Want to get the benefits from one of the easiest LinkedIn tactics to implement? Hashtags aren’t just for Twitter, and they’re easier to set up than generating LinkedIn recommendations. You can use them to follow topics that matter to you and to promote your own posts on LinkedIn. You can still get reach in your network without them, but they do extend your reach further. Find out how to search for hashtags on LinkedIn with these specific steps, including the top LinkedIn hashtags.
How to search for hashtags on LinkedIn
There are three or four ways to find hashtags on this network, and these first two generate recommendations relevant to your profile and activities.
Home/Newsfeed
The first way to find new hashtags is from the Home screen (or your news feed). From here you’ll see two boxes about hashtags on your screen, highlighted in the image below.
- The first is on the right, which says “add to your feed.”
- The second is a list of hashtags you already follow. You can click on the “discover more” tab at the bottom of this box to get recommendations.
Clicking on either of those options will take you to the “discovery” section of LinkedIn, where you’ll be given a set of recommended things to follow. Those recommendations include:
- Hashtags
- Pages
- Companies
- Influencers
- Groups
Skim the hashtags to find the ones most relevant to your job search, the industries that interest you, and anything timely.
Pro tip: The discovery tab will let you scroll infinitely, so don’t get lost in the suggestions!
Click on the most relevant hashtags and you’ll be following plenty of new tags in no time.
My Network tab
The second way to search for hashtags on LinkedIn reliably is from the “My Network” tab. Start here and click on the Hashtags button on the left-hand column just below “Newsletters,” as pictured below. This will take you to the discovery section again, but you’ll be on the “following” tab with results filtered for hashtags. You have two options from here:
- Click on the “follow fresh perspectives” tab to get a wide selection of recommendations.
- Click on hashtag, view the posts in that news feed, and then scan the posts you see for any worthwhile hashtags.
This method is a bit more manual, but you may find some niche hashtags that you wouldn’t come across through automated recommendations. That brings us to the third method…
Posts in your newsfeed
Looking for hashtags manually isn’t the most time-efficient way find them, but it can be the best way to find new hashtags that aren’t part of an algorithm’s suggestion.
You might want to find new hashtags according to factors that LinkedIn hasn’t grasped yet, such as:
- Local news
- Movements within a certain industry
- Volunteer causes
- Ideas and causes that matter to connections or prospective hiring managers
If that sounds worthwhile to you, then just start from the home screen (as pictured below) and search for hashtags on LinkedIn posts in the body copy. Sometimes people put them at the bottom of their posts, too, but they’ll always be highlighted in blue.
Use this Chrome extension to get the follower count
The best part about these tactics is that you can get the follower count for these hashtags using a simple Chrome extension called LinkedIn Hashtag Analytics. You don’t need to configure it or anything, which is excellent. Just install it, hop on to LinkedIn, and it’s ready to roll.
It’s super easy to use, too. Just hover over any hashtag you see inside of LinkedIn and it will give you the follower count. It’s that simple.
This will be a game changer for anyone looking to build their personal brand. Check it out.
How to search for hashtags on LinkedIn in bulk
You can click on the suggested hashtags using any of the above methods. You’ll be taken to a newsfeed specifically for that hashtag. The clicked hashtag will appear at the top of it with the option to follow it, as pictured below.
Instead of clicking on that particular hashtag, however, you can find a much bigger list of them related to your profile and your interests.
- Click on the triple-dot menu icon on the top-right of the chosen hashtag’s box, as pictured.
- Click on “Discover new hashtags,” the second option in the drop-down menu that appears.
Clicking on that will bring you to a specific kind of discovery tab just for hashtags. You won’t find any suggestions for influencers, companies, connections, or showcase pages here.
This discovery tab doesn’t let you scroll infinitely, however, so the suggestions will be limited. 22 suggestions appeared on this screen for me. This is one of the best ways to search for hashtags on LinkedIn in record time, so don’t skip this step!
You can also find them on the Android and iOS apps by following the network’s instructions.
How to find the top LinkedIn hashtags
All of those recommendations are generated according to elements of your profile and your activity, but they don’t encompass all hashtags. You can also find the top LinkedIn hashtags totally unrelated to your profile if you’d like to expand what you see in your newsfeed.
- Starting from the home tab (the news feed), move your mouse over to the “LinkedIn News” section on the top right-hand side of the screen. If none interest you, click on “show more” at the bottom of that sidebar section.
- This brings you to a curated news page. One of LinkedIn’s news editors picks a worthwhile (or trending) piece of content and features it along with popular posts that have shared and discussed it. Scan the page for the top LinkedIn hashtags in the post—you’ll usually walk away with 2-4 per story—and right-click on each one. That will take you to the “hashtag newsfeed” pictured earlier. Click the follow button and you’re done!
- When you’re ready to move on, scan the LinkedIn News tab to the right side once again. Choose another story relevant to you, click on it, and repeat the process. You’ll find the top 15-20 hashtags on LinkedIn within minutes, this way.
Follow all of those steps and you’ll find every last hashtag that’s relevant to you right now. It only takes 5-10 minutes and it opens doors to topics you might not have realized you were missing.
