Imagine your business being able to showcase potential customers how your products and services can help them accomplish their ideas. This is exactly what Pinterest can do for your business.

Pinterest is a visual search engine with a social media component. Users utilize the platform to look for inspiration, whether it’s their wedding planning, new recipe, or home decor as well as to brainstorm ideas for new products to buy.

Pinterest logo

In fact, nearly 93% of pinners said they use the platform to plan their purchases (now that is almost all of them!), and another 67% of pinners say they discovered a new brand or product on Pinterest. So if you’re not using Pinterest for marketing your products and services then you are missing out!

To be in the mix of those discovered products, you need to make sure your Pinterest SEO is on point.

Why you need to start using Pinterest for your business

Pinterest is full of highly engaged users. Millennials report using the platform as much as Instagram, with the median age being 40, although the majority of active pinners are below the age of 40. And although the majority of the platform’s users are female (81%), male signups are growing in numbers, with 41% of new sign up being men. And all those users have created over 50 billion pins!

Utilizing Pinterest strategically for your business leads to:

Increased brand awareness
Additional blog traffic
New leads
Increased sales

And here’s why…

pinterest purchases

Pinterest users are ready to buy

Pinterest users are already in the right mindset– the mindset that is likely going to lead to them making a purchase.

Because Pinterest reduces the steps from discovery to conversion for the potential buyer, Pinterest is a top resource for shoppers looking for that gift, product, or outfit.

Pinterest is a great market research tool

Pinterest is a great platform for you to discover what your audience loves and what is trending. Using it as a search tool help you find our what is hot and trending currently and how your business, blog, services, or product fits into that! This then will definitely inform how you then position your business.

pinterest stats

Pinterest is a huge traffic driver

Pinterest is a major traffic driver. In fact it is one of the most successful social media platforms that help drive traffic back to your website. As indicated in a recent Hootsuite Study, Pinterest is responsible for 5% of all referral traffic! And when looking at just shopping websites, Pinterest drives 33 percent more referral traffic than Facebook!

Free marketing

Pinterest is a platform where user engagement is super high. The intention of most users on Pinterest is to simply find and share things with small groups of people.

This is good for your business, why? It means your pins are more likely to be seen and even go viral! Therefore Pinterest in a way is free marketing for your business, and why wouldn’t you want that?

Not only are you sharing your content on Pinterest, but you have others sharing your content for free on Pinterest when they pin and repin your content themselves!

Now that we have established why it is important for your business to be on Pinterest, let’s discuss how to use the platform to drive business results– aka let’s make Pinterest work for your business!

Setting up Pinterest for business

The first thing you need to do is make sure you have a Pinterest business account. You can easily create one by going here: or you can convert your current account.

There are tons of benefits with a Pinterest business account, including:

Access to rich pins
Extensive Pinterest analytics
Promoted pins

If you are a business trying to use the online world to drive traffic and sales to your online shop, or even a blogger or influencer, you need to have access to analytics otherwise you are essentially shooting in the dark.

You need to know how your target audience behaves online, what time they log on, what they like to repin etc. But Pinterest for Business also lets you set up rich pins and promote pins too.

What are rich pins?

Rich pins are only available to you through the Pinterest business account. They add extra information to your pins directly from your blog or site. And they don’t just stop there. If you update that information on your blog, it will automatically update on Pinterest.

Rich pins also improve your ranking. This has an impact on your pin impressions and clicks, and since they stick out from regular pins, they help drive traffic.

All of this on top of being able to establish yourself as an expert as a business account is automatically more professional than a personal account. It’s free to set up and all you have to do is go to the Pinterest Business page and click “Convert Now.”

*note: after you have created your business account, it is an additional step to enable rich pins

How to optimize Pinterest SEO for you business profile

Next up you need to make some tweaks to your Pinterest profile. These will have an impact on your entire Pinterest strategy.

First up, we always recommend including the name of your business in your profile name and in the username.
Don’t forget to claim your website, this will also contribute to your profile appearing higher in profile search results.
Include a link to your site and a friendly professional photo of yourself as the profile photo
Add a call to action in the description!

Speaking of description, this is prime real estate. Take time to fill it in by telling your audience what your business is and what problem you solve/or need you fulfill, basically what your business can do for them! Here’s what our profile looks like:

Pinterest business page example

Here are a few more ways to optimize your Pinterest business profile:

Install the save button (formerly called “pin it” button)

This is one of the best and easiest ways for your business to get content, such as your products, or blog posts onto Pinterest.

The save button allows visitors to save content they like from your site in their Pinterest boards with just one click! This way, not only are you promoting your business on Pinterest by pinning your content, but so are others!

This then helps even more pinners discover your business, and brings me to another important point– make sure you spend time filling in the descriptions of the images on your blog or site.

Pro tip: Most pinners tend to keep the same description that comes with the pin with they click Save. So go into the “Alt text” of your images and fill in with what you would like that description to be!

Strategic descriptions with keywords

Something you need to keep reminding yourself of is that Pinterest is a search engine and therefore keywords matter! Spending time writing compelling, targeted descriptions with a good selection of keywords can have a big impact on your pins showing up in the search results.

