Learn how to find hashtags to increase traffic, engagement, grow followers, and even make more money from your blog. Find free sources and learn on what networks you should and should not use hashtags.
Why You Should Find Relevant Hashtags
Social is littered with hashtags and the fun, silly ones are my favorites. Silliness aside, there is no doubt that hashtags build followings, amplify sponsored campaigns, and create a sense of community. If you know how to find hashtags and understand where they should be used, you can:
- increase blog income,
- get sponsored posts, and
- grow a following.
[Tweet “Need hashtags? Here’s how to find #hashtags for your blog or brand.”]
Doing a bit of research ahead of time can make hashtag use easy, quick, and relatively painless for most bloggers. This article will highlight a few free tools bloggers should use to find hashtags.
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Quick Tips on How to Use Hashtags
- Use the text replacement option on your phone to quickly enter hashtags categories (using Smart Keyboard Pro) for all hashtag families relevant to your blog.
- Copy and paste from your “Notes” app on your phone for all blog category hashtag families.
- Use the copy and paste feature offered by some of the tools below for one-off or trending hashtags.
My Latest Favorite Finds for Laptop Bloggers
This keyboard for laptops. No more hunched shoulders! I also picked up this inexpensive posture corrector and wear it nearly every day for just a few minutes.
How to Find Hashtags – Free Sources
There are many services that allow content marketers to conduct research on hashtags. Here is a list of free hashtag sources.
For Display Purposes Only (Update 8/9/17)
I’ve had many clients tell me about For Display Purposes Only recently, so I thought I’d update. It’s SUPER-SIMPLE, so give it a try.
Hashtagify.me
One of the most well-known hashtag sources is Hashtagify.me. Hashtagify.me is a strong partner because it provides related tags (for free) and allows you to drill down just a little bit. In my opinion, this is one of the best places to find hashtags for influencers because it shows the popularity of each.
Hashtags for Likes
Some clients aren’t fans of Hashtagify.me, so they often use Hashtags for Likes. It groups by topic, so when you start typing a hashtag, it automatically loads some alternatives. The big benefit here is that you can copy the list of hashtags and paste them. #timesaver
Tags for Likes
Another popular sites to grab hashtags by topic is Tags for Likes . Note: they do add in their own branded hashtag, but the copy and paste feature is strong with this service.
Hashtags.Org
Hashtags.org is definitely not the prettiest site, but it gives you a trending graph for the tag. An upgrade is required to get related hashtags.
The great and powerful Google will have many, many articles about hashtags. Search hashtag + your topic and see what comes up. Once you have your starting point, check the tags in one or two of the above tools to decide which ones match up best for your blog or brand.
Where (and Where Not) to Use Hashtags
Hashtags can be used across social media platforms and within your site’s content. Learning how to find hashtags is equally as important as knowing where to use them. The best practices are to use hashtags on Instagram, Google+, and Twitter. Pinterest advises that too many hashtags can hinder you, so use one in the pin description or choose a branded hashtag (#reallyawesomeblog).
Conversely, I don’t use hashtags on Facebook unless they transfer over from Instagram. Per this well-researched article, Facebook posts without hashtags do better than those with hashtags. This article suggests you test your audience however, because Facebook is set up to allow for hashtag searches.
Summary
If you are new to blogging or seek to grow followers and engagement on your social networks, learn how to find hashtags. Consistently using related hashtags will allow you to find like-minded people and brands.
Thank you. I have so much to learn and it is hard to know which direction to turn. Great Post.
Thanks for all the links – I didn’t really know you could look these things up! Much appreciated!
They sure do make it easy for content creators to learn how to find relevant hashtags to grow their traffic, don’t they?
I am an Instagram noob, so I’m playing catch up with this, too!
This is fantatic. I definitely struggle when it comes to using the right view generating hashtags. I will be looking into the resources above for sure.
Rachel – I had the same issue and after working with a client (do as I say, not as I do), the changes from using the ‘right’ hashtags was intense! I now have a notes section on my phone that will make it much easier for me to stay on top of this. And you have so many fun tags to choose from!
This is great! I need to get way better at this. I’ve made some strides but still have a lot to learn!
The only thing I’m certain of is that we all have so much still to learn! I did, however, become very efficient recently with adding my relevant hashtags to a note file on my phone. It’s so much easier for me now. Researching it was one of the reasons I wrote how to find hashtags to increase engagements – always learning!