How to Find Trending YouTube Hashtags + List for Videos & Shorts

Imagine working hard to create a video: researching, shooting, editing, and adding a voice-over. You post it on YouTube, and it gets just a few views. As an antidote to this situation, marketers rely on trending YouTube hashtags to help their content reach a bigger audience and make it searchable.

YouTube hashtags are keywords and phrases you include in your video description after the (#) symbol. You can also include it in the title of videos.

In this article, we talk about why and how to find trending YouTube hashtags without using a hashtag generator and give you a list of always-trending hashtags for your videos and Shorts.

(Updated on March 16th, 2026)

Why You Should Use Trending Hashtags on YouTube?

Adding hashtags to your videos is still popular as an algorithm-exploiting technique, and it’s a very common tactic in YouTube marketing. Here are 3 clear reasons for marketers to start using trending YouTube hashtags.

Increase Visibility and Reach

With 20 million videos uploaded daily to YouTube on average, according to official 2026 YouTube statistics, you can understand that your content can slip through the cracks.

To survive this content chaos, YouTubers and brands add hashtags to their videos. Not only does this make it easy for users to find those videos, but it also increases reach and engagement.

No matter the work you’ve put into your video, reaching people matters most. Improving your brand awareness means making your content accessible and visible to more eyes.

To do that, you can start by adding generic trending hashtags in your video description. For example, use popular YouTube hashtags such as #ViralVideo, #WatchNow, and #Shorts.

When users search for trending hashtags, your video appears in the search results, increasing its visibility. Once people start noticing you exist, it’s time to dive into reach strategies. If you do it right, you’ll get a larger Share of Voice in your industry. In simple words, you’ll have a greater online visibility than your competitors.

Better Engagement with the Target Audience

Reach isn’t the only metric to conquer; there’s also engagement, and in 2026, it matters more. Consistency, quality, and creativity boost your social media engagement. However, the top factor for engaging content is relevance.

Unless people cared for your industry, they wouldn’t engage with your content. This means that you need to reach more eyes; the right ones. Target audiences tend to resonate more with YouTube content.

To reach your target audience, add relevant hashtags to your video title and description. For instance, fashion marketers should use relevant industry hashtags, like #Fashion, #OOTD, and #LookBook.

Strengthen Brand Identity and Awareness

YouTube is the 4th bigger social platform in active users as of 2025. So, it’s a perfect channel to grow your brand awareness due to its massive user base!

Consistently using specific hashtags related to your brand helps establish your brand identity on YouTube. Viewers start seeing hashtags and associating them with your business, improving your brand awareness metrics.

To do that, create a hashtag with your brand name or your campaign name. You can go the easy way of using general branded hashtags, like #BrandName or #CampaignName.

Why You Should Not Use YouTube Hashtag Generators?

YouTube hashtag generators are free tools that help marketers and content creators find hashtags. They analyze keywords, trends, and industry content to suggest relevant and popular hashtags for YouTube.

However, that doesn’t mean they always provide the right trending YouTube hashtags. In fact, they give you generic suggestions that sometimes fail to target niche audiences effectively.

Relying only on AI generators won’t get you anywhere. Your content may get lost in irrelevance. Broad hashtags can sometimes decrease your organic visibility. Instead, you should dedicate time to YouTube hashtag research.

After searching, analyzing, and testing, you can select an accurate list of hashtags. In your selection process, prioritize quality over quantity and you’ll see instant results.

Let’s take a look at an example. We compared the results from a free YouTube hashtag generator and a YouTube marketing tool.

The generator asked us to submit a keyword, and we chose “project management software”. However, almost all the hashtag suggestions started with the exact keyphrase and added another relevant word, and there were no metrics to demonstrate the performance of these hashtag suggestions.

On the contrary, Mentionlytics analyzed the same keyword and came up with these results. It searched trending YouTube hashtags that creators used. Then, it ranked the results by engagement. You can also rank them by reach, if you want.

3 Ways to Find Trending YouTube Hashtags for Your Channel

As mentioned above, we wouldn’t recommend using a hashtag generator. So, what is another way to find trending YouTube hashtags?

Here are 3 simple ways!

1. Use YouTube hashtag tracking tools

YouTube hashtag tracking tools are the easiest way to find highly relevant hashtags. It’s also the best option because these intelligent tools offer accurate results and data-driven insights.

The process is based on media monitoring and YouTube competitor analysis. YouTube hashtag tracking tools scan the platform for data relevant to your brand, competitors, or industry.

Here’s how to find trending YouTube hashtags for your channel with Mentionlytics.

