70% of people on Pinterest use it to get inspiration on what to buy. This compares with only 17% of Facebook users who do the same.

The search bar is one of the most used functions on Pinterest. To make sure your account, Pins, and Pinboards are seen (and clicked), you need to optimize them for your top keywords. In this way they can even appear in search engines such as Google. 

Make your boards visible to search engines

The first thing you should do is verify your account settings. Turn off the “search privacy” option or your dashboards will be hidden. 

Create a Pinterest business account

If you want to grow your business, it is better to have a Business Pinterest account. With a business page, your website tends to be easier to verify, and you get access to some recently introduced important business features such as rich pins and analytics.

Optimize your business page name

Make sure your business is easy to search and find on Pinterest. Please include the full business name when setting up the account. Also personalize your url, try to have the name of your brand or some reference to your products or services.

If you have a very long business name, you will need to shorten it. The optimal length of the username is 3-15 characters. 

Include keywords in the “About” section

The “About” section may appear in searches. Take advantage of this opportunity wisely. You have a 200 character limit to write a keyword-optimized description.

Be sure to mention your website there and include your location to help with local search.

Verify your account

Pinterest allows you to verify your account. This increases credibility and trust in the product or service you offer. It also attracts more traffic to your website and helps increase authority and organic positioning. 

Use keywords in the name of your boards

When setting up new boards, use keywords in the title. Take this opportunity to increase your SERP ranking (search engine results page). 

However, don’t use common titles. It should be more specific and detailed for each of your particular boards.

Use keywords in your board descriptions

This SEO tip is pretty obvious, but Pinterest gives you the opportunity to add a short description on your boards. Take this opportunity to include specific, concise and descriptive keywords for each text.

Research what your potential clients are looking for and use it in your account

Perform a series of searches on the site for companies and products similar to yours. You will be able to better connect with your potential clients. 

You can also use a tool like the Google Adwords Keyword Planner.

Keep your most popular boards on top

Keep your best web content on top. Only the top two rows generally appear above the fold on Pinterest. That means users will most likely only see your top ten boards, and only the top five will be fully displayed.

Use keywords in the pin descriptions

Search engines can only read ‘alt’ tags in images, so you should describe your photos well. Pinterest gives you 500 characters to describe each of your uploaded pins. I suggest you stick with the visual appeal of Pinterest and try to get your word descriptors to about half the maximum space allowed. Some studies have suggested that pins with character counts of 200-300 get the most repins.

Use tags

Hashtags are an important component found on the Pinterest site. The hashtags on the site allow you to rank your pins to interact with Pinterest’s 70 million users. They are also an amazing way to make your pins much more searchable on the site. Include up to three hashtags in a pin post.

Links (edit) 

Always, always, always link your pins to your site. Pinterest now has a “nofollow” rule (which basically means that a repin won’t give you more inbound link clout in search results), but it should still link your products. That way, users can always click on your bookmark and still be directed to your product page. The more hits your site gets, the better it will be in search rankings.

Make sure to link to your own site, especially after Pinterest has verified it. Include the full URL when setting up your link. For whatever reason, Pinterest doesn’t like shortened links like bit.ly. Also, make sure you are linking to the specific product or landing page on your site. This way, your repainted pins will go exactly where you want them to be in your sales funnel.

Use keywords in the “Alt” tag of the images

Search engines cannot read images. They read file names and ‘alt’ tags.

When saving your images for upload to Pinterest, use filenames with one or two keyword descriptors. In other words, don’t save an image with your camera’s default numbering. Change it to reflect what your photo is about.

Includes prices

Priced pins get 36% more likes than non-priced pins. When posting products, include their price. You can do this by simply including the 

price in your description. Or you can photoshop the image itself.

Include the Pin-it button on your website pages

The Pin it button is an essential feature of Pinterest. The buttons are very simple to configure: go to the Pin it Button site on Pinterest and fill in the information. Choose the Pin it image you want, submit its url, paste your image file and compile it. Copy and paste the code into your website’s landing pages.

Use Pinterest Analytics

Pinterest recently introduced their own analysis! You no longer have to use a third party to determine which pins generate the most repins, impressions, and clicks.

Get your business analytics from Pinterest and use them! Check your dashboard to see the charts that are broken down into pins, repins, impressions, and clicks. Adjust your strategies, monitor changes and keep improving your SEO.