It could actually be an instance thing, because depending on what’s actually federated with you you’ll get different results.

One thing I like to do for my main tags is do an occasional trawl through the results on that site I linked, and compare it to search results from my server. Anyone not showing up is either on an instance that mine has blocked (in which case booo) or they’re just not federated yet because nobody on my server follows them. In which case I follow them!

This can be a big advantage of themed instances because if you’re on, say, warhammer.social then chances are the people on there with you are already following lots of people posting about it elsewhere and so you’ll get lots of search results. But if you’re on, idk, an instance about birdwatching then it’s less likely to already have a lot of Warhammer content federated and waiting.

One of my accounts is on a tiny creative server so I’m good for knitting content but struggle a bit with the weekly NFL live-tooting for obvious reasons!

And yeah I do agree following hashtags isn’t the be all end all (especially with the lack of language filter), but it’s a good way to start at least finding those people you want to specifically follow 🙂