10 Simple Steps to Better Visibility on Pinterest

Pinterest is a visual search and sharing capabilities are responsible for sending vast amounts of traffic to websites, blogs, and e-commerce stores. 

It is important to optimise your Pinterest account for a couple of key reasons. First is the fact that Pinterest should not be confused with social media sites where people are not necessarily interested in learning, researching and shopping.

Pinterest is a visual search engine first and foremost - just like Google search and in some ways even better. There is nothing that attracts attention and stays in a viewer’s memory better than a crisp visual and a few select keywords.

The other key point is Pinterest is more like a community than a news feed site. Pinners saving and sharing Pins, along with making product recommendations and placements on other similar boards can grow viral and ultimately increase your positioning on Google search as well.     

When you follow these 10 simple steps, your pins will get increased visibility and free organic traffic every month.

Here’s an important stat that works in your favor when you focus on Pinterest SEO: A Pinterest pin remains visible 1600 times longer than a Facebook post. So the SEO you do when placing and marketing a Pin will continue to send you leads for a very long time.

It doesn’t matter if you use Pinterest to promote a blog, a coaching practice or an ecommerce store. The SEO you carry out will help your business no matter the result you are looking for. 

Pinterest SEO: Why Does it Matter?

Let’s review some interesting facts on Pinterest before taking a deeper dive into the details of SEO.

• There are more than 100 billion ideas on Pinterest
• 71% of pinners say that Pinterest is a ‘guide to life’.
• 85 percent of Pinterest’s traffic is on mobile
• More than 2 million people purchase a ‘rich pin’ product daily.
• Pinterest said that they see more than 2 billion searches per month on Pinterest.

Pinterest is an exciting and dynamic platform. People are using it to buy products and services. They also use it to seek creative ideas, educate themselves and find inspiration. It’s highly important to understand Pinterest SEO practices and how it can help you send traffic to your website.

Pinterest Drives Visibility

You start the process of maximizing your SEO by optimising your pins, profile, account and boards with top keywords.

It really starts with making your profile and pins keyword optimised. Then great content, relevancy, and engagement carry your forward.

Pinterest has its own search engine called Guided Search.

Guided Search on Pinterest does not only show you the best related visuals and Pins, but it also helps Pinterest users to find ideas and inspiration.

The Guided feature works more on exploration rather than focusing on one query. As you use the search box, you will see several extra keywords below the box.

This guided feature that further expands your SEO efforts on Pinterest and gives you tons of ideas on one query.

How to Get Found on Pinterest

There are different ways for potential customers to find you on Pinterest:

• The Pinterest home feed or smart feed
• Following tab
• Using search
• Hashtags

As a blogger or ecommerce store owner, you want your Pins to be seen in these 4 areas. But, to get started, we have to first keep our focus on optimising our Pinterest profile and pins.

Intrigued? Let’s grow your Pinterest.

How To Optimize Your Pinterest for Maximum Visibility

You really have to do this if you want your business to succeed. It’s free to set up and provides several advantages like analytics and rich pins.

1 Optimize Your Pinterest Profile

It starts with adding a business name. Put your complete business name. Add appropriate keywords to your business name.

Insert a professional company logo or your personal image. Choose a username that includes your business name or a personal name.

Use the 160 characters in the “About you” section to tell everyone about your business or what you do. Make consistent use of keywords here, too.

The next step in the process is to verify your business website or blog and claim your website. The process is easy and well-laid out on the Pinterest website.

As your website gets verified, Pinterest adds your profile image to every pin from your site. Add your website URL in this section and click ‘verify website’. After verification, you will also be able to access your analytics.

2 Make Boards Visible to Search Engine

Enable the search engine visibility settings to ensure that your Pin Boards are seen on Pinterest. It’s a small but important step.

Go to your account settings. In the search privacy, you will find an option to hide your profile from search engines like Google. You DON’T want to hide your profile! Double check the right setting is in place and move on from there.

3 Do Keyword Research on Pinterest

Pinterest keyword research is the method for selecting the best keywords for your pins, boards, and descriptions. Pinterest SEO is similar to Google search and the basics are the same.

Pinterest has a search bar at the top of the page and will automatically show other similar and relevant keyword searches as you type. Actually, they become more relevant as you type.

Use the search tool to explore all topics that are relevant to your business. Look at the category and find out various topics about your business. Narrow your main keyword, then keep track of and use some of the other relevant keywords in your ongoing marketing.

Just remember the most important thing about keywords are the fact they need to represent what your target audience is looking for - not just your personal ideas of what is right.

4 Enable Rich Pins

Rich pins have your website name and the site icon ‘favicon’. Remember pinners are more likely to buy ‘rich pin’ products.

It’s highly recommended that you apply for these pins if you wish to get more eyes on your pins and clicks to your website cart.

You can choose the most appropriate rich pins for your business, including product pins, article pins, recipe pins, and app install pins.

Product pins with rich pins enabled will also automatically pull your product image along with size, color, price and other information directly from your “approved and verified” website.

Read more about Rich Pins here.

5 Keep Boards Optimized and Organized

Keep your ideal followers in mind when creating boards for your Pinterest profile.

