Pinterest is more than just a great resource for discovering a new recipe for dinner! It offers incredible potential to capture the attention of new customers and send traffic to your website.
What many don’t realize, however, is that Pinterest requires a completely separate strategy from other social media platforms. When your business uses Pinterest strategically, it can become one of the top-performing social media strategies in your arsenal. Read on for the 6 SEO tips your business should be using on Pinterest to maximize success!
Pinterest Acts Like a Search Engine
Most of the time when we talk about Pinterest, it gets lumped in with other social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But in actuality, Pinterest’s functions completely differently than these social media apps. It actually works most similar to a search engine, like Google. That means that the way we should approach using Pinterest for business should be more aligned with SEO strategies rather than standard social media marketing techniques.
If you truly want to be a Pinterest pro, consider taking the time to learn the basics of Search Engine Marketing first. The following tips below are a great place to start!
Do Your Keyword Research
What are keywords? Keywords are words and short phrases relating to your business that your target audiences might be searching for. When the search engine registers the keywords on your pin, it’ll categorize them For example, a fashion designer’s list of ideal keywords might include, “women’s spring fashion”, “bohemian dresses”, or “modern female fashion designers”. When using Pinterest for business, it’s important that you’re using keywords relating not only to you and your brand, but also to the specific pin in question. Here’s an example:
Say our imaginary fashion designer has created a pin that links to a blog post all about the top shoe styles of this year. When selecting the keywords to include in her pin, she should make sure to stay on-subject. Keywords such as “top shoe styles”, “2019’s best shoes”, “cute high heels”, etc. are incredibly relevant to the information she’s providing and would be great options to consider. On the flip side, it’s better to avoid vague keywords like “fashion”, “shoes”, or “women’s clothes” or keywords that are kind of a stretch like, “Paris fashion week”, or “models shoes”.
The good news is, there are many tools available to research which keywords are most popular, relevant, and how competitive each word is. Experiment with a combination of searching for potential keywords on Pinterest and Google, as well as using tools like Moz, CanIRank, or UberSuggest for more concrete data. From there you can make educated predictions on which keywords will be most successful when using Pinterest for business.
Do’s and Don’ts of Keyword Usage for Pinterest
Now that you’ve crafted a list of keywords from your research the next step is figuring out how to use them! It’s important to invest thought and strategy into how to make keywords blend seamlessly into Pin Titles and Pin Descriptions.
Mastering this skill will help you make the most of Pinterest for business purposes. Neither Titles nor Descriptions offer room to write paragraphs describing your pin, so specificity and brevity are crucial to success. In the pin’s title, a good rule is to stick to five words or less, accurately previewing the pin’s content while containing a keyword. In the pin’s description, aim to keep copy to a maximum of 3 sentences. Make sure you explain what users can expect from the pin and it’s link and include keywords only where appropriate in context.
Additionally, consider opportunities to use your keywords on your Pinterest profile itself. Your Name, Bio description, and the Titles of Boards are all excellent places to utilize keywords and phrases.
Don’t Keyword Stuff on Your Business’ Pinterest Account
While it is crucial to use your keywords in your pins, it’s not good to stuff those keywords in wherever you can. Keyword stuff often looks like a chain of random words and phrases placed back to back in the pin’s description. It doesn’t add any real information to the pin regarding the content and can look distasteful and distracting. When using Pinterest for business especially, we want to avoid coming off as tacky or unprofessional. Keyword stuffing is out, but strategic placement of keywords is always in style.
Stick to the Ideal Pin Size and Style
Did you know the size and shape of your pins can influence their deemed value on Pinterest? This search engine prefers pins that are tall rather than wide.
The ideal dimensions are around 735 x 1102 px.
Sticking to a consistent size not only appeases Pinterest, but is also more appealing to the eye as viewers scroll through each of your boards. Want even more bonus points? Use rich pins. Rich pins include additional information about a pin such as product, app, recipe, and article details. This style of pin is available to anyone, and incredibly useful when using Pinterest for business. In a few simple steps, you’ll have access to rich pins! First, add metadata to your site, then validate through Pinterest and ‘apply’ for rich pins. Pinterest provides complete developer instructions on rich pins as well.
How to Use Hashtags for Pinterest for Business
Until very recently, hashtags were actually not a benefit for optimizing pins on Pinterest. Previously, Pinterest stuck to the search engine philosophy, where, just as we don’t use a hashtag before our keywords in blog posts and on websites, we didn’t really need to use them on our pins either. Recently, however, Pinterest’s philosophy switched and hashtags are now acceptable! When using hashtags for your business on Pinterest, it’s important to do your research like you would for keywords. Pinterest will create feeds, or groupings of pins under certain hashtags. Be sure to check out your potential hashtags on Pinterest before committing to them!
Implementing these six Pinterest for business SEO strategies is an easy way to get your Pinterest profile up to best practice standards. Maintaining consistency in your posting times and styles will help increase the likelihood of higher engagement rates. Happy pinning!
