Blog

14 Powerful Pinterest SEO Tips (That Actually Work)


Pinterest is one of the most trending and happening social media platforms these days. It has evolved as a potent visual search engine over the past few years. If you optimize your Pinterest presence, it can continue to work for you for years to come.

What Is So Special About SEO for Pinterest?

Pinterest is not only a social media platform, but it is also a visual search engine similar to Google. So, when you want users to view your pins, you have to use SEO for Pinterest. Use and understand the keyword strategy to optimize your pins, profile, and boards.
The target SEO keywords for Pinterest are different from those of Google keywords. The process of ranking pins on Pinterest is also dependent on the number of social media shares and engagement.
But before getting into the nitty-gritty of Pinterest SEO, you need to start with the basic understanding and maintenance of a Pinterest page. Here is how to go about it:

1. Create a Pinterest Business Account

Once you have a Pinterest business account active on the platform, you will gain access to the Pinterest Ads Manager and Analytics. These will help you in learning and maintaining the engagement metrics. You will also be able to monitor the SEO analytics for your Pinterest profile actively.
When you create a business account, you need to consider how your audience might search for you. It is a good idea to add your username to your Pinterest URL.
There is an “About You” section where you have to fill in relevant details. If you already have a website, you can also add your website details and brand logo.
You can optimize this section with relevant keywords that serves your niche. Having a well-designed “About you” section can make it convenient for people to locate and save your pins.

2. Know Your Ideal Customers

No matter what you are putting up on Pinterest, you need to find ideal customers for those pins. So, when you work on Pinterest SEO, one of the best ways to reach out to more people is to study your past customers’ patterns.
Look at their interests, lifestyles, and actions as that will help you in determining your niche. Studying your previous clients’ patterns can clarify an ideal SEO strategy for your Pinterest profile.

3. Explore Several Boards Within Your Product Niche

It would be best if you explored as many boards as possible within your niche industry. These boards should focus on products that match your niche.
You also need to keep in mind the interests of your past and future customers. Pinpoint the boards that are related to both your customers’ interests and your products.
Stay within the scope of your niche but at the same time expand your horizon within. Let’s say you sell bookmarks. Apart from creating pins on bookmarks, you can also create pins like “using favorite quotes on bookmarks,” “gift ideas on books and bookmarks,” etc.

4. Do Keyword Research for Pinterest

Use keywords that are somehow related to your niche and put them on your search bar. You will be able to tap more keywords in this way.
Also, search for long-tailed keywords online. Find as many as you can. It will give you an understanding of what people are searching for. Once you have the list of keywords and phrases that are most searched online, you can start building up your Pinterest SEO.

5. Create Several Boards and Get Them Optimized for Pinterest

Once you have the niche-specific keywords list, you can add those keywords to the board. Make sure to add a keyword-rich or a phrase that is appropriate for your niche. Add a proper title and description for all the boards. You can also add related categories on the boards.
There should be a dropdown menu on your board. You can later edit the board if you want. You can also keep a board for your products and product-related blogs.
Add your pins to the most relevant boards first and then to other boards related to your product. It will ensure that Pinterest can understand what your pin is all about.

6. Add Hashtags and Proper Descriptions to Your Pins

Add as many relevant long-tail keywords to the description of your pins as possible. If you are re-pinning pins from other people’s accounts, don’t forget to add long-tailed keywords as descriptions there too.
It is preferable to use full sentences for descriptions that communicate the intentions. Add relevant hashtags to your pins at the bottom. Pins with appropriate and specific hashtags will show up on the search page chronologically when they search for them.

7. Add Titles to Your Images Before Uploading Them

Add a relevant name to the images that you upload on Pinterest. It can add a lot of value to the SEO of your Pinterest pins. You can directly add photos from your website if you have any.

8. Link Your Website with Pinterest

Prepare your website and link it with Pinterest along with your other social media platforms.
Just like other social media platforms, when you link your Pinterest with your website, you will be able to feed data to your posts via your website. You will also send traffic to your website via Pinterest when you link your website to Pinterest.

9. Add Pinterest Tag

If you want to use paid campaigns for your business on Pinterest, you need to set up the Pinterest tag. The Pinterest tag is a small JavaScript code that will help you in:

  • Setting up conversions around your products and website.
  • Help you in categorizing and segmenting your target audience.
  • Help you in getting a reliable report on the performance of your Pinterest profile.

