What is up everyone?
Welcome back to my channel today.
We are going to cover a very highly requested topic and that is hashtags.
Now, funny enough, I actually recently updated my paid program, the boss Graham Academy, with the up-to-date hashtag strategy for our paid clients.
So now I am ready to share some love to those of you who follow me on YouTube and love to devour my free content.
Now I know, I know.
A year ago, the creator account that's led by Instagram said that to only put three to five hashtags in a post and the internet completely broke.
And now so many people have no idea if hashtags are even relevant this year or how to exactly leverage it and optimize it so that your posts get more seen in today's algorithm.
Well friends, I have some answers for you.
So keep watching.
If you would like to know what to do with hashtags this year to optimize your Instagram strategy Lego.
Now friends, there is no way that I could do a YouTube video about hashtags without addressing this post right here that the creator account did, where they talked about how we should only stick to three to five hashtags.
Now here is the truth and what I really think about this information, and that is Instagram has dramatically improved its SEO capabilities, which makes hashtags a lot less important than it was before.
Now I personally have my own hunch as to why Instagram has dramatically improved its SEO over the last year.
And that is because they want to compete with Tik TOK.
Tik TOK as a platform, has done such a good job in terms of helping their creators get visible thanks to its algorithm.
And thanks to its search capabilities.
For example, if you search something on Tik TOK, you will see a bunch of videos related to that topic.
And not only that.
Tik TOK will suggest you other terms that you can search for, And that is on top of the for you page, where a lot of creators that you don't even follow get pushed.
And so Tik TOK is really, really favoring getting creators seen on that platform.
Whereas Instagram hasn't necessarily done a really good job at that.
And in the past, the only way for you to really get seen was hashtags.
And that's why so many of us put a lot of weight on hashtags back in the day.
But I personally believe a lot of that has changed.
And so let me explain why.
All right.
So if you actually look into the Instagram feed and you search a keyword, what you'll notice is, of course, there's going to be tons of posts that are served to you.
But if you actually look in deeper and you click on a post, sometimes you might notice that that keyword that you typed in wasn't even used in the hashtag.
For instance, in this example right here, I searched up the keyword social media.
That term was not in this hashtag area and instead it was in the captions.
And so what that tells me is that now, in today's algorithm, you are able to put keywords in your captions, and Instagram will still recognize your posts and push your posts out to relevant users.
Not to mention to take it a step further.
If you actually search for a phrase or a keyword, there are also some posts that may show up where that keyword or phrase isn't in the hashtag.
And it also isn't in the caption.
Very similar to this example right here, where I searched up the word, how to be a good parent.
That term is in neither of the caption or the hashtag area.
So what does this tell us?
This tells me that Instagram has gone a lot smarter in classifying content and looking at the other areas of your content.
For instance, looking at your caption, looking at your other keywords.
So that, even if a user isn't typing the exact key term, if your post genuinely does relate to that topic, Instagram will still show your post.
Now as you can see, the Instagram algorithm has dramatically improved its SEO capabilities.
Now of course there is definitely room to improve, but it is a really good start.
Now let's go back to this post right here though, where they talked about only doing three to five hashtags as their recommendation.
Why so little?
The reason why is because I think that a lot of us are still stuck in our old ways and Instagram is trying to change the behavior of their users.
Meaning that the old way of operating on Instagram when it didn't have good SEO was hashtags.
And so a lot of us felt the need to max out all 30 tags.
But, as a result, what we tend to do is we tend to max it out with hashtags that aren't even related to our post in order to grow, because that was the only way that we knew how to grow.
Now the issue is is that if we keep doing this and we keep feeling the need to max out all 30 tags, even if it means putting hashtags that have nothing to do with our account, nothing to do with our posts, then it's going to make it harder for the Instagram algorithm to actually classify our content and show it to the right users.
And, as the end result, if they're not able to create a great algorithm where relevant content gets found because relevant users are searching relevant topics, then the Instagram algorithm platform as a whole cannot compete with platforms like Tik TOK or YouTube or whatever else.
And so everybody loses.
That is why my opinion is the fact that Instagram is encouraging users to only stick to three or five, so that we can really consciously think about the top five hashtags that relate to the post.
Now, at this point in the video, you might be wondering to yourself wait a second, I can only do three to five hashtags now.
And my personal answer is no, you could actually do way more than five.
You can go up to 30 if you'd like.
So long as your hashtags actually relate back to your post.
So, for example, there is no evidence that 30 hashtags is better than five hashtags or five hashtags is better than 30.
The quantity of your hashtags doesn't really matter on Instagram, but what does matter is the quality of those hashtags and whether those hashtags actually relate back to your content.
Meaning that you could have 30 hashtags if you would like, but if majority of those hashtags actually aren't related to your post and it confuses the Instagram algorithm meaning that the Instagram algorithm now doesn't know how to classify your content then that is definitely going to dramatically reduce your reach versus if you use five very clean, very intentional, very relevant hashtags to your post.
You would actually by far do better with these five hashtags than using 30.
On the flip side,
If you are able to find 30 hashtags that genuinely relate back to the content piece itself, then of course that is going to increase the amount of reach that you get.
But remember it's also going to swing the other way if you aren't intentional with your hashtags and it could hurt you if you choose the wrong ones.
That being said, when it comes to what to actually put in your hashtags, there are top three hashtags that I highly recommend.
First one is industry related hashtags, niche related hashtags and post specific hashtags.
