TikTok Hashtags: How Many to Use and Which Ones Actually Help
By the TikDop team ·
Hashtags on TikTok work differently from what most people expect. They're not a ticket onto the For You page, and stuffing your caption with thirty of them won't make a video go viral. What they do is help TikTok understand what your video is about — and help people who search find it.
Once you think of them as labels rather than magic words, picking them gets much easier.
What hashtags really do
TikTok looks at a lot of things to work out what a video is about: the caption, the sound, the on-screen text, what's actually in the video, and yes, the hashtags. Hashtags are one clear, simple signal. If you post a sourdough tutorial with #sourdough and #breadmaking, you're telling TikTok to try the video on people who like bread content.
They also matter for search. More and more people use TikTok like a search engine — "easy dinner recipes", "how to tie a tie", "Istanbul cafes". Hashtags and keywords in your caption help your video show up for those searches long after it was posted.
Why #fyp and #viral don't help
Tags like #fyp, #foryou, #foryoupage and #viral are on millions of videos about everything. They don't describe your video at all, so they don't tell TikTok anything useful. There's no evidence they get you onto the For You page. They just take up space you could use for a tag that actually describes your content.
You won't get punished for using them. They're just wasted.
How many should you use?
There's no official magic number. In practice, three to five relevant hashtags works well for most videos. That's enough to describe the topic without turning the caption into a wall of tags. Captions have a character limit too, and you'd rather spend those characters on a good line of text.
A simple mix that works
For each video, try to pick:
- One or two broad topic tags — #cooking, #fitness, #booktok. These place you in a big category.
- Two or three specific tags — #sourdoughstarter, #homeworkout, #fantasybooks. These are where you actually get found, because there's less competition and the people searching them really want that content.
- Optionally, one community or location tag — #istanbulfood, #smallbusinessowner. Useful if your audience is local or part of a clear community.
Skip the generic ones and skip tags that have nothing to do with the video. Using a trending tag on an unrelated video confuses TikTok and annoys viewers who were looking for something else.
How to find good tags
- Use the search bar. Type a word related to your video and look at the suggestions. Those are things people are actually searching.
- Look at videos similar to yours that did well. Not to copy them, but to see what tags people in your niche use.
- Check the Discover or trending page for tags related to your topic — but only use them if they genuinely fit.
- Keep a short list per topic. If you post about the same few things, keep a note on your phone with a set of tags for each. It saves time and keeps you consistent.
Keywords matter as much as hashtags
Because TikTok reads captions and on-screen text, plain words count too. A caption like "3-ingredient pasta you can make in 10 minutes" is clear to both people and the algorithm. You don't need to turn every word into a hashtag. Write a caption a human would want to read, then add a few tags at the end.
On-screen text and what you say out loud can also be picked up, so mentioning the topic naturally in the video helps.
Trending hashtags and challenges
Trends can give a video a boost, but only if you're actually taking part in the trend. If you're doing a dance challenge, use the challenge's hashtag. If you're not, leave it out. Riding a trend with an unrelated video rarely works and can make your account look spammy.
Measure, then adjust
After a few weeks, look at which videos got found through search or hashtags. Your analytics will show traffic sources for each video. If videos with very specific tags keep doing better, lean into that. If a tag you use constantly never seems to bring anyone, drop it.
Hashtags are a small lever. The video itself does most of the work. But a few well-chosen tags make sure the right people get a chance to see it. For the bigger picture, have a look at how the TikTok algorithm works.