Some time ago I began realizing that some of my Instagram photos were not showing up in tag search results. It was a real bummer because I didn’t think my pics were getting the exposure they deserved, especially when I would work hard to compose an image and then spend time editing it on my iPhone! At first I thought the issue had something to do with a large amount of users on the server and figured that the app just “dropped” images from search results because of the traffic on certain tags, but after a while it was getting so annoying that I decided to research the issue. What I found out was quite a surprise to me, so I thought I should share the information with you in case you are suffering from the same issue! Basically, in order to fight against illegal or explicit photo’s (think pics of drugs or sexy photos), Instagram has blocked certain tags from their search (think tags with curse words or explicit language), but because people normally use more than one tag when promoting these sorts of images, if a picture has a tag that is blocked in the description, the image is automatically flagged and none of your tags will work so that your image is blocked from searches completely!
Now, I am sure you’re thinking to yourself, “I’m not posting explicit photos or using questionable tags in my description but my photos are still not showing up in searches.” Well, I’m sorry to tell you that Instagram’s approach to solving their naughty pic issues aren’t so cut and dry and seemingly innocuous tags like #iPhone have been blocked as well! In my instance, all my photos that weren’t showing up in searches included the tag #iPhone and I had no idea it was a blocked tag. So, if you are having trouble with your images missing from search results, I suggest you go through your tags and select them one by one and if your search results yield no images, you have found your blocked tag. When I went into Instagram and searched #iPhone, it indeed yielded no results, so unless you are using a totally unique tag or a misspelling and your search yields no results, your tag is probably blocked and causing your image to disappear in search!
If searching through your tags one by one seems too daunting a task for you, I have also found a link to A List of Blocked and Unsearchable Instagram Hashtags for your review. Just a warning, this link does show explicit language, so if you are underage or sensitive to fowl language, please don’t click the link. The link itself is to a reputable site, but I just wanted to give you a heads up because most of the list is bad language in hashtag form!
Have you had this hashtag issue happen to you? Have you been using tags that seem innocent enough but found that they were actually blocked by Instagram? Let me know your opinion on Instagram’s hashtag crackdown in the comments!
This has never happened to me, but I can imagine how frustrating it must be (especially if your hashtag is not in any way explicit)!
I wasn’t aware of that list – the offensive ones are no-brainers but I can’t believe some of the banned phrases that are so innocent like ‘iphone’, ‘photography’ and ‘instagram’!
Great post and a top tip! 🙂
I know, its kinda crazy! Thanks for the comment!
My hashtags are all showing pictures, but normally I got 10-15 likes for everytime I use a hashtag, but the last few days no matter how many hashtags I use I do not get any likes at all, I don’t know the problem
I would suggest asking a friend or family member to go and like the pictures having issues in question and make sure they can see them in their feed or when they search you. I’m thinking you may have posted your images and the app maybe messed up. Hope this helps!
Realized Instagram doesn’t like #dirtygirl . Grrr!
That stinks 🙁
OMG THANK YOU!!!! I had read like 50 blogs looking for an answer as to why my hashtags weren’t working and this is why!!! Apparently the hashtag “lingerie” isn’t allowed lol thanks again!
I’ve been having the same problem, but I came here to learn how to fix the broken hashtags that I’ve identified, as the title describes…
Wow Can’t bilieve it #instagram was blocked … Thanks so much for your blog …I went through all weblogs … Solved my problem here .. Cheers
God bless your smart little self. I noticed this had happened to a couple of photos I put up over the last few weeks. I’m an avid watcher of your channel and who would have thought that after a bunch of lame articles that had no answer – Alex has my problems solved. Turns out #photography is a no no! Seems silly since instagram is all about photos!!
Oh god! I was wondering why no one but my followers were liking the picture.Turns out Instagram thought #photography is a bad thing. >.> Thank you so much for this post!
The Little World of Linda | http://www.applemeeko.wordpress.com
It’s March 30, 2015 and I discovered over the weekend that my tagged images were not showing up in their respective hashtag streams. I found tons of helpful articles like this one but just as I was about to go back and delete all of the hashtags I ever added, I restricted my google search to 2015 and found an article about a very recent change: they’ve decided to order the hashtag stream by the upload time/date. That means you need to hashtag your images immediately after posting them in order to see them in the stream. If you go back and tag them the next day (like I used to do, to save my followers from seeing the jumble of tags) your image will be inserted waaaay down the list with all the others that were posted around the day before. Here is the article that explains the change in detail: http://www.itchban.com/blog/20… I hope this saves someone a headache!
OMG! thank you so much! i was going nuts trying to figure this out! i do the same thing you do… waiting to hashtag. guess i shouldn’t do that anymore. i thought the tags weren’t working! yay!!!!
Your welcome!
My hashtags aren’t working either.
