Did you know that Instagram marketers who use nine or more hashtags per post get more than 2.5x the engagement of those who only use one hashtag?
Without a doubt, hashtags are critical to building followers and engagement and contribute to your entire marketing strategy. However, they can make your feed look unappealing and spammy.
So how do you keep your Instagram feed pretty and clutter-free? EASY! After finding the perfect set of hashtags for your post, learn how to hide hashtags with one of the four simple methods below.
There’s no harm in hiding your Instagram hashtags to neaten things up. Whether you put your hashtags in your caption directly or move them to the first comment, your content will still appear in hashtag discover feeds if relevant to the hashtag topic.
So, there is no need for concern as you’re pondering how to lower your hashtags on Instagram. It’s just a matter of choosing the right method for you!
Which one works better, Caption or Comment?
We understand that looks are not everything; sometimes, you want to do what is best for your content. So which one is better? Which one gives you more visibility? Our teammates Alisa Meredith and Melissa Megginson took over YouTube to give you answers. Take a look!
Now that you’ve made up your mind, keep reading, we’ll give you some hashtag hacks on how to make the most out of them!
The cleanest method to hide hashtags on Instagram is by tucking them into the first comment. Just have your list of hashtags ready to go, and add them as a comment after making your post live.
Does this sound too manual for your liking? Tailwind does the work for you!
When you add hashtags to your Instagram caption in Tailwind’s Instagram planning app, you’ll see a checkbox to hide your hashtags in the first comment. This allows you to move your hashtags from the end of your caption to the first comment on the post.
That’s it! No more cluttered captions, no more remembering to return to a post and add your hashtags. Your post is ready for engagement the moment it goes live!
- Upload your image or video to the Tailwind Instagram planning app, craft your caption, and then type the # symbol to get predictive hashtag suggestions.
- Click to choose or add frequently-used hashtags from your list.
- Check the box to move those comments from your caption to your 1st comment.
- Click “add to queue” to automatically schedule your Instagram post for the best time.
Now, doesn’t that make you look professional!? 👏 Get the Tailwind Instagram Planner for iOS and Android today!
One of the classic methods of hiding hashtags is Instagram dots.
This is a cuter way of saying adding a series of periods between the end of your caption and your hashtag list so that they’re hidden beneath the “More” button for your followers.
Here’s how to do it:
- Type up your caption
- After the punctuation at the end of your last sentence, make sure there are no spaces. Then hit return
- On the new line, put one period, and then hit return again
- Keep repeating until you have plenty of Instagram dots between your caption and your hashtag list
- Paste in your hashtags and press publish!
It’s really important to make sure that you don’t include any extra spaces at the end of your sentences or after each Instagram dot. If you do, it will cancel out the line break and ruin the effect!
It used to be necessary to type out your caption with the line breaks on a separate word processing app like Notes. But now Instagram allows you to form line breaks in your caption directly through the Instagram app! Just click the “123” at the bottom left of your phone’s keyboard and tap “return” to jump to a new line.
Looking for tips on how to put your hashtags lower on Instagram captions?
There IS a way to put your hashtags in your caption while keeping your posts and feed looking good, and it works similarly to the Instagram dots method.
Simply format your caption so that it adds line breaks, pushing your valuable hashtags into the “more” section of the caption where they still do their job of increasing reach and engagement, but aren’t easy to see!
Remember, take out any extra spaces lingering after the punctuation at the end of your line breaks. It also includes after emojis in your captions!
As with the dots method, you can type out the caption with the line breaks directly on Instagram now. But just remember that any hidden spaces will cancel the line break.
Did you know? You can also compose captions with hidden hashtags in Tailwind! Just copy and paste in your caption and formatting, and then use Hashtag Finder to find the best hashtags for your Instagram post.
Here’s a Tailwind hack that makes this incredibly simple and quick:
Tailwind’s Hashtag Lists make hiding hashtags on Instagram captions unbelievably easy.
From Tailwind’s Instagram publisher, create a “Hashtag” list which in this case will actually store ONLY your formatting:
- In the Tailwind Instagram Publisher, click on the “#” button
- Now click the “+” button. I called mine, “formatting.”
- Add line breaks and characters, symbols, or emojis on each line. In this hashtag list, I included a camera emoji, and then double asterisks, each on their own line. This will add a camera emoji to the end of my caption and then insert line breaks with asterisks on them to move my hashtags down and out of view!
