Pinterest is often overlooked when businesses formulate their SEO strategies. You may be surprised to discover that you are missing out on a significant opportunity by not incorporating it. We often think of Pinterest as just another social media platform but in reality, it is also a powerful visual search engine used by millions of people every day.

When it comes to creating your business’s SEO strategy, it is important to use as many search engines as possible to gain that much-needed organic traffic and growth. Pinterest has over 400 million active monthly users and its monthly searches are in excess of 2 billion. Although these numbers are a lot lower than Google’s, they are still significant enough to have a positive impact on your strategy.

Why is Pinterest important for your SEO strategy?

As we all know social media can definitely help with your search engine optimisation. Pinterest is a powerful resource and a great addition to your SEO strategy for a few reasons and can attract a large amount of traffic simply through visually appealing content. 

Users of this platform are generally looking for inspiration, they want to try new things and discover new ideas. As a user you can save any image you come across online or add it to your account. Users create their own different boards and categorise them according to topics. When images are pinned, they are linked back to the original site they came from which is why Pinterest and SEO work hand in hand.

Content Longevity

As we all know, our content has a limited lifespan but on Pinterest, your pins have greater longevity than posts on other social media platforms. Once you have created a pin it remains on your board forever and when it is favorited or added to another user’s board, it is then shown to a whole new audience. Each time your original pin is shared, it regains its momentum, and your content can be revived months or even years after it was first created.

Focused targeting

Another key difference is that it provides businesses with a strategy to specifically target products. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are brand-focused but Pinterest allows its users to follow specific products or services that they are interested in. Users enjoy this targeted approach for a number of reasons, but it also helps them avoid receiving information about things they aren’t interested in. 

Increased ROI

A big advantage of pins is that they contain specific information that is used by both Pinterest and Google search algorithms. So, in other words, your pins will also show up in relevant Google search results, providing you with a better ROI.

Higher search rankings

By creating your own pins and boards you increase your chances of appearing on search engine ranking pages and your business will also benefit by getting more links from Pinterest. A captivating board will more than likely inspire people to click through to your website helping your increase your website traffic. 

And finally, as a business, it is also easier to rank nearer the top of a Pinterest search than it is for a Google search and an added advantage is that your images will appear in Google searches. All of this increases your business’s online visibility.

How does the Pinterest SEO algorithm work?

When it comes to Pinterest SEO, there are four main factors that are considered:

• Domain quality
• Pin Quality
• Pinner Quality
• Content/Topic Quality

The quality of your domain is determined by the popularity of the pins from your website. While Pin Quality looks at both the popularity of your pins as well as the user engagement. Every time a user saves a pin from your board, the engagement is measured from every instance of that pin. Pinner Quality is evaluated by the frequency with which you use the platform as well as how often you interact with other accounts. From a content/topic quality perspective, your pins must be relevant, contain quality content, and must include short and long-tail keywords.

Your Pinterest SEO Strategy

It is imperative to utilise SEO practices more so than on any other social media platform. This is because Pinterest is a visual search engine and as we said, your content lives on and can continually be revived through a simple interaction.

Leveraging keywords is key

Making use of keywords and phrases is not only key to ensuring your audience will find you, but it also improves your search engine optimisation. This can easily be achieved through your username and profile description. We recommend that you ensure your username is consistent across all your social media accounts and website as this will help your cross-platform discoverability.

Create searchable boards

Creating boards will increase your visibility and you need to ensure that your board names and descriptions are as SEO-friendly as possible. Remember that once you have saved a pin to a board, it will ‘live’ there forever so planning your boards is vital to creating a great user experience.

Consistent quality content

As with any strategy, your content should be original and captivating and always be created with your user in mind, as opposed to a search engine. Your goal is to create relevant, visually appealing content that users want to interact with and save. But above all consistency is key, posting twice a week is far more effective than posting 20 pins once a month. 

Create keyword-rich titles and descriptions

If there is one place you need to ensure that has all the perfect SEO keywords, it’s your pin title. You only have 100 characters so make it short, targeted and relevant. When it comes to descriptions, it is worthwhile providing the most important information first, as although you have up to 500 characters, users only see the first 50 characters on their feed!

Publish Video Pins

Video pins have become hugely popular, and you can easily capture your audience through a video pin and besides, you can say so much more through a video than you ever can through an image. Videos are also a great SEO strategy as they often appear at the top of the search results.

Follow other accounts

Pinterest takes who you follow into account when deciding on where your business will appear when suggesting boards and profiles to users. It is worthwhile taking the time to research accounts that are in line with your brand and then choose which ones to follow. This will help ensure you are recommended to the right audience and you’re also more likely to appear in their follower’s recommendations.

Incorporating Pinterest within your SEO strategy allows you to engage with an untapped audience in a fun and creative way. Besides, any platform that provides content longevity has got to be a win!!!

If you need help optimising your Pinterest profile or managing it, our Pinterest managers can help. Drop me a message on my contact page.