Rashida
Businesses already know the importance of SEO for their websites, and the SEO best practices are based heavily on the top search engine Google.
However, there is another powerful visual search engine that businesses in many industries should use: Pinterest.
Seen as a social media site, Pinterest is a search engine that can help brands drive traffic to their website.
Who should be using Pinterest and how can they master SEO for the platform?
Read on to find out.
Business That Should Use Pinterest
When most businesses think about social media marketing, they envision strategies for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and/or LinkedIn depending on their industry and target audience. For many brands, some of the platforms above are very solid options.
However, Pinterest is often left out of the equation. It’s true, Pinterest doesn’t make sense for all businesses. On the other hand, many different businesses should use Pinterest as part of their social media strategy. Some of the businesses that can benefit from Pinterest include:
- Fashion brands
- Beauty brands
- e-Commerce
- Event planning brands
- Stylists
- Hairdressers
- Travel brands
- Chefs
- Restaurants
Benefits of Using Pinterest for Business
Pinterest offers many key benefits for businesses. Some of the top reasons to add Pinterest to your social media marketing plan include:
- Wide reach. With 28% of US adults on the site, Pinterest is the 4th most popular social media platform in the nation. Its reach doesn’t end there, the social media platform has a huge global footprint with 478 million monthly active users.
- Power of visual search. Pinterest is a visual search engine, which is incredibly important for reaching younger audiences like Millennials and Gen Z. Visual search is growing, and Pinterest is an excellent place to get in the game.
- Women-centric user base. Brands whose target audience is women, especially moms, will thrive with Pinterest. Over two-thirds of the platform’s users are women, with eight out of every 10 moms on the site.
- Shopping platform. People turn to Pinterest specifically to research products. 84% of weekly Pinterest users are using the platform to help them make a purchasing decision. The people on the platform are interested in finding new products, with 75% of users saying they are “very interested”.
Pinterest SEO
If your brand could benefit from Pinterest, then now is the time to get started. But not so fast! Posting for the sake of posting won’t generate traffic to your site. Instead, you must focus on Pinterest SEO.
Yes, just like your own website, Pinterest has SEO best practices that users must follow to gain the greatest visibility. A solid Pinterest SEO strategy can drive traffic to your pins but also your site.
The SEO on this social media platform is slightly different from Google’s because it measures “keywords” differently. The ranking factors Pinterest focuses on are based more on engagement than technical practices. That being said, you should make sure that your website is optimized and designed well to take full advantage of the traffic you drive there.
Nonetheless, creating great pieces of content begins with understanding SEO on this social media site.
Pinterest’s Search Algorithm
Users on the site “pin”, or save, the posts they are interested in via boards and collections. This makes it easy to return to the posts and streamline topics of value. The reason this is so important for businesses is because the pinned images link back to the original websites they are from!
If a user is looking for wedding dress inspiration, they can view many different dresses and related images. When they find one of interest, they can save it to their board and choose to make it visible to followers.
When Pinterest chooses which options to show its users, it considers your website’s quality. It also evaluates how many items were previously pinned from your site. Pinning often, enabling rich pins, and creating quality pieces of content are crucial for engagement on the site.
Pin Quality
Pinterest wants to show users high-quality pins. To determine the quality of a pin they examine:
- # of instances of the pin
- Engagement from each instance of the pin
- How active you are as a user
- Keyword relevancy
Tips for Optimizing Pinterest Posts
Create a Business Account
First, and foremost, set up a free business account. A business account offers several helpful features like a header, Pinterest analytics, Pinterest ads, and website claim. Tips for setting up your business account include:
- Pick an SEO-friendly username.
- Fill out the entire profile with a high-quality photo and relevant keywords in your “about” section.
- Create a board to get started. Evaluate the type of content you’ll post when creating the board.
Get Your Website Ready
Remember, pins link to your website. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly and follows the best SEO strategy already. Ensure it’s easy to navigate and visually appealing.
Add the Pinterest tag so you can set up paid or organic campaigns. The tag will enable you to segment your audience, report performance, and set up conversion events on your site.
Additionally, you must add the Save button to your site pages. The Save button allows visitors to save things from your website to Pinterest.
Keyword Planning
Research relevant keywords for your Pinterest content. The platform has an advanced suggestion system that will provide you with ideas for similar keywords and improving your search terms. You can also leverage other SEO tools to plan high-quality keywords.
Board Optimization
Optimize your boards for search as well. Properly categorize your Pins to ensure they are on the most relevant board. Include relevant keywords in your boards and craft a compelling board description.
An eye-catching cover photo can also attract visitors to your board.
Pin Optimization
Of course, you must optimize your pins as well. Make sure they are the correct aspect ratio, 2:3 (600:900 pixels). Videos should be 1:1, 9:16, 4:5, or 2:3.
Rich Pins are a powerful tool. They automatically post new content from your website to Pinterest. You can choose product, recipe, and/or article-rich pins. With a Rich Pin, you can add more information to the post. It also streamlines your posting process.
Facilitate Engagement
Engagement is crucial for SEO on Pinterest. Follow other relevant profiles and see who they are following. Interact with relevant customers, influencers, and celebrities. Post at the best time for your audience so that they are more likely to see.
Connect your existing social accounts to Pinterest and reply to comments promptly. Essentially, follow all social media engagement best practices to interact with your audience and drive engagement.
Work with a Professional Writer
Succeeding on Pinterest as a brand requires many strategies and SEO methods including content writing. Your brand must create high-quality boards, but most of the content comes from your site. You must produce engaging, SEO-friendly content on your site.
That’s where we can help. Working with a professional Content Cucumber writer will make your website AND Pinterest SEO strategy that much easier. You can count on your dedicated writer to bring your brand voice to life while crafting compelling, SEO-driven content. Learn more about how a Content Cucumber content writer can help by requesting your free sample blog!
