AI Hashtag Generator
One sentence about the video, one hashtag set that fits the platform you are actually posting to.
YouTube & YouTube Shorts are available on Pro & Business plans. Upgrade
ViralSharky generates hashtags from a plain description of your video, sized and styled for the platform you pick: TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, or a regular YouTube upload. It returns a small relevant set rather than thirty generic tags, because on every one of these platforms irrelevant hashtags now cost more than they return. Three generations a day are free without an account.
The right number of hashtags per platform
- TikTok. Roughly three to five. TikTok classifies mostly from the video and the caption text, so hashtags are a nudge rather than the mechanism.
- Instagram Reels. Five at most. Instagram limits every post and Reel to five hashtags, so each one has to describe the video.
- YouTube Shorts. Three. Only three are shown beside the title, and past 60 YouTube ignores all of them.
- YouTube. Three in the description, plus the hidden tags field. That field is one 500 character budget, and it is worth filling rather than spending on six terms.
Mix broad and specific
A set made entirely of enormous tags puts your video in a pool it cannot win. A set made entirely of tiny ones reaches almost nobody. The useful shape is one or two broad category tags, two or three that describe the specific thing in the video, and one that names the audience or niche.
The generator builds that mix from your description, which is also why the description is worth writing properly. "Cooking video" produces generic tags; "a 30-second high-protein overnight oats recipe for gym mornings" produces tags someone might actually follow.
What to avoid
- Tags with no connection to the video. Every platform now treats this as a spam signal rather than a distribution trick.
- Copy-pasting the same block onto every post. It teaches the recommendation system nothing about which video is which.
- Follow-for-follow and engagement-bait tags, which attract accounts that never watch and drag your retention numbers down.
- Hashtags in place of a caption. The caption text is the stronger signal on every platform here.
Frequently asked questions
Is the hashtag generator free?
Yes. 3 credits per day for every visitor, with no account and no card. Each credit returns hooks, captions, and a hashtag set for the platform you picked.
How many hashtags should I use?
Three to five on TikTok, five at most on Instagram Reels (Instagram's own limit), and three on YouTube, Shorts or long-form alike, because only three are displayed. More than that is not rewarded on any of these platforms.
Do banned or restricted hashtags still exist?
Yes, mostly on Instagram, where certain tags have had their pages limited. The practical protection is the same as the practical advice: use tags that genuinely describe your video rather than large generic ones you have never looked at.
Should hashtags go in the caption or the first comment?
In the caption. The first-comment habit came from a time when hashtags looked messy in feeds; it has no reach advantage, and on YouTube the description placement is what makes them display at all.