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How To Use Pinterest In Your SEO Strategy

When it comes to your SEO strategy, you may be surprised to find you are missing out on a huge opportunity by not utilizing Pinterest. As a top-rated SEO marketing agency, we know the importance of using every search engine possible in order to help you gain as much organic traffic and growth. If you are thinking that Pinterest is just another social media platform, it’s time to think again.

This visual search engine can help you gain more traffic to your website, which in turn provides leads that can be converted into sales. Whether you have never logged in to Pinterest or you weren’t away you should use Pinterest in your SEO strategy, this guide has you covered. Keep reading to learn more about Pinterest SEO and how to effectively use it in your current strategy.

Why Pinterest Is Important For Your SEO Strategy

Pinterest is incredibly important for any business’ SEO strategy because it isn’t just another social media platform; it’s a visual search engine used by millions every day. In fact, the Pinterest audience is larger than you think. With over 400 million active monthly users and more than 2 billion monthly searches, Pinterest can be astronomical for your SEO strategy.

pinterest seo strategy

To quickly compare Pinterest to Google searches, there are over 238 billion searches each month on Google. While that is 10 times more than the searches on Pinterest, the number of individuals and their queries they perform is still significant when it comes to SEO.While Pinterest users are using the platform, they are specifically looking for information, ideas, and/or inspiration. The pins (a.k.a. posts on Pinterest) these users are reviewing contain specific information that can be read by both Pinterest and Google search algorithms.

This is important because the pins you post on Pinterest can actually show up in Google search results.This is huge because you are now getting better ROI every time you post. Your Pinterest pins can be seen by Pinterest users and regular internet searchers. Furthermore, Pinterest allows pins to have a longer lifespan than any social media platform or blog can provide!

Allow us to explain how this is possible. When you create a pin, it is displayed to your followers and users who are interested in topics that correlate to your pin. You will organize your pin into an SEO optimize board, where it will live the rest of its days on your account. However, the pin is still being shown to interested users for hours after it is posted. If and when your pin is favorited or added to another users board, it is now displayed to their followers. This can happen for months or even years to come!Every time your original pin is shared on another board, it regains its momentum.

This is something that is unachievable on any other platform. Your blog may last for a few days and social media posts last a few hours (at best). With a Pinterest SEO strategy, you can have value-driven evergreen content that resurfaces time and again. Even if you may have forgotten about the post over time, you can gain new leads and followers as it is shared throughout Pinterest.

How The Pinterest SEO Search Algorithm Works

We have already mentioned that Pinterest is a visual search engine, but we haven’t clarified what that means. Each Pinterest pin contains an image with an alt tag. The alt tag describes what the image contains, which is important because algorithms can only read text and not see images. However, this image needs to be captivating because that is what your followers and others who are interested in similar topics will see.

Users won’t see much of the text that is associated with a pin unless they click it.When users do click on the pin, they will see the optimized headline, relevant link, and a short description. When we say short, we mean 500 characters or less. It may not seem like a lot of space to sell your audience, but it is when you hire an agency for SEO services to create captivating content for you. This short description should encourage users to click through to the provided link or view the rest of your Pinterest board.

pinterest seo

With proper SEO optimization on the image, headline, and rich keyword description, it is possible to have pins and boards rank higher on Pinterest. Additionally, the following four ranking factors must be kept in mind in order to have high SEO results on Pinterest:

  1. Domain Quality: The more popular pins from your website’s domain are, the higher your domain quality will be on Pinterest.
  2. Pin Quality: Higher user engagement and popularity of pins will improve your Pinterest SEO ranking. This is where Pinterest will look for high-quality visual content.
  3. Pinner Quality: Pinterest evaluates how often you utilize the platform in addition to how much you engage with other accounts.
  4. Pinterest Keywords: Your pins must be relevant to your audience, which is why it’s important to look for short and long tail keywords to include in your pins.

While understanding the Pinterest SEO algorithm is important, it does not guarantee success. If you don’t have quality content and follow the tips we have provided below, your efforts will not produce the high ROI you desire.

How To Use Pinterest In Your SEO Strategy

Now that we have explained why Pinterest is so important for your off-page SEO strategy and how the algorithm works, let’s dive into how to actually use this visual search engine in your SEO strategy. The following seven tips will help you create a Pinterest business account that performs:

  1. Use Pinterest Regularly
  2. Claim Your Website & Optimize Your Profile
  3. Follow Related Accounts To Boost Your Visibility
  4. Optimize Pinterest Boards For SEO
  5. Only Save Pins to Relevant Boards
  6. Use Rich Pins To Improve SEO Ranking
  7. Write Pin Descriptions With SEO Keywords

Before we dive into the details of these tips, we want to kindly remind you that SEO is a full-fledged, long-term strategy. Simply using Pinterest once or twice a year will not help your SEO. The same goes for producing content once in a blue moon. If you struggle to manage all of your digital marketing while handling all of the other aspects of your business, please take a minute to review our services. Our team is ready to help you create a strategy that provides real, achievable results. Speak To An Expert

1. Use Pinterest Regularly

How often you use Pinterest is incredibly important to the Pinterest SEO algorithm. If you only go in once a month and pin 20 new posts to various boards, it will not provide the same benefit as pinning a few posts every few days. In addition to pinning regularly, it’s important to create pins and add pins at the right time of day.If you pin posts when it is convenient for you and no one is online, it won’t provide you any SEO benefit. Your engagement statistics are also a driving factor in ranking on Pinterest, so it’s important to be active on the platform when your audience is online. The best time of day to post may change months or years go on, so it’s important to stay up-to-date on when your followers use Pinterest.

