If you have a blog or social media platform you monetize, you CANNOT sleep on your Pinterest strategy. Pinterest functions primarily as a search engine with a small social component versus a traditional social media platform. It’s important to understand that so you can optimize it to its most effective potential. Let’s talk about how you can take your Pinterest account (and subsequently your website and other platforms) to the next level with a few simple practices.
Use a Pin Planner Tool to Organize Your Pinterest Strategy
Planoly alone has upped the game, a Pin planning tool like Planoly or Tailwind is worth its weight in gold. I have 1-2 Pins going live every single day and I’m only actually sitting down and scheduling them once or twice a month.
Create a free account or upgrade to a plan with all the bells and whistles your business needs right here!*
*personal referral link, not a Planoly partner
Use Rich Keywords Everywhere
Always use a keyword rich title and format it in a grammatically correct way.
Below is my current overall best-performing Pin across all categories. If you type a general “board and batten wall” search into Pinterest you will see not one but TWO of my Pins (this one and this one) pop up on the first line. This is thanks to quality photos, clear and specific titles and proper keywords in both the titles and descriptions.
Think of it this way: the keywords get your content to the user, then the photo entices the click and/or save to their boards. Without those keywords your beautiful work may not reach your target audience.
And don’t sleep on the description box! 🚨
It’s easy to pass over the description box thinking no one reads it, but you’d be shooting yourself in the foot. Maybe humans aren’t always reading the description, but the search engines certainly are. Always add a key word rich description, at least a few sentences long, and format it nicely. You don’t need to spend ample time here, but you’ll only get back what you put in.
Should My Website Be in the Pin Title?
Through extensive word of mouth data gathering among other Creators, I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter. The most important detail is that the beginning of your title is keyword rich and to-the-point. If you’re going to include the title, make it the secondary information.
For example, if your Pin is “ashleyburk.com — Tiramisu Recipe” don’t expect it to do nearly as well as “Easy Homemade Tiramisu Recipe — ashleyburk.com“. Note my Board and Batten Pin example above for a visual on this formatting.
Avoid Too Many Emojis or Symbol Characters
Taking it a step further, you may want to avoid using too many emojis or cutesy characters. They might look cute but provide no performance value in searches. Think about it: do you search for things with emojis or words? One or two on-topic emojis are fine at the end, but too many can be cumbersome. Users peeling through pages of Pins are more likely to be overwhelmed by your Pin and it could passed over for something with more direct value.
To Hashtag or Not to Hashtag?
That really is the question. Initially, it seemed Pinterest relied on hashtags but popular advice has since changed. Now, Pinterest strategy experts are saying rich keywords far surpass the effectiveness of hashtags (pour one out for all my 2020 Pins and their 15-20 hashtags).
Currently, less is more with hashtags on Pinterest. Focus on writing a captivating caption that will draw in users with rich keywords in full sentences. My personal recommendation is to have 3-4 of these sentences, no need to use the character maximum each time (but go for it if you’d like). Not every Pin needs to be the shining example of a perfect literary paragraph, but the more frequently you’re delivering quality descriptions the more credible your account and Pins will look both to the search engine and to users. And you know what that means, right? Higher ranking search results and more Pin traffic!
Always Check Your Spelling and Grammar
Always do a scan of your Pinterest titles and descriptions as if they’re sponsored content. Do NOT publish Pins with grammatical or spelling errors. Search engines will find you better if everything is spelled correctly. Errors in copy look spammy and less credible and thus won’t rank as high in search results (and frankly, I’m far less likely to click through to something that has grammatical errors, so others probably are too).
Extra Mile Pinterest Strategy Practices
Here are a few additional Pinterest strategies and tips I’d love to share for your benefit:
- Optimize Pin publishing times by looking at when your boards are most active via Pinterest analytics.
- Keep your bio keyword-rich — are you seeing a theme yet?
- Schedule seasonally appropriate content starting 45 days prior to the holiday. For Christmas I’d even suggest immediately after Halloween. I’m not personally a November 1 Christmas person but many are and you want to optimize your reach!
- Create “Checklist Pins” for your blog posts where relevant. These are very beneficial to end users and are more likely to get Pinned to their boards (thus, circulating your Pin and website in the process). See this blog post as an example.
- Pin Your Reel and TikTok videos and link back to original post to drive traffic to your social channels.
- DO NOT use short links when able (i.e. LTK short links, Amazon Storefront short links, bit.ly links, etc.). Pinterest reads them as spam and the Pin itself won’t do as well. This can be tricky with affiliate links, but there are ways around it. For example, LTK and Amazon both have full URLs for every post, so use the full length URL. You don’t see the full URL on your post anyway so it doesn’t change the aesthetic of your Pin at all but increases the quality of your content.
- i.e. these two links lead to the same post but are read differently by Pinterest:
- DON’T USE THIS URL ON PINTEREST: https://liketk.it/4oZEd
- USE THIS URL INSTEAD: https://www.shopltk.com/explore/ashleyburkblog/posts/d78ec0d2-8c15-11ee-9773-0242ac110004
- i.e. these two links lead to the same post but are read differently by Pinterest:
Closing Pinterest Strategy Thoughts & Advice
- Don’t focus on follower count. Your discoverability on Pinterest is WAY more heavily based on your content versus your account size. Keep the rich keywords and beautiful content coming and the audience will follow!
- Your monthly views will go up and down daily, sometimes dramatically. Don’t live and die by this number. Pay attention to seasonal events and trends, and Pin accordingly. Timely content does really well when its in-season and is a great way to boost traffic to your boards and websites.
- Never Pin content just to check a box. Pinterest is smart, and will notice when you’re pushing “filler content”. Minimal effort leads to minimal views, that’s a fact. You’re always better off posting great content less frequently than posting anything just for the sake of hitting publish.
While this was a long guide with lots of information, I hope you were able to get through it all because there is a lot to take away. I’ve learned SO much about Pinterest strategy over the years and am happy to share it with anyone who is genuinely interested. Pinterest is a social media anomaly and needs to be utilized like the search engine it is for optimal success.
Drop all your Pinterest strategy questions and thoughts in the comments section below! 👇
More Blogging & Website Resources
- Blogging 101: Starting a Blog (first post in a multi post series)
- How to Use the Free Lightroom App
- Stop Saying “Mommy Blogger”
- My Best Tips for Full-Time Bloggers
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