Random Labs: Are Keywords or Hashtags Better for Reach on Instagram?

As we turn the page into 2025, we decided it was a great opportunity to open the year with another Random Labs experiment. This time, we focused our analysis on Instagram, a rapidly changing social media platform, to understand the impact that keywords or hashtags may or may not have on Instagram reach.
Do Hashtags Actually Increase Reach on Instagram?
There have been frequent arguments throughout Instagram's lifespan associating the use of hashtags with improved post exposure. If this was true, we would expect higher reach among these posts. However, questions about the effectiveness of this conventional aspect of social media posting have been increasing in recent times.
One rebuttal involves the idea that performance relative to captions is more attributed to the keywords themselves rather than strictly to hashtags. Adam Mosseri, the CEO of Instagram, has previously commented about his platform’s changing environment to user experience and content discovery, which may have seemed like an exclusive role to hashtags in the past.
How We Tested the Effectiveness of Keywords
At Random, curiosity—one of our core values—often drives experimentation. With this in mind, we tested different caption strategies on our own Instagram content to evaluate this hypothesis. Below is an example of what the differences in captions looked like.
Keyword-Rich Instagram Caption:
Hashtag-Rich Instagram Caption:
To maintain an adequate sample size for this hypothesis testing, we also included zero-hashtag content that did not contain additional keywords.
Performance metrics were analyzed on a per-month basis and compared with similar content types to further narrow down performance within the same time frame and context. For example, Instagram reach for reels will average significantly higher in this metric compared to single image posts so we compared reels without hashtags to reels with hashtags. There’s a lot of random (no pun intended) noise in the world of social media, so it’s essential that we fine-tune our testing.
The Results: Are Keywords or Hashtags Better for Reach?
We utilized 8 of the 12 calendar months to create individual monthly comparisons of averages between no-hashtag content and hashtag content. The content we compared them to was pulled from a random sample of similar content within the same month and cleaned of any outliers or viral content. The following table summarizes the average results for each month:
Month | Reach (No Hashtags) | Reach (Hashtags) | Difference |
February | 246 | 83 | +196.4% |
April | 446 | 44 | +913.6% |
June | 144 | 74 | +94.6% |
August | 114 | 59 | +93.2% |
September | 111 | 68 | +68.2% |
October | 152 | 99 | +53.5% |
November | 457 | 67 | +582.1% |
December | 56 | 139 | -59.7% |
The table contains columns representing the months where the experiments were held, the average post reach of content with or without hashtags, and the percent difference between these averages.
Interestingly, in 7 out of the 8 months tested, we observed that content without hashtags had a higher average reach. In several of these months, the differences in averages were in the triple-digit percentage range. Surprisingly, in 6 out of those 7 months, the posts without hashtags outperformed those with hashtags in reach. They also ranked as the top-performing posts for their respective months.
What Is the Significance of Our Results?
Before drawing any definitive conclusions, we need to establish some basic statistical boundaries. The majority of the tested content consists of reels, which inherently show greater variation in reach compared to other content. Other factors likely have a greater influence, including the topic, quality, timing, and various external elements.
Additionally, this is a newer experiment, so a larger sample of posts still needs to be evaluated. However, the initial results align with the platform's general trend of decreasing reliance on hashtags.
So, how will hashtags be utilized on this platform in 2025? They will continue to serve their primary purpose of helping users manually discover content within specific categories. However, overloading posts with hashtags is unlikely to significantly impact reach and may even lead to negative returns. As we’ve often concluded in previous Random Labs sessions, every profile is unique. Be sure to base your evaluations on your own data.
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