> Source: https://www.trackmedia.app/blog/hashtags-for-youtube-shorts · Last updated: 2026-10-06 # Best hashtags for YouTube Shorts: the official rules YouTube publishes no list of the best hashtags for Shorts. Here is what its Help Center says about limits, placement and spam, and how to test your own. *Guides · Published 2026-10-06* YouTube does not publish a list of the best hashtags for YouTube Shorts, and none of the Help pages we read says a particular hashtag raises views. What it does document is how many hashtags it honors, where they appear, and what gets a video penalized. This guide uses only YouTube Help pages read on October 6, 2026, so it has no hashtag lists and no third-party data. It covers the limits, whether you still need #Shorts, title versus description, and how to test your own set in YouTube Studio. ## What are the best hashtags for YouTube Shorts, according to YouTube? YouTube's Help page [Find playlists & videos using hashtags](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6390658) defines hashtags as keywords preceded by a # symbol that connect your content with other videos sharing the same hashtag. It says you can add them "to a title and description when you upload a video or record a Short on YouTube." When you type # in the title or description, YouTube suggests popular hashtags. For a Short, the page says they are "recommended based on a variety of signals, such as suggestions from past content uploads and, in some countries, any entered text." Hashtags you have used before show a clock icon. ## How many hashtags can you use on a YouTube Short? YouTube Help sets one hard number: if a video or playlist has more than 60 hashtags, YouTube says it will "ignore each hashtag on that content." The page also warns that over-tagging may result in the video being removed from your uploads or from search. A second number covers what viewers see. Of the hashtags in your description, the page says "up to three hashtags that are considered most engaging will appear by your video title." YouTube chooses which three, and the page does not say how. It is written for videos in general and does not say whether the same three show in the Shorts player. The page names no ideal count between those two numbers. It says only that the more tags you add, the less relevant they become for searchers. ![Diagram of where hashtags go on a YouTube Short. The title takes up to 100 characters and may include hashtags. The description may include hashtags too, and up to three of them that YouTube considers most engaging appear by the video title. A limits box lists: no spaces inside a hashtag, more than 60 on one video and all are ignored, unrelated hashtags can get the video removed, and plain descriptive tags in the description are still prohibited.](https://www.trackmedia.app/assets/img/blog/hashtags-for-youtube-shorts-fig1.svg) *Where hashtags can go on a Short and the limits on YouTube's hashtag Help page.* ## Do you still need #Shorts on a YouTube Short? No current YouTube Help page we read says you must add #Shorts. YouTube's page [Understand three-minute YouTube Shorts](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/15424877) says a video is categorized as a Short by its shape and length: square or vertical, up to three minutes, uploaded on or after October 15, 2024 on standard channels (Official Artist Channels use December 8, 2025). Our [YouTube Shorts length, size and aspect ratio guide](https://www.trackmedia.app/blog/youtube-shorts-length-size-and-aspect-ratio) walks through that rule. We also read the upload steps for [Upload YouTube Shorts](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/12779649) (computer, Android and iPhone & iPad versions) and the [YouTube Shorts upload tips](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/12921536). Neither mentions #Shorts. Treat this as "not documented in the pages we read," not "YouTube says it does nothing." If you still add it, the same hashtag policies apply as to any other hashtag, including relevance. ## Should hashtags go in the title or the description? YouTube Help allows both, and says hashtags "in the title and description will link to a results page featuring other videos sharing the hashtag." The documented difference is display: the three shown by your title are chosen from the hashtags in the description, and they stay in the description as well. The page does not say whether a hashtag in the title is weighed differently from one in the description, so any claim that one placement ranks better is unverified. The title does have a cost: YouTube's [Upload YouTube videos](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/57407) page says video titles have "a character limit of 100 characters", and the mobile steps on [Upload YouTube Shorts](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/12779649) say "max 100 characters" too, so every hashtag you put in a title uses part of that space. ## What hashtags can get a Short penalized? The hashtag page lists its policies. The page says not to add hashtags that are not directly related to the video, and unrelated ones may result in removal. Hashtags meant to harass or that promote hatred lead to removal, sexual ones may be removed, and profanity may lead to an age restriction or removal. YouTube also says that while adding hashtags is allowed, adding ordinary descriptive tags or repetitive sentences in the description is "still" prohibited. A description that is a wall of keywords, with or without a # in front, is the risk, not a few accurate hashtags at the end. ## How do you test which hashtags work for your Shorts? You test by comparing your own Shorts in YouTube Studio, because YouTube publishes no universal best set. The steps come from YouTube's [Understand your YouTube video reach](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9314355) and [Get started with YouTube Analytics](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9002587) pages. 