. So again, I'm going to link it under this podcast. It's a three part mini course that you can take in less than two hours to make sure you can get found, followed and booked by local people. Seriously, block off some time this week. Spend your weekend doing it. It's the best way you can use your time to make sure you can get found, followed and booked by local people. But people can still also still search for hashtags. So when they're searching, they can either be searching like Baton Rouge Balloon artist, like those words separately or they can still search hashtag Baton Rouge balloon Artist, or they can search hashtag Austin Yoga Studio. You can get found that way if you have used those tags recently in your content, like that post would show up. And the way I personally love to use hashtags and to be a little bit more proactive is you can go and search for hashtags or you can go and click on hashtags that you see. So this is a great way for you to go search local tags or search for certain groups of people. Maybe it's like hashtag Baton Rouge moms or a certain group of people who are your target audience and then you can go engage with them. Like you could go like their post, you could watch their stories. This is how they see your name for free. You guarantee that you get in front of them. It's instant visibility. So you can go out and find people. You don't always have to wait on people to find you. You don't have to post and hope like you do get to do both. You get to set your profile up and localize it and you get to optimize it so locals can find you and your content gets shown to locals. That's what I teach you inside the local Instagram formula. And also you can be proactive and you can go out and find people and engage with them. If you want more tricks on how to do that beyond just hashtags, I do have a couple of other fun strategies to go out and find local people on Instagram. You can find those in my free guide. So it's called how to grow your local Instagram following. I will also link that up below this episode. So again, in short, do hashtags still work? Yes, they are useful. Do you need to spend all of your time on a hashtag hashtag strategy in 2026? No. There are other things to make sure that your content or there's other things you can do to make sure that your content is getting front of other people. Like the SEO using those keywords, making sure Instagram understands your content and who it's for. That's going to help with your local reach. So go download the free guide how to grow your local Instagram following and grab the local Instagram formula. You can start reaching more people in your city on Instagram today. I have got you covert. All right, my friends, I will talk to you next week. Hey, if you enjoyed today's episode, I want to invite you to check out my program, the LocalPreneur Academy. This is the only program for small business owners who want to become the local go to in their industry with a steady stream of clients. You can find more information@lesleypressnell.com and I'll see you inside.