YouTube Hashtag Generator
Generate trending, relevant hashtags for your YouTube videos. Boost discoverability with AI-powered hashtag suggestions categorized by reach.
Recommended: 15-20 hashtags (YouTube shows max 15 per video)
How to Use
- Enter your video topic or main keywords
- Adjust the slider to set how many hashtags you want (15-30)
- Click Generate to get AI-powered hashtag suggestions
- Review hashtags categorized by High Volume, Medium, and Niche
- Copy individual categories or all hashtags at once
- Paste into your video description (YouTube allows up to 15 hashtags)
What is the Best Free YouTube Hashtag Generator?
A YouTube hashtag generator is an AI-powered tool that creates strategic, categorized hashtag collections optimized for maximum video discoverability without triggering YouTube's spam filters. Unlike generic hashtag tools that just suggest popular tags, the best free YouTube hashtag generators analyze your content topic and provide a balanced mix of high-volume, medium-reach, and niche-specific hashtags—giving you both broad exposure and targeted audience reach. This smart categorization helps you avoid the common mistake of using only competitive hashtags (where your video gets buried) or only obscure ones (where no one searches). Our free tool generates 15-30 hashtags in seconds, properly formatted with the # symbol, ready to paste directly into your video description.
Why YouTube Hashtags Matter for Discovery and Growth
- Additional Discovery Path: Hashtags create clickable links that surface your video in hashtag search results and related hashtag pages. Viewers searching or clicking #fitnesstips will find all videos tagged with that hashtag—giving you an extra pathway beyond regular search and suggested videos.
- First 3 Tags Appear Above Your Title: The first three hashtags in your description appear as clickable links directly above your video title on both desktop and mobile. This prime real estate (viewed by 100% of your viewers) can drive significant secondary traffic if used strategically.
- Topic Clustering for Algorithm: YouTube's algorithm uses hashtags to understand your video's topic and category, helping it recommend your content to viewers watching similar videos. Consistent hashtag usage across your channel helps YouTube position you within a specific niche.
- Community and Trend Connection: Using trending or community hashtags (#YouTubeGrowth, #ContentCreator) connects your video to larger conversations and movements, increasing visibility among engaged communities actively searching those tags.
- Low Competition Search Terms: Niche hashtags often have lower competition than regular keywords. Ranking for #beginneryogaathome might be easier than ranking for the broader search term "yoga for beginners," giving smaller channels a fighting chance.
- Brand Building: Creating and consistently using branded hashtags (#YourChannelName or #YourSeriesName) helps build community, makes your content easily discoverable in one place, and encourages user-generated content.
Best Practices for YouTube Hashtag Strategy
1. Use the "3-5-7" Rule for Optimal Results
Pick your 3 best hashtags for the prime spots above your title (these get maximum visibility). Use 5-7 total hashtags in your description for balance. Never exceed 15 hashtags—YouTube will ignore ALL your hashtags if you over-tag, which is worse than using none.
✓ Good: #HomeWorkout #FitnessForBeginners #NoEquipmentWorkout + 4 more in description
✗ Bad: Using 20+ hashtags or just 1 generic hashtag
2. Mix High-Volume, Medium, and Niche Hashtags
Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Use 1-2 high-volume hashtags for reach (#Fitness), 2-3 medium hashtags for balance (#HomeWorkouts), and 2-3 niche hashtags for targeted audience (#QuickMorningWorkout). This strategy gives you both broad exposure and targeted traffic.
✓ Good: #Cooking (high) + #VeganRecipes (medium) + #5MinuteDinner (niche)
✗ Bad: All generic hashtags like #Video #YouTube #Content
3. Place Your Best 3 Hashtags First in Description
The first three hashtags in your description (regardless of where they appear) will display above your video title. Most successful creators put all hashtags at the very beginning or very end of their description, not scattered throughout. Choose your first 3 carefully—they represent your video to every viewer.
✓ Good: Starting description with your 3 most important, specific hashtags
✗ Bad: Burying your best hashtags at the end after 10 mediocre ones
4. Always Verify Hashtags Before Using Them
Click on suggested hashtags in YouTube search to see what content appears. Make sure the hashtag is actually used by your target niche and shows relevant, appropriate content. Some hashtags might be popular but attract the wrong audience or contain inappropriate content that could damage your brand association.
