Hashtags are one of the essential elements of Instagram marketing as they help posts and brands get discovered. Ever since they were created in 2007, they’ve become the bloodstream of social media marketing. They are kind of keywords that help posts get organized but also brands reach the target audience.

However, not all hashtags are good. Some of them may do more harm than good to your brand and even get your Instagram profile penalized. These are referred to as banned hashtags.

To make sure you get the most of your social media marketing efforts, here we look at the banned Instagram hashtags 2021 and everything related to them.

What Are Banned Hashtags?

Banned hashtags are hashtags that have been reported to Instagram by users for being used on posts that go against Instagram’s guidelines. Every post that contains them is marked as spam and is hidden from the audience. So, if you use banned hashtags, your posts will be hidden from your target audience, which will harm your growth efforts and organic reach.

One important thing to remember is that the list of banned hashtags is ever-changing. The hashtags that are banned today may not be banned in the future and vice versa. That’s why you always need to make sure the hashtags you want to use are acceptable. And, the best way to do that is to stay away from them and use safe hashtags. You can find the best ones that will bring you the greatest reach with our Hashtag Wizzard app.

Types of Banned Hashtags

There are two types of banned hashtags:

• Temporarily banned hashtags – Also known as flagged hashtags, this type of banned hashtags is banned for a short period of time and can be unbanned in the future. They are usually used in specific posts that Instagram users have reported.
• Permanently banned hashtags – Flagged as a “spam”, this type of banned hashtags is staying banned forever. In this category fall offensive and inappropriate words or words that break Instagram guidelines in some way. If you use these hashtags repeatedly, your profile may be penalized by Instagram.

Why Does Instagram Ban Some Hashtags?

The main reason for Instagram banning certain hashtags is that the content of the post they are used in is inappropriate or offensive and users have reported them. Also, there are cases when bots or spam accounts use inoffensive hashtags with offensive/inappropriate content. Since this is a big issue for brands and influencers who use the same inoffensive hashtags, Instagram is trying to break down those spam/fake accounts.

“Finding the best hashtags has never been so easy”