Case: removing all hashtags changed reach by under 2%

Case: removing all hashtags changed reach by under 2%
A food account (67k) ran 40 posts with full hashtag sets vs 40 with zero, randomized order over 80 days.
— With hashtags: median reach 8,900 (13.3%)
— Without hashtags: median reach 8,740 (13.0%)
— Delta: -1.8%, well inside noise (95% confidence interval crossed zero)
Hashtag-sourced reach was 4% of total impressions — caption keywords drove more discovery.
So what: for a 67k account in 2024-class distribution, hashtags are neutral; reallocate that effort to caption SEO. (n=80 posts, 80-day window)