6 Pinterest SEO Tips To Increase Your Blog’s Traffic

pinterest seo tips - pinterest search engine optimization 2Pinterest is a search engine.

It’s a visual platform with more than 2 billion searches per month!

Whether it’s for recipes, DIY stuff, outfit pegs, or inspirational quotes, Pinterest is full of online users who search through a LOT of different topics.

So it’s basically a search engine — Just like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

And like other search engines, Pinterest has its search algorithm.

That means you can totally use it to drive traffic to your site, and increase your sales!

So before you start pinning, you better make sure you know how to optimize your pins and profile like a pro.

*Disclosure: Any affiliate links earn me a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you choose to buy after clicking.

Pinterest Search in a Nutshell

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of how to optimize your pins,

Let’s take a look at the overall concept of Pinterest as a platform and how it is more like a search engine than a social media network.

Here’s one thing you should remember:

People go to Pinterest because they are looking for ideas.

Here’s an example: Someone is looking for ideas for gifts. Key in “ideas for gifts” and you’ll see gift ideas for dads, moms, sisters, baby showers, and a lot of other things!

Interestingly, in Pinterest, you get different search results depending on the time of your search, your interests, and also the people you follow.

It also suggests other keywords search for depending on your search.

Probably the best way to describe the Pinterest Search is ‘dynamic.’  Pinterest’s “Smart Feed” aims to deliver the best pins to you, and not just the most recent. That’s why the search results change whenever you search for new ideas again.

How do you get your pins to appear in search results?

I’ll take it one step at a time and don’t worry–these steps are simple and easy to follow!

1. Optimize your profile

Since Pinterest is a search engine, it’s all about knowing the right keywords and where to put them. For Pinterest, it all starts with your profile.

But first, you need to convert your account into a business profile. Why?

It helps with the optimization because you can include more keywords in the ‘name field.’ Unlike personal accounts, business profiles do not separate fields for first name and last name. Instead, you will have one field for your business name which can be up to 37 characters long.

So, where do you exactly put the keywords?

In your business name.

Your business name may sound catchy and all, but if it doesn’t have the keywords in it, you are lowering your chances of appearing in search results. Let’s say your business is called “Pink Unicorn” and you sell bracelets.

Think of what people who are looking for bracelets would search.

Add that to your business name, and make it something like “Pink Unicorn Unique Bracelets” and it now has a higher chance of popping up.

Here’s a tip: think about what your target market would search for, and include those keywords any chance you have!

Profile URL or username

While this does not appear in your profile, it still contributes to how people can find you.

BONUS if you can incorporate a keyword in your username!

But there’s a big BUT too.

If you’re already an established brand, you might prefer not to change it as it will just confuse your potential customers.

Profile description

Keep it short, keep it simple, and keep all necessary keywords!

What must your profile description have, aside from the keywords? Here’s a checklist for your reference:

  • Location
  • Call to action
  • Website URL
  • Your social media accounts

Now that your business profile is ready to go, the next step is all about how to maximize your strategy when it comes to your boards and pins.

2. Optimize your boards

Creating boards is fun, and at the same time useful. But here’s something you should always remember: it’s all about the creative use of keywords. If your board title doesn’t have these, it won’t appear on search results as often as you’d want.

Here’s a quick rundown on what you should do to optimize your boards:

  • Choose a category for your board. Do not choose ‘Other’ or else your board won’t appear when users search according to the category!
  • Put the relevant keywords at the beginning of the title
  • Put a lot of thought into your board description. Include keywords (again). The secret is to think like a customer and to think about how they would search for something that will eventually lead to your board.

3. Optimize your pins

Optimizing your boards is not enough–you have to optimize your pins too, especially if you want to be found by a lot of users.

There are three things you should focus on when optimizing your pins:

  • Pin title
  • Pin description
  • Filename

Again, it’s about using the right keywords in these three focus points. But don’t just throw in the keywords all together. Combine them to come up with fluid and smooth sentences so they sound natural.

