Shadow Banned Hashtags
Ever heard of the term ‘Shadow Ban’ on Instagram or Social Media? If not, let us fill you in!
Shadow banning is the act of limiting or partially blocking a user, their content or certain hashtags so their content will not be shown to anyone but their followers.
If your account is shadow banned:
If you or your account has been shadowbanned you’ll likely be able to post as normal, however, the content will not appear in the hashtag search or on the explore page, the content will only be viewable via the home feel or by specifically visiting your page - meaning it won’t reach any new audiences.
Instagram will not notify you that you have been shadowbanned and everything will appear to operate as normal. The only real way to confirm if you have been shadowbanned is by keeping an eye on your post reach and visiting the hashtag search pages to see if your post appears in the recent posts feed (of the hashtags you have used). If it doesn’t, there is a good chance you’ve been shadowbanned.
Instagram may put a shadowban on your account if it suspects inappropriate use of your accounts such as spamming, inappropriate content or language, trolling or if you’ve been reported and usually lasts for around 14 days.
Unfortunately being banned can be caused by something as simple as sending a high number of DM’s in a really short time, continually using the exact same hashtag sets at high frequency or leaving lots of comments that contain very few words and a lot of emoji.
Tips to avoid Shadow Banning
Be a good instagrammer. Only leave genuine, thoughtful comments that contain more than 4 words, mix up the hashtags you use and your hashtag sets - not only will this help prevent you from being shadow banned, it will help you reach new audiences. Don’t send the exact same DM to all of your audience one after another - be a human, connect with people properly.
If you’re using Shadow Banned Hashtags:
Similar to above, however in this instance the hashtag is shadow banned and not your account and is usually done when inappropriate content begins to appear beside a hashtag. When a hashtag is shadow banned it essentially becomes useless, you should stop using it immediately or run the risk of your account also being shadow banned or shut down.
Instagram will not tell you a hashtag has been shadow banned and will allow you to use it which is why it’s so important for you to do your own research. Below is a list of just some of the hashtags currently shadow banned by Instagram:
#alone
#always
#besties
#boho
#date
#desk
#elevator
#killingit
#newyearsday
#overnight
#saltwater
#streetphoto
#valentinesday
How to tell if a hashtag is shadowbanned: Type the hashtag into your Instagram search and head over to ‘Tags’ if it is banned a note will appear at the top advising posts are hidden because the community has reported some content does not meet Instagram's community guidelines.
Hashtag tips:
Aim to put yourself together at least 1 hashtag set for every content pillar you have, you can have up to 30 hashtags per post and with enough research, you should be able to come up with a really comprehensive list of at least 50-60 hashtags you can use on your account.
Check back in on your hashtags every couple of months, a quick search on each of them will tell you if you’re still able to use them or if any of them have been banned - it will also help you to understand if these hashtags are still relevant to your business by taking a look at some of the other content that has been uploaded using these.