The important thing to note is that you need to have SOMETHING on those lines in order to sustain the line break for publishing. You could use a dash, some ellipses, or an emoji, but make sure there is nothing else on that line (no spaces following the characters) or the line breaks will disappear when you post to Instagram, even if it looks fine in the Instagram scheduler.
Now you have a handy template that will save you time every time you schedule a post – AND keep those hashtags out of sight!
Type your caption, add your “hashtag” list plus hashtag recommendations or your premade hashtag list, and post!
Want to plan the perfect feed, find the best hashtags and post at the best times for your audience right from your phone? Its time to meet your new Instagram Smart Assistant from Tailwind - now available on Android and iOS.
Here’s a method on how to hide Instagram hashtags that make your post look spammy but keep the ones that create fun conversation.
Hashtags have been around so long that sometimes it just makes sense – and can feel a bit playful – to include them in the conversation!
With Tailwind’s Hashtag in first comment feature, only the hashtags at the END of your caption will be moved to the first comment.
So, go ahead and include some in the caption just for fun.
When it comes to hiding Instagram hashtags, do you prefer to put them in your caption or first comment – or a bit of both?
Now that you know how to hide hashtags on Instagram, grab a free trial of Tailwind for Instagram to try it on desktop – or on our new Instagram Planner app!
Start a Free Trial of Tailwind for Instagram!
- Schedule photos and videos directly to your Instagram feed with Auto Post.
- Optimize every post for more engagement with SmartSchedule and Hashtag Finder.
- Automatically hide your post’s hashtags in the first comment to keep your caption clean & clutter-free.
- Make your posts more discoverable with user tagging & location tagging.
- Analyze what's working across every post and profile with smart analytics.
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46 Comments
Hello Alisa Meredith,
Nice Article, I was always curious how to hide Hashtags on Instagram. Your article has cleared many doubts and clears the picture.
Thanks for sharing such a nice article.
You’re welcome! Happy to help. 🙂
Can you put hashtags in a comment and still get the same engagement?
Hi Nicole. Yes, it seems so. The only thing I’ve heard is a bad idea is to edit your caption to add hashtags. Anecdotally I have heard that it pretty much ends engagement. Can’t say for sure though!
Hi Alisa,
Do you know if there is a “magic” number of hashtags — a number that will increase visibility and engagement but isn’t considered by Instagram to be “spammy”? I’ve read that Instagram frowns on using 20 or more and it will actually cause your posts to not show up as frequently due to the algorithm. Thoughts?
There is a study that shows that people who use 9 hashtags in their posts get 2.5x the engagement as those who use one and seems to be a sweet spot. It’s something you’ll likely want to test, but you can see a chart here: https://blog.tailwindapp.com/the-one-instagram-hashtag-strategy-that-works-for-anyone/
Oh so now we should only use 9 hashtags? I thought the rule of thumb was to max out at 30, take advantage of as many as possible. I guess that’s changed now?
BTW-love the formatting hack you gave in this article. so Brilliant!
I’ve seen several studies on the topic and none have shown that 30 generated the best results. Not to say there isn’t one out there that does. 😉
I’m so glad you liked it, Shana!
Does this work in the Tailwind app or only the desktop version?
You’d have to set up the formatting on desktop – on app, you can’t add line breaks (at least I couldn’t). But on the app, you can use hashtag lists or even create new ones, just can’t create new formatting lists.Thanks for stopping by, Deanna!
Thanks for the helpful article. It was so easy to configure in Tailwind. My posts already look better.
You’re very welcome! Thanks for letting us know, Anastasia!
So is it the double asterisks that constitute the code for a “line break”? And how many line breaks do you need before you start adding your hashtags?
Nope, but you would have to have “something” on that line to maintain the break.
That check box to include hashtags in the first post doesn’t not seem to be available on either my iOS or web version. I have the latest version of both. What’s wrong here, because I’d love to use that feature.
It isn’t yet on mobile, but should be on your desktop dashboard. Are you using auto publish?
[…] You can see Tailwind’s new hashtag feature here. […]
What if I want to keep a few hashtags at the end and put the rest in comments is this even possible?
Absolutely! You’d just need to put something other than a hashtag after the first set of hashtags to keep them in the caption. Technically they wouldn’t then be at the end, but it wouldn’t have to be much – maybe a period?
[…] Please do take note of a check box there which says Post Hashtags In First Comment. […]
I can’t get the “Post hashtags in first comment” box to show up, what am I missing?
Hi Erin! This is only available on Auto Post as of right now. Can you double check you have this turned on? If not, here’s a quick guide on how to turn it on. Let us know at [email protected] if you’re still having problems!
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