The short version: the best hashtags for best friend content are a mix of small, specific tags (under 50,000 posts) that describe the exact moment you filmed, one or two mid-size friendship tags, and zero generic ones like #bff or #bestfriendsforever because those pools are so flooded that a fresh post disappears in under ninety seconds. Find them by checking what's tagged on reels that already got strong engagement in your niche, not by typing "best friend hashtags" into a generator and copying the top ten.
Why your best friend content isn't the problem, your hashtags might be
I get some version of this message every week from people running "us two" pages, best friend duo accounts, or just regular creators who post a lot of content with their best mate. The content is sweet: getting ready together, road trips, the daily check-in videos, the "rating my bestie's outfit" format. Engagement is flat. Views sit at 300, 400, sometimes a few thousand if the algorithm smiles on them, and the same ten friends like every post.
The instinct is always to blame the hashtags. Fair enough, it's the easiest thing to change. But before we get into which hashtags work, I want to say something that most hashtag guides skip because it's less fun to write: hashtags on Instagram and TikTok in 2026 are doing maybe 10 to 15 percent of the work they used to do in 2018. The platforms now push content based on watch time, shares, and how quickly people comment, not on hashtag matching. If your first three seconds don't hook someone, the perfect hashtag stack won't rescue the post.
That said, that remaining 10 to 15 percent is still worth chasing, because it's often the difference between a post reaching your existing followers and reaching people who've never seen your account before. For best friend content specifically, hashtags are how you get discovered by people actively searching for that exact kind of content, which is a warmer audience than a random algorithmic push.
The three-tier hashtag mix I use for friendship content
I built this system after running it with a client, a lifestyle creator in Manchester who posts daily content with her best friend of fifteen years. Her account was stuck at around 200 to 600 views per reel for four months straight. We didn't change her content style at all, just her hashtag approach. Within three weeks, one reel of them doing a "who knows me better" quiz hit 40,000 views. Here's exactly what we did.
Tier one: hyper-specific tags (5 to 20,000 posts)
These describe the exact thing happening in the video, not the relationship in general. Instead of #bestfriends, we used #bestfriendquiz, #whoknowsmebetterchallenge, #friendshiptesttag. Small pools mean your video sits near the top of that hashtag for days instead of minutes, and the people browsing it are specifically looking for that format.
Tier two: mid-size community tags (50,000 to 400,000 posts)
This is where you get discoverability without total dilution. Tags like #bestfriendreels, #girlbesties, #friendshipgoals2026, #bestieadventures. These still have real communities attached, people who follow the tag itself in the app, but they're not so saturated that your post is buried by minute two.
Tier three: one broad anchor tag
Just one, maybe #friendship or #bestfriend. This is for the algorithm's benefit more than for humans finding you through search. Don't build your whole strategy around this tier, it's decoration, not discovery.
We used four tags from tier one, three from tier two, and one from tier three, so eight total on Instagram reels. On TikTok we cut it down to five because the platform rewards fewer, more precise tags over a long stacked list.
Where I go to find these tags
This is the part people skip because it's slightly more manual than pasting into a generator, but it takes fifteen minutes and it's the difference between guessing and knowing.
- Search the format, not the relationship. Type "best friend quiz" or "getting ready with my best friend" into Instagram or TikTok search and look at the top reels. Open three or four that have strong views relative to the creator's follower count (a small account with 20,000 views is a better signal than a huge account with 20,000 views) and read every hashtag they used.
- Check the tag's own page. Tap into any hashtag and Instagram shows you the post count and, on newer versions, a rough sense of recent activity. If a tag has 8 million posts, skip it. If it has 6,000 to 60,000, that's your sweet spot.
- Watch for tags that repeat across multiple successful posts, not just one. One viral video can have a fluke tag that did nothing. If you see the same tag on five separate high-performing videos in your niche, that's a real pattern.
- Rotate every two to three weeks. Tags that worked in January will feel tired by March because the same creators are all reusing them. Redo this search monthly, it never takes longer than the first time.
If you want a broader list of ideas for what to film with your best friend before you even get to the hashtag stage, I wrote a full breakdown of formats that consistently pull higher engagement in this post on what to post for higher engagement, and it's worth reading first because no hashtag fixes boring content.
The mistake almost everyone makes with duo and friendship accounts
Here's the uncomfortable bit. Most best friend content fails not because of hashtags at all, but because the two people in the video are performing for each other instead of for the viewer. You can tell within two seconds when a video is really an inside joke that happens to be filmed, versus a video made for someone who's never met either of you. The algorithm and the audience both pick up on that instantly. It's why some strangers' "best friend" content gets millions of views with basic production and yours, with better lighting and a nicer edit, gets six hundred. Hashtags won't fix a video that only makes sense to the two of you.
The fix isn't complicated but it does mean rewatching your last five posts honestly. Would a stranger who's never seen your account understand what's funny or sweet about this in the first three seconds, without reading the caption? If not, that's the actual problem, and no hashtag stack changes that math.
