You’ve heard about the amazing growth results that you can get through using Pinterest for your business. You’ve tried Instagram, you’ve tried Facebook, and you know that social media marketing can work. After all, you’ve seen tons of other people do it! But you also know that it is really, really, really hard to figure out.

The time and the effort that you’ve spent on your Instagram and Facebook marketing has made you wary of diving into Pinterest. You know it works. You believe it! But you just don’t know HOW to make it work for you.

Pinterest is a very visual platform, just like Instagram and Facebook. Were Pinterest differs from Instagram and Facebook is that it is also a search engine. This means that while you do need a clean, crisp, and intriguing graphic on Pinterest, you also need to pay just as much attention to the words that you put on your pin and in your pin description. 

You want your wording to be clear, concise, and eye-catching. Plus, you need one more trick up your sleeve to make the Pinterest search engine love you.

And that is SEO.

What IS SEO?

I’m sure you’ve heard of SEO, or search engine optimization. 

Basically, SEO is finding terms (keywords) related to your business and topic that people search regularly on google or Pinterest. Then you have to organically incorporate those words into whatever you are writing. So, for Pinterest, you want to find words and phrases that people regularly search on Pinterest itself (that are of course related to your business and the topic you are talking about!). Then you want to make sure that you include one or more of these words and phrases into your pin title and/or your pin description.

Now the Pinterest search engine can see that you are talking about the specific terms that people are searching for. Which means that they’ll show people YOUR pin. 

How to Find Keywords

I know you’re wondering now, “how do I find these keywords for my Pinterest pins?!” Well, Pinterest has actually made that very easy for you. They have a special new tool called Pinterest Trends! This tool lets you search for a specific topic, and then it will show you the related terms and phrases that people are actually searching when they want to find something out about that topic. These specific words and short phrases are the new keywords that you want to use!

Let’s say that the topic your business centers around (and that you’re going to talk about) is nutrition. So you type nutrition into the Pinterest Trends search bar. Up pops lots of suggestions based upon your original search of “nutrition”. Now you can see on the graph below your search just how popular each of these search terms are. Finally, you pick the most popular and organic-sounding search terms. Now you have your new keywords and phrases. 

How to Make SEO Work For You 

You want to pick a few keywords and phrases that relate to the topic you have chosen to talk about. Then, try to organically incorporate these into your pin title as well as the description. You want Pinterest to see these keywords and recognize that your pin is what someone is searching for. But you also want the actual person who is searching Pinterest to be intrigued by your title and description as well as the look of the pin itself. Which is why you have to make sure that your SEO is organic. (This just means that the keywords and phrases you use need to naturally fall within the sentences you create. They can’t sound forced!)

Of course, people change. What they want and what they search for changes over time. And sometimes it changes quickly! So you need to pay attention to the attention that your pins are getting! How are your interactions? What are your saves and website visits? Pay attention to your stats! They will tell you what keywords your audience responds to. And they will also tell you when you need to look for new keywords.

Your keywords and phrases don’t need to be updated everyday, but they also aren’t evergreen. You will want to check back and update your keywords periodically. So keep an eye on how your pins are doing. And try out different keywords on a regular basis! Experimentation leads to perfection! 

Now it is your time to get creative and have fun! 

And if you would like further help with your SEO, check this out.