  • Put text on your pins. Though Pinterest might not be taking this into account, pinners get attracted to creative pins which tell them what is in store for them.
  • Use high-quality images! No one likes blurry images, right?
  • Vertical images work better
  • Be creative when setting up your images. The trick is to stand out, be clicked on, and be repinned.
  • Keep pin descriptions short but snappy and enticing.
  • Take time to customize images’ alternate text.
  • Add a call to action (CTA) on your description for more engagement. According to BrandonGaille, pins with CTAs have an 80% increase in engagement over pins without them

Don’t forget to make your pins searchable on Google.

Even if you work hard on using keywords properly in your pin and board descriptions, these won’t matter if they don’t appear in the search results at all.

Don’t worry, because there is a very simple fix.

  • Go to settings
  • Look for the option to hide your profile from search engines
  • Make sure to uncheck that option

4. Optimize your site for Pinterest

Making the most out of your Pinterest account also involves optimizing your site so that it meshes well with your pins.

Take the time to do the following:

How do you verify your site and what is it for?

Well, this is important so that Pinterest understands more about your business.

To verify your site, Pinterest will give you a “query string” that you need to connect to your site so you can claim it.

What are Rich pins on Pinterest?

Rich pins are way more useful than regular pins simply because they provide more information because they display metadata from your website.

There are four types of rich pins:

  • Product Pins
  • Recipe Pins
  • Article Pins
  • App Pins

How do you validate a rich pin?

On your end, you just need to input the required data on your website and apply for rich pins.

  1. Choose any page on your site and paste URL in Pinterest Rich Pins Validator.pinterest seo - how to validate rich pin
  2. Correct any problems you see with your metadata. Make sure you see a green check next to each of the Rich Pin Attributes. (If you’re using Yoast SEO plugin–you don’t have to do anything anymore! The plugin already adds the required data automatically.)pinterest seo - how to validate rich pin
  3. Next, Pinterest will validate and then incorporate rich pins for your website. If your page can’t be validated, it means the required metadata wasn’t detected on your page. See our Rich Pin documentation for more help.

5. Be consistent

Even if Pinterest is more like a search engine, it’s also a social network.

And like other social media platforms, you get the best results when you are consistent in terms of effort.

It’s important to use it regularly, to pin quality images, and also to repin images from others. It’s important to be highly engaged.

If you’re worried that you can’t pin or repin regularly, you can make use of scheduling tools like Tailwind, which can help you get the best results via Pinterest.

Tailwind has what they call a “smart scheduler” which schedules your pins automatically according to the best times according to the data from your network.

Exclusive Bonus: Download the step-by-step checklist that will keep you on track of on what you should be doing on a daily basis to massively grow your website traffic on Pinterest.

6. Keep an eye on the Pinterest analytics

It’s important to monitor the progress you’re making, so you also know where to attribute changes in your account’s reach or engagement.

Pinterest gives you detailed statistics of your reach, as well as your top performing pins in terms of getting clicks or repins.

That’s why it’s important to keep an eye on these numbers.

Know what’s working and do more of that. Know which pins attract the most customers, and keep creating relevant content.

Remember, it’s all about knowing how to use the right keywords to bring about the actions that you want.

11 thoughts on “6 Pinterest SEO Tips To Increase Your Blog’s Traffic”

  1. Thanks for your awesome tips about increasing your blog’s traffic. Pinterest is an amazing search engine but you do have to learn to use it properly to get the results you want. This post has got a lot of valuable information that is the key for all bloggers.

    Reply
  2. Thanks for sharing this valerie.

    The one thing I struggle with is the analytics side of Pinterest. I’m not sure the data on all my pins is 100% reliable, or whether Pinterest withholds data.

    Aside from using Google Analytics to cross reference, do you use any other tool(s) to check what Pinterest tells you?

    Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.