I dont know if any of them are flagged. Changed them, still not working. DELeted and reinstalled Instagram, still no use.
http://www.oneclutch.com
This is a helpful post. Thanks for updating about this problem. Here’s the move I made: I found the offending hashtag (#bangbang in reference to the Nancy Sinatra song), copied all of my hashtags except that one, and pasted the hashtags in the comments section of my post. Now they are at the top of the stream for each hashtag.
Hello I’m having issues when I tag someone in my pictures once I add everyone that I want to tag then I upload the picture once someone likes it the tags disappear out of nowhere can someone please give me a reason or a tip to fix this it’s super disappointed I’m so close to deleting my Instagram account hurts me so bad I’ve worked so hard to get to where I’m at at so short time
I’m having the same issue! Have you found a fix?!
I stumbled upon this old post trying to solve this exact problem. Did either of you figure out what was going on? I’ve emailed instagram, but haven’t heard back yet.
how much time later were you allowed to tag people? Does anyone know how and why this happens? I am in the same situation
I am new to hash tagging! Put up my first two pictures last night and got around 20 likes on one of them in a few minutes… crazy! Today I tried adding more terms and keep getting this message: “Your edits weren’t saved. Please try again.” Any ideas??
You are required to use less than 30 hashtags per post. If it exeeds that limit, this pop up will show “your edits weren’t saved”
This is seriously SO helpful, thank u!!!
Thank you for saving me a meltdown! Lol
I was really wondering what the heck was happening and the hashtag was blocking it.
In case this is useful to someone else: I was getting the error message “your edits weren’t saved.” And the problem was not blocked hashtags. The problem was TOO MANY hashtags: Once I reduced the number of hastages to below 30, the edits were savable 🙂
Thanks so much. #popular is out too
I’m relatively new to instagram and some days I can add a caption/title to my artwork and some days I cannnot. I’m basically adding a title, size of canvas and hastags such as: #artwork #creativity #artistoninstagram #art etc. Please tell me what am I do wrong.
You may need to redownload the application if you are having trouble with it. Not sure what device you are using, but I’d check for an update and see if that helps.
I´m at a loss! All of these seem to work yet they´re not getting picked up. Any chance you know how to test them best? I clicked them and checked and they showed at first and then they didn´t! #lifeofadventure #exploretocreate #liveauthentic #neverstopexploring #forgeyourownpath #visualsoflife #exploremore #bevisuallyinspired #liveoutdoors #stayandwander #getoutstayout #goodvibes #travelgram #wildernessculture #optoutside #choosemountains #thegreatoutdoors #meetatthemoment #keepitwild #adventureculture #goodvibes
#nrksommer #godmorgennorge #naturelovers #fiftyshades_of_nature #welivetoexplore #huffpostgram #utpåtur #utno #liveterbestute
At a loss. Tried all these and they work well. Posted pic, it showed on the tags and then it went away! So I got zero exposure in the end. Any ideas? #lifeofadventure #exploretocreate #liveauthentic #neverstopexploring #forgeyourownpath #visualsoflife #exploremore #bevisuallyinspired #liveoutdoors #stayandwander #getoutstayout #goodvibes #travelgram #wildernessculture #optoutside #choosemountains #thegreatoutdoors #meetatthemoment #keepitwild #adventureculture #goodvibes
#nrksommer #godmorgennorge #naturelovers #fiftyshades_of_nature #welivetoexplore #huffpostgram #utpåtur #utno #liveterbestute
My hashtags photo worked good and all of my posts are top post but from today any my hashtag not working and my pic not appear in search result.plz hep me?how fix it?I dont use any bad hashtag like sex or…i use food hashtag.please help me
I think instagram block my hashtaging.how say them make mistake about me.how long this???
I’m also having the same problem as the recent posters. Hastags worked fine for me about 4 weeks (50+ likes per photo) ago but since then I’ve been getting zero exposure (5-10 likes per photo).
My hashtags are not among the list of banned words, yet still I am getting restricted.
I am still able to post content but it’s most definitely cut off from the hashtag search system. No one is able to find my photos unless they are organic followers.
I’ve emailed Instagram many times in regards to this but zero response.
So frustrating as a content creators.
I think we should leave and go somewhere else…
Did you ever find a solution? I am having the same problem. No broken hashtags, less than 30, but not working in the tag searches. No response for IG. Help!!!
I don’t Know about Hashtags Because I don’t use them regularly but my problem is that I cannot tag anybody and Instagram banned me for the 10th time this week for tagging
I just tagged one person and it banned me when I wanted to add another photo 2 or 3 hours later
Instagram is getting really annoying
can anybody help me how to stop being banned?
Same thing for the last 3 days my hashtags don’t seem to be hitting the mainstream normally get 200 likes and I’m hitting 14. Something’s wrong and I’m not using ban hashtags. Same hashtags as ever
I wish you could help, but it is not a problem of Hashtag because with my other account and with the same hashtag my pictures show up in the search feed. I Wrote much time to instagram. and it is still doesn’t work…I don t know what to do honestly.