Now, there are tons of other hashtags that you can choose from, but these would definitely be the top three that I would make sure you have if you are going to incorporate a hashtag strategy.
So what exactly are industry hashtags?
Well, it's pretty self explanatory.
It's any hashtag that's related to your industry.
This allows Instagram to understand what category your account plays in.
So an example of an industry hashtag could be hashtag photography.
Now just be careful though, because when you're incorporating industry hashtags in your hashtag strategy, you don't want to use too many of these hashtags, simply because most industry hashtags are quite competitive and quite saturated because they are so broad, meaning that likely, most of these tags have over a million posts underneath them.
And you definitely don't want to use too many industry hashtags, especially if you have a smaller account.
Now a few steps down from the industry hashtag is your niche specific hashtag.
These are any hashtags that actually relate back to your niche.
So, for example, if your industry hashtag is hashtag photography, then a niche specific hashtag would be something like wedding photographer.
It's a little bit more specific.
Now, the reason why you still want to incorporate niche specific hashtags is to help Instagram understand what your account is all about, beyond just the category.
Cause remember, the category and the industry is still quite broad and you want to help Instagram narrow it down so that they're able to actually show your content to the right users who are interested in very niche topics.
Finally, the next type of hashtag that I highly recommend that you incorporate is post specific hashtags.
And this is arguably one of the most important types of hashtags that you want to include.
And these are tags that are actually related to your content piece.
So, using the example of the photographer, if your industry hashtag is photography, if your niche hashtag is wedding photographer specifically, then your post specific hashtag could be something like winter wedding ideas.
So let's say you're a wedding photographer and today your content piece is about winter wedding ideas for people who want to have weddings during the winter time.
It doesn't necessarily mean that your account is all about winter weddings or that you're always going to post this type of content.
It's just to tell Instagram that this content piece specifically, is winter wedding ideas.
That allows Instagram to have a better understanding of what your post is about.
So if a user across the world is searching for winter wedding ideas, they're able to actually show your piece of content to that user who is looking for that information.
Now, while I can't show you every single step-by-step detail that I share with my paid clients inside my program, the boss Graham Academy, I can give you an idea of what your hashtag group could look like.
So let me share my screen and walk you through it.
So this is an example of what we teach our clients.
We ask our clients to create groups based on their content pillars and they can actually have their industry hashtags here, niche hashtags and post-specific hashtags.
So, for instance, if your industry is within the spirituality realm, then you could have your hashtags like hashtag spirituality, hashtag mindset.
These are hugely competitive hashtags, but it's still worth putting a minimum amount so that Instagram can actually categorize your content in terms of niche.
If you are a spirituality coach, you can kind of mention that.
So hashtag spirituality coach, hashtag.
Spirituality for women, hashtag spiritual awakenings, hashtag spiritual healer.
These are all things that still relate to the content that you create within your niche.
Afterwards, you're going to want to have your post specific hashtags.
So, for instance, if you are someone who is in the spirituality niche and for that day, your post is about your experience with tarot cards or something related to tarot cards, then I would have hashtags like this hashtag tarot spreads, hashtag tarot reading online, hashtag tarot reading of the day or hashtag tarot coach.
Now, of course, in our paid program we break down more information in terms of hashtag research, hashtag distribution sizes.
What is the type of mix that you should have?
But I just wanted to give you a preview or a sneak peek of the things that we show our clients.
Anyways, just to preview.
If you are interested in the boss Graham Academy and the program itself, definitely check out the link in my description box below or access any of the resources that you see in my description.
Anyways, boss, let's go back right into the video.
Now, at this point of the video, I have really shared my updated thoughts when it comes to hashtag strategy for this year, and if there is anything that you would have taken away from this video is I hope you know that if you aren't clear on your niche, you're not clear on your account, you're not clear on the ideal follower that you want to attract and what they're searching for, and you don't know how to link your content back to that and optimize your Instagram strategy for that, then it's going to be really hard to grow in this day and age.
Not only this, my prediction is that the content creators and business owners that will really thrive, especially as Instagram makes new updates to their SEO are the ones that have a very clear idea of what their niche is, what content to create, and also how to monetize beyond that.
That's why I really want to invite you to my free training that I'm doing live this week and next week.
The link is in my description box below.
In this training I shared the exact four part process that I share with my paid clients on how to find a niche on social media.
I also share all the Instagram features and what to use depending on what your goals are with Instagram.
And I also teach creators how to go beyond free content and actually sign paid clients.
One of the most game changing things that I ever did for myself was not only post a bunch of free content online, but also be able to sign paid clients so that I can actually make money as a creator without relying on AdSense revenue, affiliate marketing and brand sponsorships.
So if you want to check out this free training, that makes you click the link in my description box below or check out the comment section for that link.
Just make sure you register, because I am doing those trainings live.
Not to mention if you got to this point of the video, make sure you comment below.
I'm ready to boost my SEO.
So I know you got to this point and that you have retained all the gold nuggets that I have been sharing with you.
I really want you to get even more visible this year.
And I think that there is a huge opportunity to do that with Instagram.
Now that Instagram is actually improving its SEO capabilities.
The only thing that most creators are missing is the right strategy so that Instagram can actually correctly classify your content to the right people.
So do not forget to check out the link in my description box below to check out those live trainings that I'm doing for an exclusive, limited time only.
As always guys, if you want more content on Instagram, social media YouTube, all the different things, including entrepreneurship, then check out these two videos that I have right here as well.
I appreciate you guys and I will see you in my next video.
Bye guys.
And good luck with your hashtag strategy.