1. **Keep a log before you post.** For each Short, note the hashtags, where you put them (title or description), the topic and the publish time. Without this, you cannot read the results later. 2. **Open the video's analytics.** Sign in to YouTube Studio, select **Content** in the left menu, point to the video and select **Analytics**, then choose **Reach** from the top menu. The **How viewers find this video** card shows traffic source types, and **YouTube search terms** shows what viewers searched before they found the video. 3. **Pick one view metric.** YouTube's [Shorts getting-started page](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/10059070) says that starting March 31, 2025, views count each start or replay with no minimum watch time, and the earlier measure is now called "Engaged views". The Reach page also lists a **Stayed to watch** metric for Shorts. Choose one and use it for every comparison. 4. **Change one thing at a time.** Keep the topic and format similar, vary only the hashtag set, and compare several Shorts per variant, not a single pair. We did not find a Help page that names a hashtag-specific traffic source, so we cannot say Studio will credit a view to a hashtag click. YouTube's analytics overview says an updated YouTube Studio has been rolling out gradually since July 2026, so your Analytics page may look different from these steps. A small channel's numbers will also be noisy: a few Shorts per variant can show a difference that is chance. Treat the result as a lean, not proof. ## What TrackMedia does with YouTube hashtags TrackMedia's code includes a YouTube connector that uploads a video with a title and a description. The text you write for YouTube goes into the description (cut at 5,000 characters), so hashtags you type in the post are part of it. The composer's per-network editor shows a **Title** field limited to 100 characters. It is labeled optional there, but the connector rejects a video with no title. When you schedule from [the publishing tools](https://www.trackmedia.app/#publish), the connector sets no Shorts flag. For measuring, [TrackMedia's analytics](https://www.trackmedia.app/#analytics) pull views, likes and comments for YouTube videos, so you can compare hashtag sets across posts once you have logged which set each used. The limits: TrackMedia's composer does not suggest hashtags or count them against YouTube's limit of 60, and its YouTube analytics code reads views, likes and comments only, not YouTube's traffic sources, search terms or "Engaged views". Those stay in YouTube Studio. You can [start free on TrackMedia](https://go.trackmedia.app/signup) to schedule Shorts and keep the results beside your other networks. ## How we checked this We opened each page below in a browser on October 6, 2026 and copied the numbers and menu labels from it. TrackMedia statements come from our own connector, composer and analytics code. - [Find playlists & videos using hashtags - YouTube Help](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6390658): 60-hashtag rule, three hashtags shown by the title, suggestions, hashtag policies. - [Upload YouTube Shorts - YouTube Help](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/12779649) (computer, Android and iPhone & iPad versions): mobile title limit of 100 characters; no mention of hashtags or #Shorts. - [Upload YouTube videos - YouTube Help](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/57407): video titles are limited to 100 characters. - [YouTube Shorts upload tips - YouTube Help](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/12921536): no mention of hashtags. - [Understand three-minute YouTube Shorts - YouTube Help](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/15424877): how a video is categorized as a Short, including the standard and Official Artist Channel dates. - [Get started creating YouTube Shorts - YouTube Help](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/10059070): change to Shorts view counting and "Engaged views". - [Understand your YouTube video reach - YouTube Help](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9314355) and [Get started with YouTube Analytics - YouTube Help](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9002587): Studio paths, reports, and the July 2026 Studio rollout note. We could not verify whether YouTube weighs title hashtags differently from description hashtags, what happens to a hashtag that is only in the title (the page draws the three shown from the description), whether the same three show in the Shorts player, whether #Shorts has any effect today, how YouTube picks its "most engaging" three, or whether any traffic source report is specific to hashtags. The Reach page's traffic source list was collapsed when we read it, so we cite only the report names shown. We did not test uploads ourselves.