Pinterest SEO Tips for 2020

Jan 8

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Pinterest can be a game changer for your business in 2020 if you know how to use it. And if you don’t know how to just yet, I’m so glad you’re here.

Pinterest is such a fun little platform to use. Well, maybe not so little with almost 300 million users and roughly 600 million monthly searches. If you’re not using Pinterest for your business NOW, you are missing out.

The bottom line is Pinterest is used as a visual search engine. People who use it are looking for something specific. And no, not just birthday party ideas and recipes.

They’re looking for you and what you have to offer. So if you’re not utilizing Pinterest already, you’re leaving money on the table. I don’t want that for you. So let’s get into my top tips for Pinterest SEO in 2020 so you can start being found!

find seo keywords

The first thing you need to do is pretend you are your ideal client and search Pinterest. Look up what your clients are looking for.

Are they looking for recipes? Are they looking for branding tips? Are they looking for tips on how to write better?

Search these words and phrases. See what kind of content pops up in the results. But most importantly, look at the words and phrases Pinterest populates for you as you type in these searches.

You’ll see these suggested words under the search box, above the results. It’ll look like this:

In the image, you can see that I’ve searched camper van. And I’ve gotten all kinds of lovely results. But underneath the search, those colorful boxes show what Pinterest suggests along with that search. This is what other Pinterest users are searching for!

So while many search camper van, people also search camper van conversion, camper van DIY, and camper van for sale.

If I was creating a Pinterest pin about camper vans, I would want to consider those keyword phrases as well as simply camper van.

So your homework for this section is to search what your client is searching, and take note of several other keywords and phrases Pinterest recommends. You’ll use these in your profile, boards, and pins to help Pinterest know when to share your content.

optimize profile and boards

Now that you’ve found the keywords you want to use with Pinterest, (remember these aren’t set it stone. You’ll edit, optimize, and adapt them as you figure out what works best for you), it’s time to optimize your profile and your boards.

This is key because everything in Pinterest is searchable. So if someone is searching for what you have to offer, not only can your pins turn up in a search, but so can your profile and your boards.

Your profile is important because it may make or break someone’s first impression of you. Let’s say they find one of your drop-dead-awesome pins, so they go to your profile but there’s nothing there.

Nothing about what you do or who you are. Why would they go any further at that point? They probably won’t. So even though you wow’d them with your pin, they found no reason to check you out more or learn anything else from you.

There’s not a ton of space in the bio section to write a novel, so keep it short, use keywords, and tell people what problem you solve for them.

You also have a spot for one link. I use the provided link space for my website. And add a link to a freebie I have available in the bio. The link in the bio isn’t clickable but it can be copy and pasted if someone wants to check it out. Hint: you should also have at least one pin that goes to this freebie!

Check out this blog post all about optimizing your Pinterest profile for more help here!

As you set up your Pinterest boards (or if you’re going through and editing them), make sure you use these keywords to describe them. Just like with the profile, this helps Pinterest know when to share your boards in search results.

optimize pin titles and descriptions

This goes right along with optimizing your profile and boards. You’ll use the same keywords you researched earlier, plus any that apply specifically to that pin.

Your pin title should be the title of your post or the piece of content you’re sharing. I also like to include my name and what I do, if it will fit. There is a limit to pin title length.

So for example, my pin title for this post may look like this:

Top Pinterest SEO Tips for 2020 | Delana Simmons | Squarespace SEO and Pinterest Expert

Because the whole title is searchable. See a trend here?

In your pin descriptions, you’ll want to describe what’s in your post, why should someone click through, and also use a call to action.

Your CTA could be to save the pin, or click through to read more, or click through to download this amazing freebie I have for you. Whatever fits with your content. Just tell your people what to do next!

create images in canva

You must, must have eye catching images for your pins. Pinterest is a visual search engine. So if your images aren’t eye catching and worth of stopping to check out, people will skim right over them no matter how great your content is.

I use Canva to create my images. To me, this is by far the easiest design software to use. Especially if you’re not a designer. No need to learn all the fancy Adobe apps!

Canva also has some great templates to help you get started and automatically makes sure your images are the optimal size for Pinterest (which Pinterest loves!)

I recommend making 4-6 Pinterest templates. You’ll want to have more than one pin for each blog post you write or other piece of content you share. So I make usually 4 per post which gives me plenty of content to share on Pinterest. It also gives your audience options when it comes to repinning your pins because not every design speaks to everyone.

schedule pins in tailwind

Another key piece to boosting your Pinterest SEO this year is pinning consistently. Yes, Pinterest loves it when you are actually in the app manually pinning. So personally, I make it a point to do that at least once a day. I take 5-10 minutes to browse and pin a few images I like.

But, I can’t be on Pinterest all day every day. I mean I could, but no one wants that, ha!

So I use Tailwind to schedule pins and recycle my own pins to be shared consistently. It’s absolutely a game changer. Whenever I make new pins for a new post, I upload them to Tailwind, write titles and descriptions, and add it to loops.

Done.

Tailwind handles it from there, sending the pins out to the appropriate boards for me automatically and on a schedule. It’s magic!

hashtags and duplicate content

The last couple things I think are key to Pinterest SEO are hashtags and duplicate content.

Hashtags are great tools to use in your pin descriptions. Include a few at the end of your pin description that match what you’re talking about. Don’t use cutesy ones like you might find on Instagram. You’ll want to use hashtags that actually fit your content. #pinterest #seo #onlinemarketing

You also want to be careful of duplicate content. It’s totally fine to create multiple pins for one piece of content or blog post. But make sure you change up your pin image and description. Just like Google, Pinterest isn’t a fan of identical content so if you’re going to reshare a pin, be sure to wait a bit before pinning it to the same board.

Now, get out there and ROCK Pinterest in 2020!