Also, do not forget to add a save button to your pins with the help of a small HTML Code. It will help you to reach out to more users with your campaigns.

10. Add a Description to Your Website Images with Alt-Text

If you have a website, add alt-text to all the images on your website.
If any of your website’s photos get pinned by someone, the image’s description will surface from your website based on the alt-text added to the photo. It is imperative to say that it will add up to the SEO for your products on Pinterest.
Make sure to keep the description on the images short and sweet. Avoid using long-tail keywords and hashtags. The reason is that stuffing of keywords can hurt your Google ranking immensely.

11. Use a Variety of Descriptions for Unique-yet-Multiple Pins

If you create unique yet multiple pin images for your post, don’t use the same description for the pins every time. Pinterest recommends multiple images for one post or pin, but it is a good idea to use different descriptions for each image. You can use long-tail keywords for images.

12. Use Rich Pins Instead of the Regular Ones

Rich pins are the better versions of the regular pins as they can provide more information in one go. Rich pins add context to articles, recipes, movies, products, apps, and places. They can perform better in the Pinterest search ranking process and hence are highly recommended for Pinterest SEO.

13. Maintain Consistency in Pinterest

You must update your Pinterest account consistently with pins. Please don’t make it look like a spam account, but you must regularly use high-quality content for your pins.
Content curation is also vital. Search popular pins and posts for your niche and see what is relevant for your audience.
Focus on the quality of the content and the pins. Unless your pins stand out from the rest in terms of quality and relevance, the Pinterest SEO will not make an impact on your rankings. Each pin should be consistent with the right size, clarity, and balance with text overlays.

14. Always Pin Vertical Images

Although you can pin a variety of images on Pinterest, start pinning vertical ones. They get noticed quickly. These are also mobile-friendly images and hence get highly optimized for the mobile version of Pinterest.

Rank Your Website


Best Pinterest Marketing Tools


To manage your Pinterest account, you need not invest a lot of time or money. You can manage it with the help of marketing tools.
The best thing about these tools is that most of them are entirely free. You do not need many tools to maintain your Pinterest account, but there is no harm in using a few of them.

1. Tailwind

Tailwind is an all-in-one scheduling tool that also offers analytics and reporting. It can help you with scheduling pins and curating content while providing engagement analytics. You can get accurate results in very little time with the help of this tool.

Main features of the Tailwind Tool

The Tailwind tool is not a free marketing tool. But the features of this tool are so great that you would benefit immensely from them. Some of the features of this marketing tool are:

  • You can opt for bulk scheduling of the pin publishing. It will help you in gaining more in terms of audience and organic website traffic. You can schedule ten pins with the help of a single click.
  • You can also follow and team up with pinners who use the Tailwind tool and have relevant pins for your niche.
  • There is a feature called SmartLoop. It helps in resharing the popular pins that can drive more traffic to your website.
  • Tailwind also has analytics that can help you in tracking the growth of your business on Pinterest.

2. Canva

Canva is a freely available tool. With the help of this free tool, you can make your pin images look like professional pictures.
Canva is simple to use too. With the help of drag and drop, you can easily resize your image and move the fonts and the icons around. Once you have added the image and the text, you can directly share it on Pinterest.

3. MiloTree

MiloTree is a WordPress login that can help you in enhancing the organic traffic to your website. Some of the critical features of this tool are:

  • It has analytics that can help you in tracking the growth of your Pinterest followers
  • It has multiple pop-ups that can be displayed on your pins
  • All the pop-up designs are also mobile-friendly
  • You have great customization choices in this tool

The subscription cost is pretty affordable and easily upgradable. Hence, it is a useful tool for the beginners of Pinterest profile who are looking to increase their number of followers.

4. PinGroupie

How can you grow your Pinterest blog? The answer is with the help of Group boards. The Pinterest Group boards have a huge number of followers and can help you get your pins across to more audiences.
With the help of PinGroupie, you can find the most popular boards in your niche and join them. This tool will also tell you the number of followers and the pins on a board so that you can determine whether or not to join that board. This tool is free and can help you in enhancing your reach in the Pinterest groups.

