Overflowing with creative and aesthetic ideas, Pinterest continues to be an artist favorite. It is used by millions to gain inspiration for many projects by looking at the boards others create. With many searching for unique ideas, optimizing your Pinterest boards for SEO can be a major game changer for the amount of visibility you get on the app. 

With the right strategy, getting an increased amount of engagement on your boards is easy, and this allows you to establish your brand on Pinterest more concretely. Here’s all you need to know on how to make your Pinterest Boards SEO-friendly.

What is SEO and How Does it Work? 

SEO is essentially optimizing your work. It's a process which lets you increase the chances of your content being shown on Pinterest’s search results. Like every other app, Pinterest also uses an algorithm to pick which content and boards to show users that are browsing through the app. With a good targeted strategy, you can alter your content to ensure that it comes up more frequently on other people’s feeds and profiles. This will give you a much larger audience and possible brand recognition. 

A simple way to imagine what SEO is like is to go searching for something yourself. As you type in your search query into the search bar, you’ll see suggested results pop up immediately. The boards/pages/pins that you see are proof of accounts that have optimized the content that they post.

Why Should You Optimize Your Pinterest Boards?

Unlike other platforms where the explore feature dominates, Pinterest works a little differently. On Pinterest, you’ll see that the search feature is a central part of how people find content and engage with the app. In order to find what users are looking for, they search for it on Pinterest and the algorithm gives results according to what it assessed the search to be demanding. 

By investing in the optimization of your Pinterest boards, you have a better chance of having your content be picked up by the algorithm and shown to other users more frequently. This benefit is not only limited to Pinterest but also extends to other search engines such as Google. These platforms also become more likely to promote your content if it has a high SEO ranking.

Here’s why you should be embracing SEO for your Pinterest Boards:

Boosting Your Visibility

Ranking for SEO means that you’re doing a good job in incorporating relevant keywords in your posts. This involves adding those keywords to your board titles, its descriptions, and pins. In turn, this helps the Pinterest algorithm to understand your content.  

As a result, your boards are more likely to appear in the search results, and this isn’t just limited to Pinterest. Your content will also find its way to other users through search engines like Google, driving more organic traffic to your profile.

Attract Your Target Audience

With effective SEO, you can tailor your boards to match the exact terms of your ideal audience. What this looks like depends on the type of content you post. For example, if you’re an account that shows off DIY decor hacks, your posts will show up when people go on Google and search for “Pinterest DIY home decor.” 

Stay Competitive

Pinterest is packed with creators and businesses trying to get the most attention possible. Adding SEO to your marketing strategy helps your board stand out. This positions them as more relevant options in your niche and this competitive edge can increase your followers and engagement over time.

Long Term Results

Unlike other social media platforms, pins and boards do not come with a short shelf life. When your pins are optimized with SEO, they can drive traffic for months or even years after they’ve been posted. This makes Pinterest SEO a better investment that’s bound to keep giving for a long time.

Better User Experience

A well organized and keyword rich Pinterest board is easier for your audience to go through. Optimized Pinterest boards make it easy to go from one pin to another which also increases the likelihood that your audiences save your pins or follow them.

How to Optimize Your Own Pinterest Boards

Figure out Which Keywords Work in Your Niche

Oftentimes, there are certain specific words that Pinterest users tend to use more when searching for content they would like to see. You can figure out what these keywords are by typing something into the search bar and seeing what the app suggests as the following words to add to your search. 

Beyond this, there is also another way to identify keywords related to your specific category of content. Look at other similar successful boards that are similar to yours and note down what keywords they use in their marketing. Once you have identified what the important keywords related to your niche are, start including them in your content strategically. More specifically, you’ll want to include them in your board titles for the best results.

Direct Titles

It is very important that what you name your board describes the content of the board. This way users will know exactly what to find when they’re clicking on it. Vague titles that do not communicate to a viewer clearly are much less likely to get viewer engagement. It’s not hard to go wrong with direct titles. It just means following examples like “Easy Handmade Birthday Decor.” It’s small and tells you exactly what you’ll find on the board.

