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Switched from hashtag stuffing to 3 targeted tags after my cat pics got 12 views in 2 hours
I used to throw 30 hashtags on every post hoping one would stick, but Instagram shadowbanned me twice last summer. Then I read some post about how the algorithm reads your caption text first, so now I pick 3 niche tags like #rescuecatlife and write a real story around them. Last week a photo of my cat knocking over a plant got 400 likes, which is huge for my 200 follower account. Has anyone else noticed better reach with fewer tags, or is this just a fluke on my end?
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the_wendy1mo ago
You tested this with only one post though, right? Stick with it for at least two weeks of consistent posting before you decide it's working. I dropped from 20 tags to 4-5 and my engagement went up about 30%, but it took a solid month before I saw real numbers.
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roberts.leo1mo ago
That YouTube video from some social media guy said the same thing about captions mattering more than tags now. He was saying Instagram's AI scans the actual text in your post first before even looking at the hashtags, so your caption basically does the work of telling the algorithm what the photo is about. I tested it with my own account which is just my cat and my garden stuff, and yeah dropping from 18 tags to 5 got me more interaction too. The weird part was my older posts with tons of tags actually started getting less reach after I changed, like the algorithm was punishing me for being too spammy before.
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the_terry1mo ago
Dropping from 18 tags to 5 is wild but I bet the algorithm saw those old posts as spammy clickbait. Did you go back and edit the old captions to be more descriptive or just leave them as is? I've heard conflicting stuff about whether editing old posts helps or just confuses the algorithm more. My travel account tanked after I cleaned up hashtags on old stuff too.
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