How & Where to Add Keywords on Pinterest

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In Pinterest, your pins, boards and even profile are all searchable. By optimizing your awesome content with keywords, you’re drastically increasing your chances of appearing in the search results of your ideal customer.

Stumped? Don’t worry, because today I’m going to be walking you through:

• Why keywords are important
• How to find the right keywords for your brand
• Where to place keywords within Pinterest for maximum results

Ready? Let’s do this!

SEE ALSO: Your Essential 5-Step Pinterest Makeover

The Basics of Keywords + PINTEREST Search

Keywords. You may have heard about their importance when diving into Search Engine Optimization (or “SEO”) on your website, but did you know that these same practises can (and should) be applied to your Pinterest account?

Before we dive into the nitty gritty of keywording, let’s start with the basics.

For those who follow me on Instagram, are regular readers of this blog, or have attended my events, you’ve probably heard me say the following statement on more than one occasion. But for those who are new here, here goes:

Pinterest is not a social media platform. It is a powerful visual search engine. 

In a nutshell, think of it like Google – users type in their search queries, and the search engine serves them content that matches their search. And how does your content appear in Pinterest searches? Keywords!

For example, if I’m searching on Pinterest for “guided meditations”, then Pinterest will serve me pins that have these keywords in their description.

You’ll also see in the screen grab below that the Pinterest search bar has three distinct parts:

1. My exact search term, “guided meditations”
2. Suggested search terms featuring additional keywords to help me refine my search (for example “guided meditations for beginners”)
3. Board titles that match my search term

Finding the Right Keywords

When curating your list of keywords, follow these two important principles:

1. Be on-brand and on-niche. Remember, you want to be attracting your dream customers, not just anyone.
2. Be specific and targeted. Each pin and board should focus on one central topic.

Where to start?

The best place to start your search for relevant keywords is right inside Pinterest.

Log into your Pinterest account, click on the top search bar, and type in one topic that you blog about and have a Pinterest board for.

For this example I’m going to be using my own content, so I searched for “Pinterest tips”. You’ll see in my screen grab below that Pinterest displays relevant keyword phrases that relate to this topic. These are the keywords I’m going to use. Easy, right?

Now head on over to your Pinterest profile, select your relevant board, and edit your board description.

Here’s how:

In the Description box, type in your new keywords. Once added, simply click ‘save’ and your boards are now optimized with keywords. Now simply repeat this process for every other board you have.

I also like to save my keywords in an Excel spreadsheet so I can refer back to my list whenever I’m publishing a new post to Pinterest.

Using Keywords in your Pin Captions

When writing captions for my pins, I follow this formula:

• Part 1: The blog post title
• Part 2: A short description (generally one or two sentences long)
• Part 3: Two to three relevant hashtags 

Here’s one of my examples: 

How to Create Gorgeous Instagram Story Highlight Covers | You may have noticed recently that some of your favourite Instagram accounts have jazzed up their Instagram Story Highlights with custom covers. The great news? These are incredibly easy to create, straight from your cell phone. Read more on katewilkinsoncreative.com #instagramstories #socialmediatips #socialmediamarketing

And another:

Game-Changing Instagram Stories Hacks Part 2 | There’s no denying that Instagram’s new Stories feature is getting a lot of engagement (at last count, over 200 million users). As Snapchat numbers decline, bloggers, photographers, marketers and big brands are using the “behind the scenes” feature in a multitude of creative ways. Here’s how to take your Instagram Stories to the next level. #instagramtips #instagramstories

Tip: I use the plugin Social Warfare to create custom captions for my Pinterest posts.  

Your PINTEREST Profile

Your Pinterest bio and account name should contain keywords that relate directly to your niche. If you need some inspo, read this post where I talk about how to craft the perfect profile.

Also, don’t be afraid to constantly test and tweak these until you find your secret sauce.

Don’t forget your website

When you’re uploading a new feature (or “hero”) image to your blog posts, be sure to:

• Change the file name of your image to include keywords. Remember organic Google ranking is still very important, so images titled “photo1.jpg” won’t be helping you at all. In this case, my image’s file name is “how-to-use-keywords-in-interest.jpg”.
• Change the image title field to match your blog post’s name.
• Write your pin’s caption in the Alt text field. When your readers pin this image to one of their boards, this description will automatically be pulled through to Pinterest.

Tip: you have 500 characters to sue here, so go for it!

And that my friend is your ultimate guide to adding keywords on Pinterest!

Do you have any tips you’d like to share with our community? Drop a comment in the box below!

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