The Beginners Guide to Pinterest SEO

A picture is worth a thousand words!

That’s the philosophy behind Pinterest, and the sole reason the digital image pinboard gained so much popularity. Pinterest has more than 250 million monthly users and has emerged as the biggest social media site that acts as a digital pinboard.

But why did Pinterest become so popular for social media marketing? What makes it stand out from the other platforms? What makes it so interesting?

The answer to this question lies in its uniqueness. While all of the other popular social media sites focus almost exclusively on content and user-to-user communication, Pinterest focuses entirely on images.

Users visit Pinterest when looking for new ideas and inspiration, in comparison to other social media sites. However, on the contrary of what most people think, Pinterest is not just bedroom, food, and wedding ideas. The platform allows businesses to promote themselves and what better way to promote your business than by showing exactly what you got?

Naturally, you first need to be found to get noticed – and that’s where a Pinterest SEO strategy will come in handy. I would argue that SEO on Pinterest is more important than on any other social media site – simply because the SEO-optimized Pinterest content is timeless!

In this blog post, you’ll learn how to use Pinterest SEO in your favor and get your brand noticed by relevant audiences – which just might be the game-changer for your business!

A Tiny Bit of Pinterest History

Pinterest started off as a visual discovery tool in 2010 and stayed on the course to date. The platform was originally created as a place where users can share ideas and inspiration for different projects and interests, but with social media in mind.

Although the site started its life as a closed beta, it had already reached more than 10,000 users just nine months after the launch. Pinterest made Time magazine’s ‘List of best websites’ in 2011, and that’s when it all took off.

Although Pinterest isn’t as big as Instagram or Facebook, it has an active user base of over 322 million – which makes it a powerful marketing tool if used correctly. Now, all you need to drive more value to your brand is the right SEO strategy.

What’s a Pinterest SEO Strategy?

What makes Pinterest different from all the other popular outlets, such as Facebook, Google, or Twitter is that it opens up a space for creativity and allows users to discover entirely new ideas. Although there are numerous honored Google or Bing SEO tactics that hold true for Pinterest SEO as well, there are some new tactics that only apply to this visual discovery tool.

The main difference between Google SEO and Pinterest SEO is targeting the ‘keywords’ and utilizing them to optimize your profile and increase your sales. Naturally, Pinterest SEO involves optimizing your or your company’s Pinterest profile in a way that will generate more organic traffic from a selected audience.

The ranking factors on Pinterest resemble those of social media sites, such as Facebook and Instagram, more so than Google’s. Notably, they’re related to engagement metrics and social shares rather than backlinks and technical SEO (although it’s not excluded altogether).

As with every aspect of digital marketing, all the elements of SEO are often the natural byproduct of great content – and that’s the first tip towards creating the perfect Pinterest SEO!

How to Create the Perfect Pinterest SEO

The first thing you need to know before you start planning your Pinterest SEO is that Pinterest provides a much better opportunity for your product to be sold when compared to other social media platforms, such as Facebook. The reason behind this is simple: people go on Pinterest when they need the inspiration to buy something!

In fact, 89% of Pinterest users are looking for inspiration on what to buy. In comparison, only 17% of Facebook users are looking to purchase a product while scrolling through their news feed.

So, it’s essential to get your product on your audience’s home page and get your products known, shared, and eventually bought.

Considering that Pinterest doesn’t have as many features as other social media outlets, the search box is the most used feature – which means that users search for the products and ideas they want to see. You should use this to your advantage by optimizing your account, Pinboards, and Pins for top keywords. Search engines are also optimized to show Pinterest boards, which means that you can capitalize with your Pinterest SEO on many fronts.

Start with the Basics

You’re hyped up to create your perfect Pinterest SEO strategy and get your digital marketing to the next level – and I totally get it! However, there are a few steps you need to do first before you can even start pinning.

Create a Business Account

The first step you need to do is create a Pinterest Business account. Alternatively, you can turn your personal account into a business account, which will provide you access to Pinterest Analytics and Pinterest Ads manager.

Choose an SEO-Friendly Username

The next step is to choose an SEO-Friendly Username. But what’s an SEO-Friendly username, I hear you ask?

Your username is the first thing your potential customers notice, and it’s included in your profile’s URL. Thus, you should consider choosing a username that would target what your audience might be searching for.

For example, if you want to sell baked cookies, you should make sure to include the phrase or at least the word ‘cookies’ in your username.

