Whether you use Pinterest for personal use or for a business, optimising your keyword research and search engine optimization is the best approach to increase your outreach and sales. With over 416 million visitors per month, every Pin not only has a great potential to boost your brand but also lives up to 1,600 times longer than a Facebook ad. So, if you want to tap into this potential, follow these 6 steps for optimal Pinterest keyword research and SEO detailed below.
Pinterest and SEO
Before we dive into those six steps, let’s have a look at the broader picture first. It’s time to stop thinking of Pinterest as a social media platform and more as a search engine. A visual search engine, and start creating a Pinterest marketing strategy.
Just like Google, Pinterest works hard to show its users what they want to see and even things they didn’t think they wanted or needed to see until they see them.
Pinterest manages to do this by scoring Pins on a variety of factors to determine their rank, a technique otherwise known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Pinterest’s ranking factors are very similar to Google’s: Pinner quality, domain quality, Pin quality, and topic relevance.
Pinner Quality
This is you. Pinterest is judging you. Well…the entity behind the Pins. It’s good to have creative and attractive Pins, but it is also important to back up the brand behind it. If the Pinner seems like an unprofessional business, unverified, or does not interact much with others, Pinterest will most likely lower the Pinner quality’s score.
Domain Quality
Pinterest thinks beyond the Pin. Its users are like its children and Pinterest wants to make sure that once its children click on a Pin that directs them to a third party website, they have an optimal experience. If the landing page of the third-party website is slow (3 seconds or more), domain quality will be low. Since 82% of Pinners use the site on their mobile phones, it’s important that the landing page they have clicked on is also mobile-friendly.
Pin Quality
In everyone’s best interest, Pins need to be unique, captivating, and informative (if they are trying to sell something). The images or videos a Pinner chooses need to be of high quality, fit the Pin specifications, and all in all, be appealing to viewers. Without all of these attributes, your Pin quality score isn’t reaching its maximum potential.
Topic Relevance
If a clothing brand decides to advertise on Pinterest and only has Pins of dogs, Pinterest will immediately question the relevance. In order for Pins and Pinners to rank well, there needs to be a clear correlation between the Pins and its homepage.
When taking all of these factors into consideration, Pinterest will have the necessary information to give your brand an overall score which will then determine your rank amongst others on the site.
6 Steps to the Perfect SEO
Now that you have the Pinterest SEO factors laid out, here is how you can optimise your own page and get it ranking high.
Business or Personal?
If you are a new Pinterest user and you do not yet have a page, think about what kind of Pinterest account you wish to open: business or personal? To advertise your business by using Pinterest Ads for paid ads, open up a business account. If you are happy to promote your business or yourself without paying, open up a personal account. (*note – if you already have a personal account, it is possible to change it to a business account without creating a new one). Read our post here on how to set up your own Pinterest Business account.
Establish your Brand
Before getting anyone to come and see what you offer, you or your business needs an established brand. Your profile is your mirror and this is where you set up your Pinner quality.
When setting up your profile, think keywords, keywords, keywords. Put keywords in your name and in your bio. Don’t be afraid to layer them thick but remember to keep them relevant for that relevance like Kristabel down below! She’s incorporated keywords such as “fashion”, “lifestyle” “travel”, “London” and “afro” in her name and her bio.
Pinterest also suggests that you claim your site. By doing so, your profile picture will appear on every Pin you upload no matter where it ends up (on other people’s Pinterest boards as repins).
Also, you will have access to analytics so you can better target your audience in the future and there will always be a small globe sign (see Kristabel’s profile) on the picture for people to have access to your website. Learn how to claim your website here.
Additionally, try to get Pinterest users to engage with your product as quickly as possible by adding a call-to-action (CTA) in your bio.
Create your entourage
As Oprah Winfrey once said: “Surround yourself with those who only lift you higher.” Your Pinterest page will never stand alone; it will always stand as one amongst others. Follow other pages that rank well, are similar to yours, or individuals who have promoted your brand as a thank you. Create a small community around your page and make it feel welcoming to users. This plays well for Pinner quality.
Pin visual
What separates Pinterest as a search engine from Google: visuals. Yes, Google has an images tab, but that is not its main focus. For Pinterest, it’s all about the imagery, and in order for a Pin to stand out, it needs to draw in its user’s vision. This step requires research.
Find out which colours work best (let me save you a step: red and orange are the most repined colours on Pinterest), avoid landscape pins, stick to the original Pin ratio…read this article we put together that contains some handy tips for the ultimate Pin. You can also check out what Pinterest suggests are the best practices for visually stimulating Pins.
Give your Pins a chance to score well on Pin quality but also remember relevancy. Don’t post a picture of a beautiful sunset just because it looks nice, make sure it links well with your brand.
Side note: organise your Pins into various boards. You will find that some Pins work together based on themes (maybe various collections if you are selling clothing or by items). Group all Pins that are similar to each other on the same Pinterest boards to create a sense of organisation on your page and facility for users looking for similar products.
Pin text
Keywords, keywords, keywords. Just like when you were establishing your brand, any text that accompanies your Pin must be filled with keywords. Pinterest gives you 500 characters in the description box. Use them, make them count, add keywords, and raise your Pin quality and relevance score. However, before writing any text, do some keyword research. Here is some help on how to do specific pinterest keyword research:
Pinterest search bar
When you type in a keyword, it will automatically give you related long tail keywords that people search regularly. Have a look at what these various keywords bring you to and whether or not they may be applicable to your Pins. Remember: the more accurate the keyword (long tail keywords), the more organic traffic you will receive. Short tail keywords will give you irrelevant blog traffic.
Pinterest Ads Management
If you have a Pinterest business account, you have access to an easy keyword research tool. When creating your ad groups, go down to the keywords section and type in a keyword. From there, you will see suggested alternatives and their recent performances on the platform.
Remember to use these keywords not only as words that will make your Pins appear when someone searches for them but also put them in your Pin name and description!
SEMrush
If you do not have a Pinterest business account, you can use this alternative keyword tool: SEMrush. It is a complete online keyword researching platform that gathers information from all social media platforms. They even tell you which keywords perform better in which countries. They have a free trial period that is worth trying.
Once you have done your keyword research, you can start integrating them into your Pin names, description, hashtags, and even .jpeg! Enable rich pins as well to sync information from your site automatically onto your Pins and fill their descriptions with keywords.
Post regularly
Pinterest wants engaged and reliable Pinners on their site. The more you post, the more ‘new and original’ content you are providing to users. Try to post something daily (does not have to be your own material, repins work too). You can use the Tailwind app to give you advice on when to schedule your posts depending on user behaviours and your content.
If you are running out of content ideas for some fresh content, take a look at some similar Pinterest users for some trends. Don’t forget to take a look at the board descriptions and pin description as well for some new keywords and additional ideas. You may not have to copy their keywords, but you can look into some related terms.
One Step Further: Ads for a Pinterest Marketing Strategy
If you feel like your personal page is booming or that you want to build a business, think about investing in Pinterest Ads and a full Pinterest marketing strategy. You will have better access to all kinds of analytical data that could improve your SEO and you will be able to promote pins to ensure you always appear at the top of page results.
Conclusion
Hopefully, by now, you have the secret recipe to optimising your SEO and Pinterest keyword research and who knows, maybe your page or business will go viral! Remember that research is a key component of any SEO optimisation strategy.
Don’t panic if you don’t start seeing results immediately. You may have to wait months before your hard work starts to show and your pins receive more traffic. However, if you feel like you might need some help along the way, get in contact with one of our qualified social media agencies.