Optimize Your Board Descriptions

With Pinterest, users can also add additional descriptions and context along with their boards. You can use this to appeal to your audience beyond the limited space of the board title by telling users what the board has to offer in a much more personalized way. 

Make sure you include keywords within this description. This improves the chances of your boards popping up when people go searching for similar content. A good description establishes a connection with other users and flows naturally while providing a good understanding of what the board is all about.

Always Stay Consistent

To make sure that the algorithm picks up your content, you need to be posting as much as possible. Your chances of gaining visibility and establishing a strong presence on Pinterest increase with the amount of times you upload pins. You can increase your posting by scheduling the days and times. 

Consistency is important, but there’s always a chance that you may end up forgetting about the quality of your pins. You need to stay consistent as long as you can ensure that your pins are high quality and can captivate the viewer’s attention. If you start posting irrelevant content for the sake of being consistent, you won’t notice an increased visibility.

Stay Organized

A profile that is muddled and disorganized is not going to be liked by a viewer who will find themselves lost and unable to access what they were looking for. This is why you should organize your boards efficiently. It ensures that what you’ve posted makes sense to the viewers. This can be done by grouping boards that have a similar theme, giving your profile a cleaner and simpler look.

Never Forget the Hashtags

Hashtags are phrases that allow your content to be categorized in a specific niche. By using these in your pins, you can signal the algorithm into promoting your content to other users on the app. But this also involves a bit of research. You have to stay updated with the latest hashtags that are getting the most attention. Then, you have to use those in your Pinterest boards so you can drive traffic to yourself.

Make Use of Video and Story Pins

Pinterest is no longer limited to static photo sharing. Now, it also includes videos and stories that work a lot like what you’ll see on Instagram. With the story feature on Pinterest, you can combine videos and pictures with text on the same page to communicate information to your audience. Your audience is more likely to be updated on the latest content that you post through the stories that you’re uploading.

On the other hand, video pins make it super easy to show your audience how to complete complicated steps, and that’s what makes them very popular. With video pins, you can be even more creative by making videos that are not only tutorials but also snippets like BTS content. 

Preventing Things From Going Wrong

While trying to optimize your Pinterest boards, it’s very easy to mess things up. We went looking and compiled some of the most common problems that people have run into. Let’s see:

Overloading Your Text With Keywords

While keywords are extremely important for SEO on Pinterest, it is important to use them reasonably and strategically. If your board title is filled to the brim with keywords, it will not make sense. The text flow will also seem robotic, making your content unappealing and inauthentic. Make sure to limit your use of keywords to what is logical and appealing.

Not Paying Attention to Analytics

Pinterest allows you to access data on how your pins and Pinterest boards are performing. This feature isn’t known to a lot of creators out there. By ignoring such research analytics, you rob yourself of the chance to become aware of the areas in which you are lacking. Subsequently, you are unable to improve your marketing strategy. Use the insights provided by Pinterest so you can get an idea of what needs to change in the content that you’re pinning.

Losing Out on Quality

Pinterest is a visual centered platform where the aesthetic and quality of the pictures you pin is of the utmost priority. If an image is choppy or blurred up, it is not likely to be pinned by others or promoted by the algorithm itself. Always ensure that the pictures you post are clear so your audience doesn’t have a reason to go looking elsewhere.

Beginning Your SEO Journey

Optimizing your Pinterest Boards with SEO isn’t just a doable task. It is also a way of giving yourself direct access to the numerous benefits that improve your chances of gaining visibility on the artistic platform. By including keywords in your content, keeping your profile visually appealing and making the most of Pinterest’s various features, you can easily direct more people to your brand. 

We laid down the basics for you. What’s next is for you to start implementing it. So, get to your research and start taking over the search engines!