Optimize Your Profile & Create Your First Board

You need to optimize the ‘About you’ section in your profile in a way that highlights all the relevant details about you and your product. Additionally, you should include your company’s logo and all the proprietary information regarding your company (location, means of service, owner, contact).

After you’ve done this, you should create at least one ‘Board’. The board should include the type of content you plan to post on your business profile.

Pinterest SEO Tips

After you’ve covered the basics and set up your Pinterest business account, it’s time to work on your Pinterest SEO strategy. I’ll provide you with a few tips on how to create the perfect Pinterest SEO strategy and take your Pinterest digital marketing to the next level!

#1 Add the Proper Keywords

The quickest and easiest way to improve your Pinterest SEO and get your product noticed is by adding the right keywords to your display name. When choosing the keywords, always use words that reflect your brand in an accurate manner. The biggest mistake you can make is to lie about your product or exaggerate – simply tell the truth!

Additionally, add keywords that will help your product get noticed in search queries.

I recommend using the same username across all social media accounts and your website to make your product cross-platform discoverable. By doing this, you’ll make your Pinterest account more SEO-friendly and it will make it easier for your followers on other social media platforms to recognize your Pinterest account.

#2 Prepare Your Website & Your Shop

Pinterest allows business accounts to take data from their website to feed more targeted campaigns. So, it’s essential to prepare your website and link it to your Pinterest account.

Your website Pinterest preparation begins by adding the Pinterest tag – which is an important part of setting up an organic (or paid) campaign. The next part is to add a Save button on your website, which will allow you to increase the engagement to your campaigns beyond Pinterest. By adding the Save feature, users will be able to save images to their boards.

The final step of the preparation of your website is to verify your website. Pinterest implements a feature that allows business accounts to verify their accounts, which certifies that you’re the owner of your website. To verify your website, you should follow a few simple steps. Once your website is verified, your website will appear with a checkmark in the domain search results, which will help your SEO ranking and potentially get you more website traffic – both on your Pinterest account and your website!

#3 Boost Your Visibility

Although Pinterest is primarily a discovery platform, it’s important to boost your visibility by following other Pinterest accounts. Why? Because your following list helps determine whether you will appear in the suggested boards of users and ‘Profiles to follow’. Picking which accounts to follow might be tricky, but I suggest following popular brands that are similar to yours. By doing this, your Pins are more likely to appear in their followers’ Pin recommendations.

#4 Don’t Stop Exclusively on Images

Video is all the trend in 2021! Organic Video Pins have gone up in views dramatically in the last few years, and it can work in your favor. If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine what you can do in a short video? The Video Pins allow you to share more information about your brand and the product you sell, and they’ll dramatically improve your Pinterest SEO.

#5 Do Your Research!

Regardless if you’re setting up new boards or you’re writing a Pin title or a description, you should always name them based on keywords. This is your opportunity to increase the search engine results page ranking, so make sure to do your research and choose the correct keywords. Although Pinterest might recommend a few default titles, don’t settle for them! Get as specific and as detailed for each one of your boards, but find a place to include the suggested keywords in a natural way.

#6 Don’t Quit!

The most important tip when it comes to creating your perfect Pinterest SEO is to be consistent! Consistency is key for every aspect of life, and it’s the case for your Pinterest SEO strategy too. As long as you follow these SEO rules and suggestions, the Pinterest algorithm will recognize your account and it will serve it to the relevant audience. That’s what the whole SEO strategy is all about, right?

In comparison to other social media platforms, the content on Pinterest is timeless, which means the more time you invest in implementing your SEO strategy, the more your brand will get noticed!

Pinterest Ads

Although Pinterest is great for driving organic traffic, you can speed up the process by using paid advertising through ‘promoted Pins’.

Depending on your brand, there are different ad formats to choose from:

• Standard
• Video
• Shopping
• Carousel
• Collections

It’s up to you which ad format you’ll choose for your brand, but it’s important to consider which one suits you the best. For example, if you’re a foodie, you can create product demo videos and promote them on Pinterest. On the other hand, if you’re a clothing retailer, you want to opt-in for the Shopping pins or the Standard image ads.

Follow Through…

Creating the perfect Pinterest SEO might take some time, but creating an SEO-friendly Pinterest account will do wonders for your brand. By following these tips, you’ll be able to grow a strong and relevant audience that will remain loyal to your brand and will be highly engaged with your Pinterest content!

by Darrell Mordecai

Darrell creates SEO content for Similarweb, drawing on his deep understanding of SEO and Google patents.