Can I display photos from a specific hashtag only from a specific user account?

How to show only the posts from one Instagram account that contain a given hashtag, using the only show posts containing filter.

Would you like to show only the posts from your Instagram account that contain a certain hashtag or word, or hide the ones that do?

In this guide, we’ll show you how to filter a feed by the words and hashtags in its captions, and what to check when your filters leave the feed empty.

Before you get started, make sure Instagram Feed is installed and activated on your WordPress site.

• Showing Only Posts With a Hashtag or Word
• Hiding Posts With a Word or Hashtag
• How the Filters Match Posts
• Showing Only Certain Types of Posts
• Sorting Your Posts
• Instagram Feed Filtering Not Working
• Frequently Asked Questions

Showing Only Posts With a Hashtag or Word

To show only the posts from one Instagram account that contain a hashtag, we’ll use a filter on a feed that has that account as its source. A feed shows the posts of the sources chosen under Sources in its Settings tab, and the filter then narrows those posts down.

1. To start, go to Instagram Feed » All Feeds. Then click the name of the feed you want to filter. You can also click the pencil icon next to it.
2. In the feed editor, click Settings. Then click Filters and Moderation.
3. Under Filters, click the Only show posts containing box. Then type the hashtag or word. For example, type #summer. To use more than one, separate them with commas, such as #summer, #beach, sunshine.
4. When you’re done, click Save.

The feed now shows only the posts whose captions contain at least one of the words or hashtags you typed.

Next, we’ll look at hiding posts instead.

Hiding Posts With a Word or Hashtag

To keep certain posts out of your feed, we’ll use the filter that works in the opposite direction. It hides every post whose caption contains one of the words or hashtags you list.

1. To begin, open your feed’s Settings. Then click Filters and Moderation, as in the steps above.
2. Under Filters, click the Do not show posts containing box. Then type the words or hashtags to hide. Separate several with commas.
3. When you’re done, click Save.

The feed now leaves out any post that contains those words or hashtags.

Next, we’ll look at how the filters match your posts.

How the Filters Match Posts

Both filters read the caption of each post. Knowing how they compare your words with it helps when a post doesn’t show or hide as you expect.

• Capital letters don’t matter. Summer and summer match the same posts.
• A word matches only as a whole word. For example, cat matches a caption with the word cat, but not one that only has the word category.
• To match a hashtag, type it with the # sign, such as #summer.
• When you fill in both filters, a post shows only if it contains at least one of your Only show words and none of your Do not show words.
• If you moderate your feed with an Allow List, the feed shows only the posts on that list, and the word filters aren’t applied. To learn more about the list, see our guide to moderation mode.

Next, we’ll look at filtering by the kind of post.

Showing Only Certain Types of Posts

You can also filter a feed by the kind of post. This filter doesn’t need the Plus license level.

1. To start, open your feed’s Settings. Then click Filters and Moderation.
2. Under Show specific types of posts, turn Photos, Feed Videos, and Reels on or off. A type you turn off is left out of the feed, and the types you leave on stay in it.
3. When you’re done, click Save.

A post with several photos counts as a Photos post, so turning off Photos also hides those posts.

Next, we’ll look at changing the order of your posts.

Sorting Your Posts

To change the order of your posts, we’ll use the Sort section of the same Settings tab.

1. To get started, open your feed’s Settings and click Sort.
2. Under Sort Posts by, choose Newest, Likes, or Random.
3. When you’re done, click Save.

The Likes option shows only for feeds of an account’s posts, tagged posts, or a mix of feed types. It needs Instagram Feed Pro.

Next, we’ll look at what to do when your filters leave the feed empty.

Instagram Feed Filtering Not Working

The Only show posts containing, Do not show posts containing, and Show specific types of posts filters can leave your feed with no posts or fewer posts than you expect. This happens when they filter out too many posts. When the feed is empty and you use the word filters, administrators see this message in the feed.

Error: No posts found. You may be filtering out too many posts or there could be a cache conflict.

Before you change anything else, start with these checks.

• To test this, remove the words from the filters for a moment. If your posts return, a filter is hiding them. Also check that each hashtag is typed with the # sign.
• If you moderate your feed with an Allow List and nothing shows, add posts to the list. For help, see our guide to moderation mode.
• The message also mentions a cache conflict. For the other reasons a feed can come up empty, see my Instagram feed stopped working.

The plugin requests your posts and then applies the filters afterward. The posts that match your filter may be further back in your post history. In that case, we may need to request more posts to find them.

If the checks above don’t help, follow these steps to increase the number of posts requested from the Instagram API. The plugin’s own description for this setting says it isn’t recommended unless our support team directs you to change it.

1. To begin, go to Instagram Feed » All Feeds. Then edit your feed by clicking its name or pencil icon.
2. In the feed editor, click Settings. Then click Advanced.
3. Next, increase the value of the Max Concurrent API Requests setting. The default value is 5.
4. When you’re done, click Save to update the feed settings.

If the feed is still empty after you raise the value, reach out to our support team.

That’s it! You can now show or hide posts by the words and hashtags in their captions, and you know what to check when the filters leave the feed empty. To show posts from a hashtag instead of from your own account, see our guide on displaying an Instagram hashtag feed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below, we’ve answered some of the most common questions about filtering your Instagram feed.