For more than a decade, hashtags were the magic words of Instagram. A single post could carry 30 of them, some relevant, some random, many copy–pasted from a viral reel because the old belief was simple: more tags, more reach. India’s creators built their entire discovery strategies on this logic. Social media managers saved banks of hashtags for every mood, place, and trend.
But in early November, Instagram quietly dropped a bombshell: the platform began testing a drastically smaller limit - just three hashtags per post/reel.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed the shift, saying, “We’re testing ways to help creators use hashtags more effectively, including limiting the number of hashtags that you can include in a reel or post caption. We find that using fewer, more targeted hashtags rather than many generic ones can improve both content performance and people’s experience on Instagram. This is a limited test to start.”
The update has sparked everything from panic to applause. For some creators, it feels like the end of an entire era of growth hacks. For brands, it raises a fresh set of questions about reach and visibility. And for India’s bustling creator ecosystem, it may be signalling a profound shift, relevance will now beat volume.
For Atlys, known for its visual, original, IP-led travel content, the update is not a threat but a long-overdue correction. Santosh Hegde, Head of Marketing, Atlys sees the move as a win for relevance. “I think it’s a great move by Instagram. Earlier, when you could use 30 hashtags, it usually became a copy–paste job from popular reels without checking relevance.”
He believes the shift pushes creators to be sharper about their niche instead of diluting posts with unrelated terms. “By reducing hashtags to three, social media teams must be sharper and clearer about the niche each piece of content serves. This will improve discoverability.”
This is especially important for travel content, where there’s a glut of creators posting about the same destinations. Bali, for instance, is overcrowded with content, making meaningful discovery difficult.
Hegde explains, “They were useful but for geographies like Bali, where there’s an overflow of influencer content, discoverability was an issue. If someone searched for something specific, like dining options in Ubud, too many hashtags reduced accuracy.”
With fewer hashtags, he argues that content will show up more precisely and benefit smaller creators as well. “It also benefits new creators and brands, whose content can now rank more easily than before,” he says.
Beyond discoverability, he sees strategic advantages too: “Another advantage is that we can create micro-segments with these limited hashtags. It helps us build a more structured content calendar and improves chances of being discovered.” While creators debate the shift, brands like Housing.com say the real winner has always been platform-native content, not tags.
Rahul Ralhan, VP – Marketing, Housing.com, doesn’t see the old hashtag system as a strong lever. “In today’s world, content is king. Hashtags were always a discovery hack, but the best hack is great content,” he says.
For him, Instagram’s decision simply aligns with how people already behave on the platform. “We haven’t seen any conclusive impact of using more hashtags. What really matters is platform-aligned content. People go to Instagram for relevant and entertaining content, not ads so brands must integrate themselves seamlessly into that,” he adds.
Ralhan’s view reflects a broader shift among large Indian advertisers who have moved away from hashtag-stuffing to storytelling that blends value and entertainment. For them, the update doesn’t cause anxiety it simply confirms a growing irrelevance.
Vikas Chawla, Co-Founder, Social Beat, believes for the past two years, hashtags haven’t really played any meaningful role. “At most, brands use them to organise posts within a campaign or to track user-generated content. Beyond that, they offer no value, whether it’s reach, engagement, or discovery. Even now, a single hashtag is more than enough for the limited purposes they serve. That’s why Instagram has reduced the limit because they simply don’t matter anymore. Most creators and influencers stopped relying on them anyway, and only a few brands still use them for very specific needs,” he explains.
In contrast, Ferrero India’s Marketing Head, Zoher Kapuswala, says that for creators, hashtags still mattered, not for brand campaigns but for organic exposure. “Hashtags are more for content creators, where content creators help in the discoverability of their content. Of course, hashtags also help the brand algorithm for organic reach,” he asserts.
He believes established creators will survive the change, but newcomers might struggle, “Now, it will be optimised to a great extent, because 30 hashtags become 3. So, the discoverability of content becomes a barrier for new influencers entering the market.”
For emerging creators, hashtags were a way to test multiple niches at once to see what stuck. Without 30 shots in the dark, the climb gets steeper. He adds, “They need multiple hashtags. They don’t know which cohort they will rise on. They need to create and define their spaces. This is where I think they will have an impact on creating their loyal consumer basis,” Kapuswala explains.
The shift to three hashtags may look like a small update, but for a country as creator-heavy as India, it’s a cultural reset. It forces clarity. It ends hashtag hoarding. It levels parts of the playing field while raising new questions about discoverability for emerging influencers.
But it also reinforces a deeper truth the industry has known for years: content wins. Not hacks. Not shortcuts. Not 30 hashtags. And as Instagram rewrites its discovery signals, India’s creator economy must now step into its next chapter: one built not on clutter, but clarity.
