If you’re a blogger who has been wondering how to optimize your Pinterest profile with Pinterest SEO, look no further than this ultimate guide! I will show you precisely how to perform keyword research and use Pinterest SEO keywords in your Pinterest pin description, on Pinterest boards, and in your Pinterest pin design images.
Whether you’re a beginner who is just getting started with Pinterest marketing, a seasoned pro looking to level up your marketing strategy, or just curious why you’re seeing a drop in Pinterest traffic, there are a number of Pinterest tips for bloggers when it comes to search engine optimization.
About 75% of my Pinterest management clients were seeing low Pinterest traffic before signing on for services with me.
While it may sometimes feel like Pinterest has a personal vendetta against you and your account, there are often overlooked factors that are culprit in your traffic decline.
Not writing for or using SEO keywords on Pinterest is one of the most common mistakes I see bloggers make. For some reason, they seem to hit a speed bump when it comes time to learn Pinterest SEO.
Once they learn how to properly use Pinterest SEO (using my Pinterest Audit & Board Clean-Up Checklist), they very frequently see an increase in traffic back to their website.
Is Pinterest a search engine?
Pinterest gets lumped into the social media category and is often referred to as one.
But guess what? It’s actually a powerful, visual search engine.
As of today, 478 million monthly active users use the Pinterest search engine to save all kinds of recipes, DIY ideas, and inspiration for holidays, events, home decorating, gardening, you name it!
What’s more, Pinterest is a user’s first place to search along the buyer’s journey after becoming aware of a new product or service they’d like to try.
This means, that with the help of Pinterest SEO, you’re giving your blog the best possible chance to attract and entice pinners to click over to your website and save your valuable content to their Pinterest boards.
What is Pinterest SEO?
Pinterest SEO is the same as Google SEO in the sense it helps your blog post rank higher in search. By improving and optimizing your Pinterest profile and website, you increase the chances of your pins showing more frequently in search and on the home feed. Which ultimately generates more organic Pinterest traffic to your website.
Pinterest SEO is the secret sauce needed for high engagement.
Performing a detailed, deep dive into keyword research to find high-ranking SEO keywords to pepper into your pin descriptions, Pinterest boards, and Pinterest pin design images are all great ways to boost the traffic to your website.
Unfortunately, Pinterest SEO typically falls at the wayside in terms of Pinterest marketing for bloggers, since, as I mentioned above, Pinterest is not thought of as a search engine.
How does the Pinterest algorithm work?
The Pinterest algorithm is talked about as if it’s some kind of supreme being and no matter what we do, we can’t feed its insatiable hunger with the right content, the number of pins, etc.
While it may very well often feel like that, there are easy steps you can take to appease the Pinterest algorithm gods and give your blog the best chance it has to thrive on the platform.
The Pinterest algorithm takes into consideration four key elements before deciding how to rank your content in a Pinterest search.
- Your website’s domain authority — Basically, the Pinterest algorithm judges the quality of your website. If you’re new to Pinterest and a rather new blogger, it may take a while before your pins begin to rank in search. Pro tip: Make sure you claim your website and enable rich pins.
- Pin quality — If your pin has lots of saves, comments, and outbound clicks, the Pinterest algorithm will show that pin more often in the home feed since it’s high-quality. Pro tip: If you’re using Google Analytics for Pinterest, (I highly recommend you do) take a look at your top pins. What do they have in common? How can you create similar pins or content?
- Keywords — Use high-ranking SEO keywords everywhere! If you’re writing a blog post about a topic that isn’t popular on Pinterest, you can’t expect pinners to find it there. Pro tip: Perform Pinterest SEO keyword research and plan your blog’s content around it.
- Engagement — Pinterest now has an engagement-based system in place. It means that the distribution of your pin is determined by the number of saves, pin clicks, outbound clicks, and comments it receives. Pro tip: If you’re making video or story pins, ask your audience an open-ended question at the end of the video pin to prompt them to take action.
That’s right — Pinterest SEO keyword research is one of the key factors that determine how well your Pinterest pin design will rank in search and ultimately how much engagement it will receive.