When brainstorming keywords you need to get in the head of what pinners might be searching for in the search bar. Here’s two tricks for finding the right keywords:

Use the suggested terms that show up under the search bar once you hit enter.
Use the autofill feature to gain knowledge of what people are searching for on Pinterest.

When you are writing those pin description remember to incorporate keywords. But that is only half the battle. You also want to work on describing the pin, the value it provides, and how to entice the pinner enough to click through on it!

Pro tip: Stay away from generic keywords or over stuffing your pin description with too many keywords. The Pinterest algorithm notices this and doesn’t like it!

Create Pinterest boards strategically

To increase the likelihood of your Pinterest boards showing up in the results you need to be very intentional when creating and naming your boards. To do this, we suggest using intentional keywords that pinners are likely search for.

Keep the names of your boards to the point. That means staying away from anything too fancy. So instead of “my lovely abode” try “home”.

Also, have a mix of generic and more niche boards and names. And always remember you want to write board descriptions full of keywords making your boards easily discoverable.

Create pinnable graphics that entice to click through

Pinterest pins

There are certain types of graphics that work better than others. For example, longer graphics grab attention better and DIY/step-by-step tutorial graphics also grab more repins. Putting catchy and enticing to the point text overlays on your graphics also piques people’s interest.

And adding a pop of colour in either your text or you image and decluttering your image composition is a good starting point.

Pro tip: A key component to your graphics is the copy. You want users to not only save your pins but also click through them. So take time brainstorming enticing copy that will prompt the pinner to click through.

Pin frequently and consistently!

You want to keep the activity on your Pinterest fresh. The Pinterest algorithm rewards this. Having said this, you also need to make sure you are consistent.

Pinning 50 pins one day and then not pinning for a week is something the smart feed doesn’t like, so make sure to pin every day and throughout the day. We suggest starting with 10-15 pins and then gradually increasing to at least 20-30 pins a day.

Pro tip: Now this all will depend on the amount of content you have, and we know that many of you don’t have time to pin throughout the day. If this is you, we suggest scheduling your pins with a Pinterest scheduler. Tailwind is a scheduler that is an official partner of Pinterest and a great tool to try.

Group boards

Join group boards!

Group boards are boards with many collaborators. Look for group boards where your peers are and also where your target audience hangs out in.

Group boards increase the potential of your pin being discovered by a whole new audience! And note the number of followers the group board has, the more followers the better!

Use hashtags

Pinterest tips Hashtags on Pinterest now give you a different way to search on the platform. Usually when someone performs a search on Pinterest, the search results are populated by the complicated, no-one-really-understands Pinterest algorithm. This means there is a chance your pins might appear in the search results.

But now with the hashtag search on Pinterest, when someone does a search on Pinterest using a hashtag or clicks on a hashtag in a pin description, Pinterest will showcase the latest pins that have utilized that particular hashtag!

This doesn’t mean you overstuff your pin description with hashtags. Instead write a compelling pin description, rich in keywords, and add some hashtags.

Pro tip: Make sure these hashtags are specific and descriptive hashtags. Only use hashtags in the pin description– they will not function anywhere else!

How to optimize Pinterest SEO for search

Don’t forget that Pinterest is a search engine and therefore keywords are very important! Your pins will never be repinned if they are never found, and they will never be found if you don’t associate all the right words with them.

Pinterest analytics

With your business account you will have an analytics section. Along with keeping an eye on saves, you’ll also want to pay attention to the Clicks column. Along with this Pinterest Analytics will also showcase all the pinning activity right from your domain.

Take note of referral traffic from Pinterest on your Google analytics to get a good idea of the impact pinterest is having on your business.

Pinterest analytics

Link quality

Make sure your pins are linking back to relevant and high quality content. Consistently check on your pins to get rid of any broken links. Pins that are associated with spammy and irrelevant links are noticed by the Pinterest algorithm.

Brand it

You want to tell a story and sell a lifestyle on Pinterest that complements your brand and product. To do this, remember to have a good understanding of your brand beyond just the colours and fonts, and a clearly defined target audience. This will not only help you in catering your content to a specific audience it will also inform your entire strategy.

Have call to actions everywhere

Have them on your pin graphics, in your bio description, and use the Pinterest widget function to prompt visitors to follow you by embedding boards and follow buttons on your site.

Mobile

Pinterest mobile optimization When thinking of Pinterest for your business, remember that 80% of Pinterest users use the platform through a mobile device. This again informs many things such as your pin design and the mobile friendliness of your website along with other aspects.

Embrace the new changes!

Pinterest is always updating their platforms, so be sure to constantly check in on the changes. Some recent changes include:

Repins are no longer being displayed
The “following” tab on Pinterest now allows you to see a feed which is populated entirely by accounts and boards you follow, and they are displayed in reverse chronological order
The featured board and header functions on your profile to strengthen your pinterest strategy further

Have fun pinning!

Remember it takes time for your Pinterest SEO efforts to pick up traction, so be patient and fun!

Pinterest seo infographic

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Optimize your Pinterest SEO practices to increase your ROI

In this Article

Buzzing Creatives

How to use Slack effectively to get your community talking

How to get noticed on Twitter