Choosing the Right Hashtags For Your TikTok Posts

You don’t have to be a long-time social media user to know what hashtags are. The word has become so familiar that it appears in all standard English dictionaries.

For the few people still unfamiliar with social apps, though, here’s a quick summary. Hashtags are words or phrases preceded by the hashtag sign (#) and added to the online descriptions of social media content. #Hashtags are used to identify key topics or subjects, allowing users searching for information on those topics to easily find it.

Hashtags are used on all social media platforms — but since this blog focuses on just one of them, let’s talk about the best hashtags to use on TikTok.

Types of Hashtags

You don’t have to choose from an approved list when you’re creating TikTok hashtags. You can let your imagination run free and use any word, combination of words, or even made-up words or phrases with a “#” in front of them.

That’s not the right way to use hashtags, though. They’re valuable promotion tools because they “flag” your content for users searching for TikTok videos like yours. Hashtags like #golf, #golfclubs, and #putters will help identify content about “golf putters” — but ones like #ILikeBigPutts or #ItsInTheHole won’t. No one is searching for “It’s in the hole.”

In other words, offbeat or clever hashtags may make you laugh, but they won’t bring in visitors.

What types of hashtags should you use? The ones most likely to attract searchers interested in your TikTok content can be divided into three categories, and it’s good to include a mix of them if they’re germane to your posts.

Topic Hashtags

The #golf hashtags we’ve just mentioned are good examples of topic-specific hashtags. They’re words or phrases that a target audience interested in the sport would be likely to use in their searches.

One good way to find the most effective hashtags for your topic or niche is taking a keyword (like “golf”) that fits the subject of your videos and entering it into the TikTok search bar, tapping “Search,” and scrolling the menu bar at the top until you find and click “Hashtags.” You’ll see all sorts of common “golf” hashtags, along with how many TikTok searches each one attracts.

Trending Hashtags

A huge number of TikTok users follow the app’s latest trends. If your content fits one of those trends, using hashtags associated with the trend can give your audience a huge boost. Don’t try to get away with using a trending hashtag if your content is about lug nuts or carburetors, though; that could hurt your visibility instead of helping it.

Look for the latest TikTok trends by scrolling your Discover or For You feeds, by visiting the TikTok Creative Center and checking out their “Trends” section, or just by typing “trending” into the app’s search bar. You’ll get more ideas than you could possibly use.

Geographic Hashtags

These are of limited use on TikTok, but if your TikTok content focuses on a specific city or region, you can attract new viewers who live in or are partial to that area by tagging your post with hashtags like #London or #Vegas.

How Many Hashtags to Use

You’ll find that lots of people cram their TikTok descriptions full of hashtags; some may use 10 or 20 hashtags for each video. That’s a bad idea. A description packed with hashtags looks spammy to surfers — and also to the TikTok algorithms, which allocate visibility for videos.

Stick with 3-5 hashtags per post. Just be sure to choose the ones that would best describe your content to like-minded users, and include one or two trending hashtags if they fit. Oh — and don’t waste space with hashtags like #tiktok, #fyp, or #viral. No one is searching TikTok for #tiktok, and hashtags won’t put your video on the For You page or send it viral.

Smart hashtag use won’t turn your TikTok account into a juggernaut. It can bring in more viewers, though, and every new viewer and follower helps boost your influence and importance on the app.