I’m curious if there are any updates here. I’ve definitely cut down on the number of hashtags I use, since I’ve stopped seeing much impact from them in recent months. 

That’s what I’m thinking. I’ve seen a few accounts simply write the keywords at the end of the post rather than adding #.

I’m thinking it’s because IG is basically a search engine now. It’ll spot your keywords in your caption, among other things.

Would love to know if it’s even worth using hashtags anymore and just optimising the post for SEO instead.

Adam Mosseri did a couple videos, it started from an Ask Me Anything to his Instagram stories and this interview followed. He essentially announced that hashtags would no longer help visibility or distribution, they will still help categorize content and support users in searching for specific things. 

One of the biggest changes that I have noticed is that they now only show top posts per followed hashtags - not just any post that uses the hashtag. This reinforces the idea that you should only be using 3-5 hyper relevant and strategic hashtags for your posts. Anecdotally, it has been brutal for small business, entrepreneurs, and hobbyist/makers that don’t necessarily have the follower count to get the impressions and engagement that would get their posts to the top of their chosen hashtags. 

Here’s the head of Instagram talking about it: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7opYxFxicG/?igsh=eXN3Y2tsNnBnZmRh