Pinterest tips for bloggers
Before we dive into how exactly to perform Pinterest SEO, make sure your website and Pinterest account are already set up for success by following the following tips:
- Create a business account
- Claim your website and/or Etsy, YouTube, Instagram, or Shopify
- Add the Pinterest tag to your website
- Add a social share plugin or popup to your website (I like MiloTree)
Pinterest keyword research
Now that your account is all set and ready to go, it’s time to start Pinterest keyword research! High-ranking SEO keywords are the bread and butter to broadening your reach on the platform.
For instance, if you were to write a niche post like Pinterest Marketing for Homestead Bloggers, it’s likely it won’t reach as many pinners as a post targeting all kinds of bloggers.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t write for your target audience specifically, it just means you’ll need to find and use high-quality keywords in your copy that attract all kinds of bloggers to your content, not just homesteaders.
Where do you find SEO keywords exactly?
There are a few creative ways to go about finding high-ranking SEO keywords for your Pinterest boards and Pinterest pin descriptions.
Before I entirely learned what SEO meant and how to utilize it for Pinterest, I had a super difficult time coming up with content ideas for my Pintuitive blog.
Now that I know how to do keyword research, I’m finding infinite blog post ideas all from within the Pinterest platform!
Pinterest guided search
My favorite way to do keyword research is through Pinterest guided search. Once you master guided search, it’s actually pretty fun. I feel like an investigator discovering all the clues to the puzzle that is Pinterest marketing!
Pinterest makes it so easy to do! Simply search for your blog post idea and see what comes up.
Note the example below. As you can clearly see, just typing the word, “homestead” into Pinterest guided search brings up a plethora of high-quality keywords that pinners use to find the inspiration they’re looking for. From homestead survival, all the way to homestead kitchen ideas.
Pinterest Trends tool
Another great way to find SEO keywords is by using the Pinterest Trends tool. One simple search is packed with all kinds of valuable data that can be used for Pinterest SEO.
Within the Pinterest Trends tool, you can see the following data:
- Searches over time — How popular and trendy is your search term throughout the year? This is especially useful if you’re scheduling seasonal content on Pinterest.
- Related trends — Here you’ll find like-minded SEO keywords that are trending on Pinterest. If they’re relevant to your content, I like to pepper them in throughout my blog post.
- Popular Pins — There’s also a section for popular pins on Pinterest related to your SEO keywords. This is helpful when you’re looking to glean ideas and inspiration from fellow bloggers in your niche.
To perform keyword research using the Pinterest Trends tool, simply type in the key term you’d like to create content around.
Pinterest promoted pins keyword targeting
An additional way to discover trending SEO keywords is to create a Pinterest promoted pin through the “Ads” tab located at the top of your business hub.
You don’t actually have to complete publishing an ad for this useful keyword research trick to be effective.
Simply pretend like you’re about to make an ad on Pinterest.
When prompted to choose your campaign objective select, “Consideration”. Click “Continue” and scroll down to “Keywords & Interests” below “Targeting details”. From there, you’ll be presented with a box that looks like the image below.
Type in your desired SEO keywords and let this useful tool do all the heavy work! Select as many keywords as you like and easily copy and paste your list over to your favorite notepad or spreadsheet.
How & where to add Pinterest SEO keywords
Now that you know how to find all your high-ranking SEO keywords, you may be wondering how and where to add them on Pinterest.
This is the part where you’ll need to use some creative writing skills to make your SEO keywords sound natural in your copy and not like you’re a robot.
After I’m satisfied with the amount of keyword research I’ve done, I like to list all the SEO keywords for each blog post in a spreadsheet. From there, I simply plug them into a few different generic templates I’ve made for popular content ideas.
Let’s imagine for a second that I’m writing a blog post about homestead gardening — My SEO keywords are homesteading, homestead life, homestead garden, homestead projects, homesteading ideas, DIY homestead, and backyard homestead.
My copy will utilize all of those SEO keywords within the text, all while sounding natural:
“If you’re interested in starting a backyard garden on your homestead or looking for DIY homestead garden projects and ideas to do this summer, look no further! Gardening enhances your homestead life by providing fresh, seasonal vegetables and fruit to eat all year long. If you’re homesteading, you’ll want to learn how to start your first homestead garden.”
