Pinterest is a powerful social networking tool. Basically a giant web-based pinboard, users can browse this website for everything including recipes and home workouts, travel destinations, wedding inspiration, makeup and hair tips, furniture and DIY ideas, fashion or even art and design. Anything you can think of- people will be talking and sharing ideas on Pinterest already!

What you may not already know, Pinterest is also an amazing tool for your business. With over 2 billion monthly searches, if you haven’t thought about using Pinterest for your business yet, we expect by the end of this blog you will be creating your own Pinterest account for your business or at least using the tool more efficiently. Here, we will tell you the power of Pinterest for your business, and how you can optimise your profile to your advantage.

Pinterest increases your SEO

We consider Pinterest as a visual search engine. Every pin you post, every pin shared by others, every pin shared by others from them- all has a backlink to your website or social media.

While linking your content this way helps you generate natural referral traffic from engaged users, backlinks are also an important SEO signalling tool. The amount of high-quality backlinks you have directly affects your domain authority, which as we know, is an important ranking factor.

How can I optimise Pinterest for my business SEO?

It is important to optimise your Pinterest profile and not just your pins. In doing this, you can ensure your profile has a better chance of being viewed and shared for the search terms users found you by and to also put you in front of the relevant audiences. Here are our 8 tips for optimising your Pinterest profile:

1. Keyword research

Without knowing what search terms you want to be found for, you are essentially blind. A keyword report can help you identify where users are finding you, what terms require more attention for visibility, and what people are doing already. (We can help with this)

If you are a hairdresser for example, by conducting some research on your industry by searching for “hair”, you can find out what terms people are searching for so you can mimic this with your posts, e.g. “wedding hair” “lazy hair” “festival hair”, or what styles or colours are popular at the moment to get your content seen by more people. You should also use this stage to take a look at the quality of images that the other pins have and see how your posts can fit into this style.

2. Complete your profile

Now you have completed your keyword research, you can optimise your URL for what you want to be discovered for. For example, we are https://www.pinterest.co.uk/ascensordigitalagency rather than https://www.pinterest.co.uk/ascensor because we know we will have more reach as a digital agency and attract more people looking for digital tips.

Make sure you have a simple username that reflects your brand or service, complete the ‘About’ section with an introduction to your business or services, add your location, a profile picture, and a link to your website.

3. Create your boards

For maximum backlink capability, you should aim to have a collection of visuals that cover different topics, in different images sizes, that will be popular to your audience. Vertical images are more eye catching in Pinterest results, but it is a good idea to have a range of different sized images in your boards. Set up a range of boards that explore different topics relating to your industry. You want to aim to drive backlinks based on where you are most knowledgeable, so organising your content in this way is a great place to start.

4. Optimise your pins

Every pin is a representation of your profile, your business and your services, so it is great to be as descriptive as possible to help search engines discover your pins. Add a description to your pins which include your keywords to define the image and the web page you’re linking to. Also make sure you give a link to the web page in the description as well as behind the image to get two separate backlinks.

Pinterest always favours pins that provide more of a detailed and thoughtful description, as more people will favour this type of content over a similar image which offers no value. Always add in any details that can be used to describe your image and to create a natural flow of text to give your pin the advantage.

5. Don’t use hashtags

In a guide which has since been deleted, Pinterest advised “Don’t just drop in keywords or hashtags. The description is an important part of captivating Pinners. Set a scene that incorporates the right search words, and you’ll help Pinners imagine themselves with your Pin.”

This might be quite unusual for a social network, but remember that Pinterest favour descriptions that offer value over keywords or hashtags that might be seen as spammy. Keywords will help draw people into finding your post, but ensure you use them in context while offering information to the user.

6. Verify your website

Websites that have been verified on the platform appear to be prioritised on the search results above others. Verifying your website means you can increase your pinning authority and begin to rank within the search results.

The verification of your website on Pinterest also allows you to access further details on your account in Pinterest Analytics. Accessing your analytics will help you understand the performance of your Pinterest presence, from seeing your most popular pins, to an analysis of your audience.

7. Focus on quality content

Each of your pins should aim to stand out from the rest of the results for the similar topics, whilst always while maintaining relevance. Higher quality content is rewarded with better ranking in the search results, allowing more repins and referral traffic to your website.

Pinterest users may not always notice your pin’s description, but they certainly always pay close attention to the image and this means that every pin should be clear, be the right size (at least 600 pixels wide), and often even have a text overlay if the image requires more content.

8. Be consistent

Like all social media, the key is to stay consistent with your posting. This still means quality content over quantity, but by ensuring you post frequently you can ensure you still remain fresh to Pinterest’s algorithm and have a steady flow of valuable backlinks being created to link your valuable new content back to your website.

Remember, Pinterest is a great tool for the circulation of evergreen content which can be easily accessed by users, and a free social network that generates valuable backlinks to improve your website SEO, while you focus on simply putting your content in front of the right audience! Ascensor can help you get started with your Pinterest activity, or help you with other SEO services. Get in touch today to find out how we can help your business.
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