Top 3 Tricks for Keyword Optimization on Pinterest

Keyword Optimization on Pinterest

At its heart, Pinterest is a search engine, much like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. When users arrive at the Pinterest site, they use keywords to find what they are looking for. If you use Pinterest for your business, you need to optimize your keywords and make it easy for visitors to find your site and explore your products.

Keyword Optimization on Pinterest and similar sites is more important than ever. Users are growing more sophisticated, and that has made them much more demanding. The techniques that worked a few years ago are no longer sufficient, and if you fail to make the necessary changes, your business risks being left behind.

One of the things modern web users are looking for is rich visual content delivered in an attractive manner, and that is what makes Pinterest such a compelling choice. Pinterest is a valuable tool for any business seeking to grow its traffic, build its brand and draw in new customers.

Pinterest is a Search Engine

Understanding how Pinterest works is key to optimizing your keywords and making sure your pins get the attention they deserve. When users come to Pinterest, they can filter the content they see by entering relevant keywords. Optimizing your pins for popular keywords is one of the best ways to boost exposure, so choose your keywords with care.

The value of keyword optimization on Pinterest content goes far beyond that site. Quality Pinterest content and popular pins can improve your organic search rankings in Google as well. As for the Pinterest ranking mechanism, it is still something of a mystery. The site recently introduced Guided Search and VisualGraph, which helped transform Pinterest from a pure search engine to a tool for content discovery.

Even though the exact Pinterest ranking mechanism is only partially understood, testing has revealed a number of keyword optimization techniques that you can use right now. These search techniques can be quite effective at improving not only Pinterest results but organic search results with Google as well. Here are three tricks that you can use to optimize your keywords on Pinterest and beyond.

3 Ways to Optimize Keywords on Pinterest

#1. Add Descriptive Keywords to your Pin Descriptions

Creating the right pin description. You should treat your pin descriptions as you would the title of a web page. Descriptive keywords are key here. The goal is to accurately represent the pin and help end users find what they are looking for.

Pinterest places great importance on pin descriptions, weighting those descriptions in much the same way Google weights web page titles. If you want your content to end up in the first row of Pinterest search results, it is important to optimize the descriptions with popular and relevant keywords. Place the most relevant keywords earlier in the text; doing so will improve your pins’ rankings.

Don’t Forget About Alt Image Tags

Pay close attention to alternate descriptions when pinning images from your website. By default, Pinterest pulls the description from the alt text on your image. Take the time to examine that alt text and make changes if necessary.

Keyword Rich Titles

You already know keywords are important, but how do you know which ones to use? There are a number of resources available to make your search for the perfect keywords easier.

You can start with the Pinterest autocomplete function. When you click the Search button in Pinterest, the search engine automatically suggests common combinations of words. Those common word combinations can become excellent long-tail keywords for the right pins.

Pinterest Guided Search is another powerful tool for choosing the right keywords. This new feature is intended to help users categorize and filter search results. You can use these filters to find promising keywords and build them into your overall strategy.

Use Pinterest Analytics

Pinterest Analytics can be another great source of keyword research. You can analyze the performance of your profile by looking at the number of impressions for each pin. You will no doubt see some pins with lots of impressions and others with next to none. By analyzing the results, you can use keyword optimization to find results and build on that success in the future.

Don’t forget to make your titles unique too. There is nothing worse than finding a title that reads ‘SEO Keywords Pinterest.’ Although this title might work well for bots it doesn’t do much for your readers. If you need help with your title’s check out Portent’s Content Idea Generator. Just enter the subject of your Pin and the tool will generate new and unique titles for you!

#2. Rich Board Names

One of the best things about Pinterest boards is that they can appear in Google search results. That gives you an excellent opportunity to boost your organic search rankings and build traffic for your long-tail keywords.

Long-tail keywords

There are two very effective ways to make your boards rank high in Google search results. If a long-tail keyword contains the word Pinterest (think “Smart Pinterest marketing tips”), it is likely to rank well on Google. Niche-specific keywords that cover a narrow topic also tend to do well in Google rankings.

If you want to implement this strategy, the Google Keyword Planner is a great place to start. Just head over to the planner site and look for promising long-tail keywords you would like ranked. Then return to Pinterest to see if there are already boards ranked for that keyword in Google search results. If not, take the opportunity to create a new board.

Of course creating the board is just the beginning. You will also need to make the board relevant to your profile by building great content and keeping it updated. You will also want to choose the right description for your board; a description that includes the keywords you have chosen can improve your Pinterest search rankings.

Create a board based off of a current trend and try to relate that to your business. Use Google Trends to help you with this.

#3. Complete Pinterest Profile

The Pinterest profile is the key to success on the site, so take the time to make yours a great one. The profile is the foundation of performance for your pins and boards, and you ignore it at your peril. The first step is to make sure your domain link is part of your Pinterest profile. Properly verified accounts get better exposure in Pinterest search results, so this one step can have an enormous impact. Furthermore, the fact that the Pinterest link to your website is of the dofollow variety gives your site more authoritative link juice.

The next step is optimizing the description within your profile. Give special attention to the name of the profile, noting that people can use keywords to search for pins, boards and profiles. If you want your profile to be found for a specific keyword, you should try to naturally append it to your brand name.

Beyond Keyword Optimization on Pinterest

Get to know the habits of your Pinterest Users. Set up a view within Google Analytics so you can easily focus in on your Pinterest Traffic. Set up Event Tracking to see if Pinterest users convert higher than Twitter users. All social media traffic is going to be different. Learn which social media referrer is best for your business.

While the importance of keywords cannot be overstated, it is important to understand that Pinterest uses a number of other factors to evaluate content. Things like time lags can have a big impact on the ability of users to find your pins. Images have the greatest chance of being seen within the first hour after they are pinned. As time goes by, the images can drop in the rankings, so timing your postings properly is vital.

The search history and preferences of Pinterest users also plays a big role in the content they see. Pinterest wants to give each user the best experience possible, and that means looking at the things they have searched for, the pins they liked in the past and their own profiles. You may not be able to control other users’ profiles or search results, but you can optimize your own content for better results.

Do you have any tricks that you use for keyword optimization on Pinterest. If so,share them in the comments!