Notice how I’ve used all the keywords? Think of it as a puzzle — You need to gather all the pieces before gently fitting them together until the whole picture is complete.
How to optimize your Pinterest profile
With your SEO keywords in hand, it’s time to start plugging them into your Pinterest profile effectively.
Head over to your account settings. Under “Edit profile” you’ll see two boxes on this page labeled “Display name” and “About your profile”. This is where you’ll want to add SEO keywords about your brand.
Choose the most relevant ones that fully capture what it is you do and the solution you’re hoping to solve for your target audience. Add as many as will fit into both your display name and bio.
How to optimize your Pinterest pin description & title
Before uploading any pin to Pinterest for the first time using either Tailwind or the native “create a pin” button on the platform, double-check your tracking spreadsheet to make sure you have the pin description column for your blog post populated with your copy.
Simply copy and paste it into the Pinterest pin description field on either Pinterest or Tailwind.
If you’re sharing a pin directly from your website to Pinterest through the Pinterest or Tailwind browser extension, make sure the social share plugin on your website is pulling the Pinterest pin description and title that you’ve written.
A resounding, No! In fact, Pinterest has confirmed several times that hashtags are no longer relevant and don’t improve your ranking, so save them for Instagram.
How to optimize your Pinterest boards
Next up on the Pinterest SEO agenda is optimizing all of your Pinterest boards in the same fashion as you just did with the Pinterest pin description example above.
Your Pinterest boards are the first thing pinners see when checking out your Pinterest profile. The titles of your boards need to be easy to read and give a clear idea of what each board is about.
Pinterest board titles should be as niche as possible. Instead of a board titled, “real food recipes”, niche it down to a topic that is relevant to your blog, like, “real food dinner ideas & recipes”.
When it comes to writing the Pinterest board description, add as many SEO keywords as you can, while still sounding natural and keeping all the keywords relevant to your blog post.
Since Pinterest boards can make up a wider range of topics than a single pin, it’s a good idea to refer back to your list of SEO keywords or do more keyword research to cover even more ground, if necessary.
From within your Pinterest profile, select the pencil icon in the lower right-hand corner of the board you wish to optimize. In the description box, plug in all your SEO keywords explaining what the pinner can expect to find on your Pinterest board.
How to optimize your Pinterest board covers
When pinners click over to your Pinterest profile from your idea pins, it’s a good idea to make a positive impression with not only a carefully curated, eye-catching cover image or video but also beautifully designed Pinterest board covers.
Use your top-performing keywords for each of your board titles in your board cover text overlay for maximum impact.
When you sign up for my monthly Pinterest and Canva tips below, I’ll send you 5 free Pinterest board cover templates for Canva to get you started!
How to optimize your Pinterest pin design
Ah, Pinterest pin design, one of my favorite topics to discuss, mostly because I love it so much! It’s so fun to get the creative juices flowing while designing in Canva Pro.
Pinterest pin design images are your first chance to impress and entice your target audience to click over to your blog.
This means that if you’re slapping any boring ol’ text on there that doesn’t give the pinner a clue as to what to expect from your content, they’re not going to feel inclined to click over to your website.
Would you blame them?
For instance, if you create a Pinterest pin design image and the text reads, “grape jam” and nothing more, a pinner may very well continue scrolling past your Pinterest pin design and I’ll tell you why:
- You didn’t provide any context — Is this pin about making grape jam? Is it about canning grape jam? Is this a food brand selling grape jam? Pinners need to know the solution to the problem you’re trying to solve.
Don’t be shy! Load up your Pinterest pin design with all kinds of relevant keywords so that your target audience finds it in search (while keeping it natural and not going overboard, of course!).
I literally cannot believe the amount of stuff I just learned from this post. You have no idea how you just changed things for me! I’ll be back to let you know how it works out for me. Thank you for sharing all of this for free!!!
This pin took me some hours to read and i was just about to leave, but something just kept me reading.
I honestly love the way you kept me from leaving -> you have a red tread through the article with relevance and in steps/guiding.
Normai dont comment but this article is excellent done. And you deserve my email in your maillist.
Im from Denmark and just started a little hobby webshop, and just researching the pinterest part for when i am “jumping” on the pinterest train for the webshop.