Ask yourself, what are they interested in?

In fact, the Pin boards you develop will likely be the first thing your viewers look at. Make sure you organize them well. Think of all the ideas and products your ideal consumer or visitor will be looking for. Use this approach to optimize and organize your boards for users.

Since Pin sharing is such an important part of succeeding at Pinterest marketing, it’s important for long term SEO and visibility for your site to have a consistent look and content.

Below are a few tips:

• Add SEO keywords in boards title
• Use keyword search trends
• Add quality pins to your boards
• Delete any duplicate pins
• Prioritize your boards
• Use the most relevant category
• Write descriptions

6 Optimize Pin Descriptions

The key to optimizing your Pinterest pins is to use appropriate and effective keywords. Write your description - using your best SEO keywords to the degree possible - in a way that easily and quickly communicates what your Pin is all about.

Write meaningful pin descriptions and use creative content that creates interest in the part of the viewer.

Don’t overuse keywords. Your pin should be SEO friendly, not stuffed with keywords. Use words naturally relevant to your content.

7 Optimize Board Descriptions

Many Pinners miss a great opportunity to increase their SEO by not writing descriptions on their boards. Pinterest allows you to describe your board and you should take advantage of this and every other option you are given.

Use this opportunity and let Pinterest and your viewers know what your board is all about. Add several keywords to your board.

Use the Guided Search or keyword planner to find more keywords as needed to guide you.

8 Use Hashtags

A hashtag is another key factor to being found on the Pinterest. It makes your content searchable on Pinterest.

Adding SEO hashtags to your Pins will certainly help you to be found in your market niche.

When inserting hashtags, Pinterest recommends you be specific and descriptive. You are allowed up to 20 hashtags per Pin, but a minimum of 3 or 4 well-targeted hashtags are better than some general ones.

9 Improve Pin Design

Pinterest is primarily a visual platform. Your Pins attract attention, motivate saves and shares and ultimately drive traffic to your site.

So it is best that your Pin stands out if you really want the best SEO results on Pinterest.

Some of the basic guidelines for a perfect pin include:

Pinterest has been saying for years that the optimal Pin size is a 2:3 proportion.

Pinterest says 600 x 900 pixels is optimal – or any 2:3 aspect ratio.

Use the appropriate pin size (600 * 900px tall). This is the current pin size but you can experiment with other sizes too but not more than 1250 pixels in height.

Other factors to consider when creating a Pin:

• Select colors that enhance your brand
• Create a compelling title of the image
• Overlay title on the image
• Use a quality image
• Use a clear, easy to read font
• Use targeted SEO keywords when possible

Most importantly, your Pin should have a purpose. If you want buyers for your product, make sure your product - or the buyer’s benefit from your product - is clear in the image.

If the Pin leads them to an article, use a compelling headline that invites a user to check your website.

10 Get More Engagement

Pinterest gives a lot of importance to user engagement. The tips below will work to improve your engagement on Pinterest.

• Share your Pinterest profile on other social media channels to get more followers and engagement.
• Include a clear call to action at the end of your Pins.
• Be more creative when you design Pins. Come up with different, but complementary designs to increase engagement.
• Encourage people to leave a comment or a like.
• Engage with other influencers in your niche.
• Get more repins on your pins.

What Else Can To Do To Improve Results

We've talked about optimizing profile, pins and boards but that is not all you could be doing on Pinterest. Here are couple of extra tips for you to maximize your pinning results.

Pin Frequently

Pinterest likes it when you spend time on the platform and it helps to keep your SEO keywords circulating consistently. Tools like Tailwind can help you schedule Pin placements on a regular and effective schedule.

Knowing when to post on Pinterest can make a huge difference in getting your Pin found by more people.

Whether you prefer manual pinning or use scheduling tools, make sure you pin on a consistent basis. Many successful Pinners use a sharing ratio of 80% of other’s content and just 20% of your own content. You will want to gauge the right percentages for your business.

If you intend to use a scheduling tool, Tailwind is very effective and easy to use. It is also one of the few tools approved by Pinterest. Tailwind offers a free trial and you can get it here.

Use Analytics to Your Advantage

Your Pinterest business analytics page provides important data about the overall performance of your profile. It shows you the monthly reach of your website and you can determine the most popular pins and boards along with maximum impressions, clicks, and repins.

The analytics tool gives you a clear picture of SEO performance of your account and helps you to build a roadmap for targeting the right steps that lead to increased traffic and sales.

Pinterest SEO Drives Views, Shares and Leads

Getting the optimum Pinterest SEO and developing the best content for your Pins and boards is key for raising your visibility, gaining shares and building your business. The steps outlined here are at the core of what it takes to succeed on Pinterest.

There is more you can do, but most of what is right for your business will be learned as your marketing moves forward. Take the time to experiment with different tactics and determine what delivers the best results for you.

The good news is that Pinterest is an exciting place to spend time anyway, so why not use that time to drive income your way.

There is one more thing to take away from this post:

Remember that all of the shares and links to and from your site all help with your overall Google organic search results as well.

The value of this Pinterest and Google combo benefit can be a deal changer for the success of your business.