Pinterest SEO FAQs


1. Why Is SEO Important for Pinterest?

People love visual content. Tap that love for visual content in people to promote your Pinterest profile. When you implement an SEO strategy for your Pinterest profile, it can lead to higher traffic and better conversions.
Use clear images for your products and use as much data presentation as possible for them. These will also drive interest among your audience. Share your content on Pinterest with the help of the Pin-It button.
Create a board with visually appealing content so that more people visit your website and follow your page. All these will improve the SEO rankings for your Pinterest pins.

2. Can an Effective SEO Strategy Help You Improving Your Website Traffic?

When you implement an effective SEO strategy, it can help you improve the traffic for your website.
You can choose to opt for the paid campaigns on Pinterest or use the regular keyword strategy to reach your target audience. Either way, it will help you in generating more leads for your business. Converting the visiting traffic of the website to revenue-generating leads is the ultimate goal of SEO.

3. How Do You Optimize Your Pinterest Profile?

If your board is not optimized, your products can be missed by Pinners’ search results. To rank on the search engine, you need to use keywords related to your product, just like Google search engine pages. When you use the right keywords for your Pinterest profile, your pins will better reach your target audience.

4. Can Backlinks from Pinterest Help in Enhancing the Page Rankings?

Yes, even backlinks from Pinterest can help you in getting better SEO rankings for your website. If you get backlinks from good quality Pinterest profiles, it can help you boost your page’s SEO.
Also, when you have good backlinks from Pinterest profiles with many followers, you can reach out to more audiences in one go. Pinterest showcases specifically targeted products, and it only shows up to the users interested in your product.

5. Can Anyone See Your Searches?

No, random people will not be able to see what you are searching for. When you save any pins on public boards on your profile, they can be seen by all.
Search results can only be seen by you alone. If you do not want others to know what you are searching for, you must pin it in private.

6. How Does the Pinterest Search Engine Work?

Just like Google, Pinterest too uses an algorithm to create and maintain a ranking page. The search algorithm for Pinterest is known as Smart Feed.
With the help of Smart Feed, you can see the best pins for your specific search. The algorithm helps Pinterest in determining the quality and the interests of the pins on the page.

7. Do the Number of Followers Matter on Pinterest like Instagram?

Yes, followers do matter on Pinterest, just like Instagram. The content that you pin on your profile can only be seen by people who follow you. So, the higher the number of your followers, the better is your reach amongst your target audience.
In simple terms, the more the audience for your content, the more interaction happens. Eventually, as a chain reaction, your content gets exposed to more people and enhances the number of followers.

8. How to Rank Higher on Pinterest with the Help of SEO?

Add the “follow” button to all your Pins.
Also, promote your Pinterest accounts on as many social media platforms as possible. With the increase in your number of followers, the authority of your Pinterest page also enhances. With the rise in your page’s authority, the Pinterest page’s rankings on the search engines get higher.

9. What Can Your Followers See on Your Pinterest Page?

The Pinterest followers that follow your page can see all that you post on your profile. That includes the group boards and the standard boards. The followers, however, cannot see any secret boards or the archive boards that you may have in your profile. These can only be seen and accessed by you.

10. How Many Pins Can You Pin Per Day?

There is no specific count on the number of pins you can post in a day. Unless your brand has many products to display, you can stick to around 25 pins a day. Anything more than this magic number can be considered spam by many users.

11. How to Make Your Pins Searchable?

Use long-tail keywords to write the descriptions of your images. Visit the search page and find out the keywords that are specific to your niche. Use these keywords to name your image file.
Also, use these keywords in writing the description of the images. The more specific you are with the keyword research, the more searchable your content is. The best way to use the same keywords is by naming the image file, in the URL, and the pin’s description.

12. How Much Time Will It Take to Rank on Pinterest?

It takes about a month to start seeing a difference in the search engine pages of Pinterest. Like general SEO, the results do not come overnight, and you have to be patient.
Just continue with the tips shared here, and you will surely make a mark on the Pinterest search engine pages. Are you looking to promote your website on Pinterest? (or) Are you looking to promote your Pinterest page? Schedule a free consultation with our Pinterest SEO experts now!

Rank Your Website


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Joseph Schneider

He has spent more than 12 Years in strategising and executing SEO campaigns. He is interested to writing Digital-marketing, PPC and Social Media Marketing related topics.