Step 1: Enter your branded keyword

First, start a free trial and enter a branded keyword. It can be your brand name, a product/service name, a competitor name, or hashtags.

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Then, go to your Overview dashboard and filter your results. Click on the YouTube icon in the channel bar or manually choose YouTube from the drop-down channel selection menu.

Step 2: Go to Keyword Cloud

Hashtag tracking is a piece of cake if you know how to use Mentionlytics. Just go over to the Keyword Cloud and check the Hashtags Only box.

In the Keyword Cloud, you can see at a glance your industry’s most trending YouTube hashtags. Click on a hashtag to see a sample of the most engaging mentions with this hashtag.

Step 3: Explore the Top Keywords Feature

For more trending YouTube hashtags, you should use Mentionlytics’ Top Keywords. This is a feature designed to give you the best-performing hashtags, relevant to the keywords you monitor, along with their mentions, reach, engagement, sentiment, and top country to understand their performance.

To use this feature, go to the left-side menu and click “Top Keywords”.

Then, start exploring. Once you enter the feature, click on “Hashtags Only” to see only hashtag results. The results will be ranked by “Reach”.

However, we suggest you click on “Engagement” and rank hashtags by that metric to discover the most engaging hashtags, since engagement is what YouTube prioritizes most now.

2. Try YouTube’s search function

Are you on a tight budget and need to evaluate hashtag effectiveness manually? You could start by typing specific hashtags in the YouTube search bar. For example, you can type the hashtag symbol (#) and your niche keyword.

The search bar will automatically give you more elaborate hashtag suggestions. It doesn’t offer creative ideas but shows you popular hashtags that include your keyword.

Then, you can click on a specific hashtag and check the available data. You can see how many videos and channels include this hashtag in their titles/descriptions.

However, this process takes too much time for marketers. Furthermore, you can’t see any valuable information on hashtag performance. Also, the search bar won’t offer you accurate, data-driven insights, like Mentionlytics.

3. Analyze competitors and influencers in your niche

Finally, the third way is to go fully into spy mode. You already know who your top competitors, industry leaders, and niche influencers are. They’re probably succeeding in social media marketing. That means they’re probably doing something right.

So, go ahead and start observing their YouTube activity. Use a spreadsheet to take notes and keep your data organized. Focus on what hashtags they’re using. Are their videos engaging for the audience?

It’s a cost-free, manual way of monitoring competitors and influencers to find trending YouTube hashtags. Then, focus on influencers even more to identify new trends and hashtag ideas.

However, this is even more time-consuming than the previous process, because it requires constant updating. Plus, tools are always accurate; Humans aren’t.

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List of Trending Hashtags on YouTube for Videos & Shorts

Here is a list of the most trending YouTube hashtags now.

Now, let’s look at the top trending YouTube hashtags for Shorts.

Attention: These 15 hashtags (and the 28 above) are generic suggestions! Looking for trending YouTube hashtags for music, beauty, fitness, or other niche industries specifically? Try Mentionlytics for free and find personalized hashtag ideas!

Find Trending Hashtags Now for Free

It’s true, trending YouTube hashtags are important. They’ll lead your content to reach new audiences. And if you do it right, you’ll let the right audiences find you.

Sign up for a free trial with Mentionlytics and find top trending YouTube hashtags instantly!

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FAQ

Which YouTube hashtags are trending?

The YouTube hashtags that are always trending are:

• #YouTube
• #Vlog
• #Tutorial
• #Shorts
• #Viral

What hashtags make YouTube Shorts go viral?

These are the hashtags that can make YouTube Shorts videos go viral: #Shorts, #ShortVideo, #ShortsVideo, #YouTubeShorts, #Viral. However, keep in mind hashtags alone don’t determine virality. Content quality, watch time, and audience engagement matter far more.

What YouTube tags get the most views?

High-performing YouTube tags include broad terms like “how to,” “tutorial,” “review,” and “tips” that are consistently searched across niches. Combine these with trending topic tags, long-tail keywords matching your title, and competitor tags from top-ranking videos in your niche. Mentionlytics can help you identify top hashtags that maximize discoverability and push your content toward more suggested feeds.

Do hashtags work on YouTube anymore?

Yes, hashtags still work on YouTube, but their impact has evolved. They’re most effective for Shorts and searchable content, helping categorize videos and improve discoverability. However, YouTube’s algorithm now prioritizes watch time, click-through rate (CTR), and engagement over hashtags. So, hashtags are now a supporting tool that is useful for organization and niche targeting, but never a substitute for compelling, well-optimized content.

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