How to research hashtags without paid tools

You do not need a paid tool to find good hashtags. A careful half hour in the app itself will give you a list you can use for months.

A 30-minute method

1. Search your subject in the app and open the tags it suggests.
2. Open five posts from accounts like yours (not the biggest ones) and see which tags they use.
3. Write them down in a note: tag, what it is about, whether the posts look like yours.
4. Group them into broad, specific and local.
5. Test them for two weeks and keep those that match your posts.

What to look for

• Tags where posts are recent and look like yours.
• Tags that name something exact.
• Tags used by people who might become customers or friends.

What to avoid

Do not copy a whole row from a big account. They may use tags that fit them and not you. Do not trust a site that claims to know the "best" tags for all time: tags change. If you want to compare, see the examples in our lists, and then decide.

Review monthly

Once a month, remove tags that bring nothing and add new ones you noticed. A small list that you keep up beats a long list that you never touch.

Questions people ask

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