✓ Good: Checking that #TechReview shows quality tech content similar to yours
✗ Bad: Blindly using trending hashtags without verifying the content
5. Keep Hashtags Directly Relevant to Video Content
Every hashtag should accurately describe something explicitly shown or discussed in your video. Using misleading or irrelevant hashtags (like #MrBeast on your cooking video) will hurt your click-through rate when viewers from that hashtag realize your content doesn't match—sending negative signals to YouTube's algorithm.
✓ Good: #PastaRecipe on a video that actually teaches pasta making
✗ Bad: #Viral #Trending #MustWatch (vague, not content-specific)
6. Create and Use a Branded Hashtag Consistently
Include one branded hashtag (your channel name or series name) in every video. Over time this builds a searchable library of your content and encourages community engagement. Even with a small channel, consistent use establishes this hashtag as yours—and it becomes more valuable as you grow.
✓ Good: #FitWithSarah or #SarahsFitnessJourney used in every video
✗ Bad: Never using the same hashtags, no brand consistency
Common YouTube Hashtag Mistakes That Kill Your Reach
❌ Using More Than 15 Hashtags (YouTube Ignores ALL of Them)
YouTube's official policy: if you use more than 15 hashtags in your video description, YouTube will ignore every single one—not just the extras, but ALL of them. This is explicitly stated in YouTube's hashtag policy. Quality over quantity: 5-7 strategic hashtags outperform 15 random ones.
✓ Better: Use 5-7 highly relevant, strategic hashtags
❌ Using Only Generic, Super-Competitive Hashtags
Hashtags like #YouTube, #Video, #Viral, #Content are so broad that your video instantly drowns in millions of results. Small and medium channels need a mix—use 1-2 broad hashtags maximum, and focus on medium and niche hashtags where you can actually rank and get discovered.
✓ Better: #BeginnerGuitarLessons instead of just #Music
❌ Using Hashtags in Video Title (Amateur Move)
Adding hashtags to your video title looks spammy and unprofessional. YouTube shows the first 3 hashtags from your description above your title automatically—putting them in the title itself is redundant and wastes precious title character space. Keep titles clean and keyword-focused.
✓ Better: Put ALL hashtags in description only, let YouTube display them
❌ Copying the Exact Same Hashtags for Every Video
Using identical hashtags across all your videos misses opportunities to rank for video-specific topics and makes your channel look lazy. While 1-2 branded/channel hashtags should be consistent, the rest should be tailored to each video's specific content, topic, and target keywords.
✓ Better: Customize 4-5 hashtags per video, keep 1-2 branded ones consistent
❌ Using Spaces or Special Characters in Hashtags
Hashtags must be single, unbroken words. #Home Workout doesn't work—only #Home becomes a hashtag, "Workout" is just text. Use camelCase for readability: #HomeWorkout, #FitnessForBeginners. Avoid punctuation (except underscores), numbers at the start, or excessively long hashtags that are hard to read.
✓ Better: #TechReview2024 or #Tech_Review (readable, functional)
When to Use the Best Free YouTube Hashtag Generator
- •Before Every Video Upload: Generate fresh, relevant hashtags for each video to maximize topic-specific discoverability. Spend 2 minutes finding the right hashtag mix rather than using generic defaults—it can double your views from hashtag traffic.
- •When Entering a New Niche: Research what hashtags successful creators in your target niche are using. Our free tool helps you discover niche-specific hashtags you might not know about, connecting you to established communities.
- •After Your First 10-20 Videos: Analyze which hashtags drove the most traffic (check YouTube Analytics → Traffic Sources → Hashtags). Then use our tool to generate similar variations and double down on what's working for your specific audience.
- •When Updating Old Video Descriptions: Go back to your older videos (especially ones that performed well but didn't use hashtags) and add optimized hashtags. This can give old content a second life and increase cumulative views on your back catalog.
- •When Your Videos Aren't Getting Discovered: If you're getting low impressions (not showing up in search or suggested videos), hashtags provide an additional discovery pathway. Generate a strategic mix of competition levels to get in front of new audiences.
Pro Tip: Use our best free Title Generator and Description Generator alongside the Hashtag Generator for a complete video optimization workflow. Generate your title first to identify main keywords, then create a description with those keywords, and finally generate hashtags that complement both— creating perfect alignment between title, description, and hashtags for maximum SEO impact.