How many hashtags should you use in 2026
Instagram allows up to 30, but I'd steer you away from anywhere near that. Meta's own creator guidance has quietly shifted toward telling people that three to five well-chosen tags outperform a wall of thirty, because a huge hashtag list can read as spammy to both the algorithm and to people scrolling. My working number for friendship and duo content specifically is:
- Instagram reels: 6 to 9 tags, mixed across the three tiers above
- Instagram feed posts: 3 to 5, since feed posts get less discovery weight from tags overall
- TikTok: 4 to 6, kept tight because TikTok's search and sound-matching matter more than hashtag stacking
Put the tags in the caption itself rather than the first comment. Instagram has said publicly that placement in the caption performs the same as the first comment for indexing, but caption placement means you're not relying on a second action (posting a comment) that sometimes gets missed or delayed, which quietly costs you the first hour of visibility, and that first hour is when the algorithm decides how far to push a post.
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A quick real example, start to finish
Going back to that client I mentioned. Her top performing best friend reel, the "who knows me better" one, used these eight tags: #whoknowsmebetterchallenge, #bestfriendquiz, #friendshiptest, #girlbesties, #bestfriendreels, #friendshipgoals2026, #uktiktokfriends, #bestfriend. Four hyper-specific, three mid-size, one broad. The video itself was 34 seconds, filmed on an iPhone in her kitchen, no ring light, no script beyond the questions. It reached 40,000 views, 1,900 likes, and around 340 comments, mostly other duos tagging their own best friend to do the same quiz. That last part, people tagging their friend, is the real engagement multiplier, because each tag brought a fresh viewer who wasn't already following her.
We tested the exact same video format two weeks later with generic tags only, #bestfriends #bff #friendshipgoals #love #instagood, and it pulled 1,100 views. Same content, same two people, same energy. The only variable was the hashtag tier. That gap is why I don't think hashtags are dead, I just think most people are choosing the wrong size of tag.
Building this into a repeatable habit
Don't rebuild your hashtag strategy from scratch every time you post, that's how people burn out on content in a month. Keep a running note, in your phone or a spreadsheet, with three saved tag sets: one for quiz or challenge style videos, one for day-in-the-life or hangout content, one for milestone posts (birthdays, anniversaries of the friendship, travel). Update each set once a month using the search method above. This is also a good moment to look at the wider engagement tactics around your posting, timing, captions, and calls to action, which I covered in more depth in this piece on tactics for more followers and engagement, since hashtags are one lever among several and they work best stacked with the others.
If reels are a big part of your best friend content, it's also worth knowing how the saving and rewatching behaviour works on the platform, because saves are a stronger engagement signal to the algorithm than likes, and content people want to save for later (funny quizzes, relatable duo skits) tends to get pushed further. I covered how that mechanism works in this guide to saving Instagram reels, which is useful context if you're wondering why some of your posts spike in saves without a matching spike in likes.
What to do when a hashtag stops working
Tags have a shelf life. A tag that pulled you real reach in November can go flat by February because the platform's community around it shifted, or because it got flooded by an unrelated trend using the same word. The tell is simple: check your reach breakdown under insights, and if "from hashtags" drops for two posts running after weeks of steady numbers, that tag is done. Swap it, don't cling to it out of habit. This is also where growing your following more broadly matters, because a bigger, more engaged base means less reliance on hashtags for reach in the first place. I go into that shift in more detail in this post on growing your influence on Instagram.
One last thing worth saying plainly: hashtags will never replace a genuine hook, a genuine friendship on camera, and consistent posting. They're the seasoning, not the meal. Get the content right first, using the format research method above, then let the tag tiers do their smaller, real job of putting you in front of the right small pool of strangers who are searching for exactly what you filmed.
Frequently asked questions
Should I use the same hashtags on every best friend post?
No. Reusing the exact same eight or nine tags on every post tells the algorithm your content is repetitive even when it isn't, and it stops working within a few weeks because the same tag pool gets saturated with your own posts. Build three or four saved sets for different content formats and rotate them.
Do hashtags matter more on Instagram or TikTok for friendship content?
Instagram still leans on hashtags slightly more for reach into new audiences, particularly reels. TikTok relies more heavily on sound, on-screen text, and watch time, so tags there should be fewer and more precise, four to six rather than eight or nine.
What's a good hashtag size for a small or new account?
Aim for tags between 5,000 and 100,000 posts if your account has under 5,000 followers. Anything above a million posts is nearly impossible to break into without an existing audience already pushing you up, no matter how good the content is.
Why did my best friend video with popular hashtags still flop?
Usually because the video only made sense to the two people in it, so viewers scrolled past in the first two seconds regardless of the tags attached. Hashtags decide who sees your video for a moment, but the first three seconds of the video itself decide whether anyone stays.
Related reading: What Hashtags Get the Most Engagement on TikTok in 2026 and How to automate your Instagram and grow your followers and engagement.