2. Claim Your Website & Optimize Your Profile

Before you begin creating posts and pinning away, it’s important to claim your website and optimize your Pinterest profile. Since domain quality is so vital to ranking on Pinterest, you want to make sure the platform knows about your high-quality website. Better still, by connecting your website to your business profile, you will gain access to detailed analytics and perform statistics.When possible, use an SEO optimized username.

If you already have handles on other platforms, then try to use the same handle on Pinterest. It makes it far easier for search engines to display your accounts and for your customers to find you.Aside from the username, you need to optimize the about section. With only 160 characters, you don’t have much room to speak. Keep things short, sweet, and value-driven. Close with an effective call-to-action as well. Finally, upload your profile picture.

3. Follow Related Accounts To Boost Your Visibility

Who you follow directly impacts your pinner quality, which in turn impacts your SEO ranking on Pinterest. This means you need to find influencers and accounts that align with your brand and follow them. Similar to the first tip, don’t follow everyone all at once. Slowly grow who you follow over time.In addition to improving your pinner quality, following related accounts improves your visibility on Pinterest. Your pins and boards will gain a farther reach when you follow related accounts. Pinterest is an algorithm, so it is always trying to display the best content to the right audience.

4. Optimize Pinterest Boards For SEO

Pinterest boards have similar SEO fields as pins. By focusing on the SEO properties of Pinterest boards, you can improve your ranking and reach. In general, three types boards should be part of every business account:

  • High-level boards: These are general boards. These should be related to your products and/or services.
  • Low-level boards: These boards are similar to the bottom of your funnel. You want to attract users, but you don’t want to be too specific.
  • Long-tail boards: These boards will directly impact your Pinterest keyword ranking. Narrow, specific topics should be used on each of these boards.

You are not limited to the number of boards you can create on Pinterest. Start with creating one of each board type and then grow the number of boards as appropriate.

5. Only Save Pins to Relevant Boards

The first pin you create will forever stay associated with the board you pin it to, even if years have passed and it has been shared across hundreds of your followers’ boards. Any time you create a pin, you will want to make sure the board is relevant to the pin. By doing so, you improve multiple factors that relate to your ranking on the platform.Board sections are a viable option for business accounts to help organize each board. While the sections do not affect SEO, they do help keep your hundreds or thousands of pins easily organized. If you do not organize all of your pins into easy to glance at sections, you risk losing the attention of any users who find your Pinterest board. Just make sure your pin is associated with the correct section to improve the user experience.

6. Use Rich Pins To Improve SEO Ranking

While the standard Pinterest pin is certainly a good way to get comfortable with posting on the platform, rich pins are a more effective way to improve SEO ranking. Rich pins allow you to add more details, which can help drive search traffic. When they are appropriate for your business, rich pins should be used over a standard pin.At this time, there are four types of rich pins:

  • Product: include pricing, availability, and relevant information (i.e. size, specs, etc.)
  • Recipe: include title, servings, cooking times, dietary types, ingredients, and ratings
  • Article: include headline, meta description, and author

With these rich pins, you gain the ability to speak to your audience with more than 500 characters. It is important to not abuse rich pins and only use them when they are relevant. Otherwise, you would negatively impact your pinner quality. Fortunately, the article rich pin is perfect for every business in any industry that blogs on a regular basis.

7. Write Pin Descriptions With SEO Keywords

Just the same as a typical SEO strategy, your Pinterest SEO strategy must be based on valuable keywords your audience is actually searching for on the platform. Fortunately, the Pinterest search term reports for business accounts provide an idea of what your users are typing into the query.Aside from the reports, using the predictive text in the search bar is a wonderful way to find short and long tail keywords. The predictive text shows related phrases. Pinterest will also show you variations that may be misspelled. Fortunately, there is no reason to include these in your pins.

Pinterest automatically handles the misspelled variations that lead users to your pin on the back end of the platform.Any keywords align with your brand and post should be included in the description. The same principles that apply with SEO also apply on Pinterest. There is no point in duplicating content or stuffing keywords into your description. It will only negatively impact your rating. Your keywords should be naturally added to the content and be followed by an effective call-to-action.Don’t just tag your description with an assortment of popular words. Good descriptions help your Pin perform better, and that in turn can improve your Pin’s SEO ranking.

Key Takeaways For Pinterest SEO

In this guide, we have covered a number of topics and tips that teach you how to use Pinterest in your SEO strategy. To quickly summarize:

  • Pinterest is a visual search engine, so include meta information where possible.
  • Focus on sharing high-quality posts from your website.
  • Follow relevant accounts to boost your visibility.
  • Use a range of short and long tail keywords to reach a wide audience.
  • Regularly post and engage with other pins on the platform.
  • Optimize pins, boards, and your profile for SEO at all times.

With this information in hand, you are well on your way to supplementing your current SEO strategy with Pinterest. This long-term strategy is fluid and will need to be updated often to ensure you are still reaching your audience with the right content at the right time for successful SEO progress.

We understand this can be time consuming, which is why our team is available to assist you.PBJ Marketing is a top rated SEO agency that has the tools, expertise, and industry know-how to help you excel beyond your competitors. We can work with most budgets and provide you with a custom SEO strategy that helps convert your leads into sales. If you are ready to achieve the high ROI you deserve for your marketing efforts, please contact one of our experts today!