More than 100 people got involved in my latest experiment on LinkedIn hashtags, as I tried to work out whether hashtags on LinkedIn were going away.
Despite the hashtag functionality having a recent wobble in October 2024, almost everyone who responded said that hashtags were active/clickable and working as expected.
Any hashtags that looked like plain text (inactive) were probably like that only due to a glitch rather than because of some grand retraction plan.
Someone who works for LinkedIn has subsequently posted to say that hashtags on LinkedIn are NOT being deprecated. So, if you’re using hashtags then there’s no reason to stop.
That said, hashtags don’t seem to work well anymore for discoverability on LinkedIn. Given that that’s probably the main reason for most people to include them in their posts, I wouldn’t recommend using hashtags on your posts simply for that benefit.
Put another way, I don’t think people are finding you because of your use of the “right” hashtags, in which case there’s little point littering your posts with them.
Now, there are other legitimate reasons for using hashtags on LinkedIn.
They’re good for categorisation of your own content, especially if you create different series. For example, if you did a month of posting videos every day, you might create a special hashtag for that series, which would make it easier to reference in future.
Another reason, related to the above, is to use hashtags as a way to reinforce your personal brand. Even if no one were to click or follow such hashtags, simply being reminded of them on your posts might help your audience remember you instead of someone else when a key referral/hiring moment occurs.
(If you want some help creating your own hashtag, see my blog post on creating branded hashtags.)
Let’s wrap up.
So, hashtags still work on LinkedIn – but I’d contend that they’re not quite as useful as they once were.
I’ve decided to reduce my use of hashtags in my posts, so that my content stays as lean and clean as possible. (And yes, I appreciate the irony of writing that after having slapped a wall of text in front of you.)
Pro tip: if you’ve decided to continue using hashtags on LinkedIn, that’s fine. I suggest placing them in a vertically stacked list at the end of each post, to aid readability. It’s not good digital hygiene to be dropping blue links everywhere. Neat piles are fine but otherwise don’t ruin the aesthetic of your posts!
