Pinterest SEO and Why It's Important for Your Pin Distribution
Keywords Get You Discovered
Keywords, keywords, keywords. Even if you’re relatively new to digital marketing, you’ve likely heard of this term by now.
Why? Because they are the building blocks of how content from all over the web is categorized and cataloged.
I won’t get into on-site SEO as it relates directly to being searchable on Google because that is an entire can of worms that probably deserves a whole series of blog posts. Instead, let’s dive into Pinterest-specific keywords.
But, first, I want to cover why keywords are essential to your marketing efforts on Pinterest. In short, the more effectively you leverage the right keywords, the more effectively you can communicate to the Pinterest algorithm about what your content is.
Once the algorithm understands your content, it will try to match your pins to a user’s search query. This is how you -
Get your pins to surface on the platform
Have your content seen by someone who doesn’t follow you
Populate other user’s Smart Feeds with your pins
Best Ways to Identify Your Brand’s Keywords
If you’ve done any keyword research for your own branded website, you presumably have a baseline for which one’s works best. Although there’s going to be a cross-over with ones you will want to utilize on Pinterest, I always recommend that you do your research directly on the platform.
This is because the results are straight from the Pinterest database and, therefore, the most infallible information source.
There are two main places best suited for doing your keyword research, the search bar, and the new Trends tool.
Search Bar
Start by typing into the search bar any keyword you are looking to target. If your keyword is a bit obscure, meaning that no one coming to Pinterest uses that particular keyword in a search query, then Pinterest will let you know. But, most of the time, you’ll see results similar to the below image.
As you can see from the above example is that your main keyword ‘necklace’ also produced a string of other long-tail keyword phrases that are frequently searched for on the platform. These are related keywords and should be included in your list of targeted keywords as long as they relate directly to your brand.
Once you hit enter after typing a keyword into the search bar, Pinterest will pull up a feed of pins that it thinks best matches your query. Looking at the keywords other brands are using in their pin descriptions is a great way to double-check your work and give you insight into what the top-performing pins are using as keywords.
Go a little further by clicking into a pin to see what keywords the brand uses in their pin descriptions. This process is an efficient way to inform your own pin descriptions.
Trends Tool
Pinterest made a lot of changes to its platform last year including the introduction to Trends. Formally in beta, this universal tool was widely rolled out recently to the US, Canada, and the UK. If you have a business account it’s very easy to locate underneath the analytics drop-down menu on the upper left-hand side of your profile.
The concept here is pretty similar to that of the search bar technique. When you type in your main keyword ‘necklace’ you can see when the search volume for this particular keyword peaks. Not surprisingly, the keyword necklace peaked on December 1st last year during a time when users were looking for holiday gifts.
Below you’ll see related terms just like the long-tail phrases Pinterest auto-fills when using the search bar. This can be another way to discover keywords you may have missed.
Notice that the ‘Y’ axis on the graph goes up to 100 while the ‘X’ axis denotes the time of year. This refers to the volume of searches relative to all other searches on the platform over the course of that time of the year. On a side note, this tool is a great way to identify which keywords are trending and when to better plan your content ahead of time - but I digress.
Keyword Placement
By now, you should have identified the best keywords for your brand. If you’re planning on experimenting with promoting pin campaigns, I recommend that you have at least 100-150 keywords. But this is a decent benchmark to shoot for regardless. This amount gives you plenty of keyword inventory to work within the areas of placement within your profile.
The key areas to use your keywords are -
Your Profile Name | Brief Business Description
Board Titles
Board Descriptions
Pin Titles
Pin Descriptions
If you want to optimize your account right now, I recommend conducting an audit in all five areas of your profile to ensure you are using the keywords identified during your research. A couple of notes here -
If you edit the pin title or pin description of an existing pin, it only changes for that pin, not for any other duplicate pins. In other words, those changes won’t auto-populate across the platform to other re-pins of that same pin. So, I wouldn’t spend time retroactively editing pins you’ve already uploaded; instead, I would just use keywording best practices going forward.
Make sure your board titles are named using searchable terms (aka your keywords). Stay away from the cutesy names such as yum yum for a recipe board, for example.
It’s easy to overlook filling in board descriptions, but by not, you’re missing out on an opportunity to signal the Pinterest algorithm what your content is all about.
Selecting board topics closely related to your brand is a great way to amplify your pin’s opportunities to surface on the platform. I recommend keeping this in mind when you are looking to add more boards to your profile.
Putting Your Keywords to Work
Like any well-executed recipe, if you get all of the ingredients right, it will create the desired results. I made some diagrams to illustrate how executing a well-thought-out keyword strategy will help distribute your pins across the platform.
Always pin to the most relevant board first to increase the effectiveness of the Pinterest algorithm to properly catalog your pin and distribute it across the platform with the most accuracy.
A couple of things to keep in mind here is to never engage in what could be perceived as spammy behavior. Although re-pinning to other boards is encouraged, too many duplicate pins to more than ten other relevant boards are not recommended.
The above infographic should give you some insight into the hierarchy of how the Pinterest algorithm looks at your keywords in order to surface your pins on the platform. This example is a perfect illustration of the importance of creating other board topics that closely relate to your brand. By re-pinning your pins to multiple boards, you give the algorithm more opportunities to -
Show your pin in a search query
Serve up more of your pins in someone’s smart feed if they clicked on your pin
Show your pins in the ‘more like this’ or ‘shop similar’ feeds
Since 97% of Pinterest searches are unbranded, the chance for your content to be discovered when utilizing a good SEO strategy can help position your brand in front of a new audience. This can translate into more website traffic, more potential clients, and ultimately more sales.
Conclusion
By now, you should have a thorough understanding of how you can leverage keywords with Pinterest SEO. In this post, I covered:
The importance of SEO on Pinterest
Important optimizations to your SEO strategy to leverage the Pinterest algorithm
Places on your profile where you can implement these changes
How to perform keyword research for your own brand
How to give your pins a better chance to surface on the Pinterest platform
These strategies will build a strong foundation for your Pinterest marketing efforts. Many of the other topics that I will be covering in future blog posts will build upon this but understanding the fundamentals outlined in this post is essential to your success. 🤓📌
