Simple Pinterest SEO Tips to Boost Your Blog Traffic!

Most bloggers think Pinterest SEO is complicated… but it really comes down to helping Pinterest understand what your content is about.

And once you get the hang of it, it’s actually pretty simple (and essential!) if you want to get your content seen on Pinterest.

Pinterest has 632 MILLION active users a month, so if you think your audience isn’t on there and looking for your content, you’re wrong. So stick around to learn:

• Why Pinterest SEO is important
• Common mistakes I see bloggers making
• How to properly use Pinterest SEO for more traffic
• The new tool I’m using for finding Pinterest keywords

Rather watch than read? Check out the video right here!

Why Pinterest SEO is important

Using proper Pinterest SEO techniques is important if you want to get found on Pinterest. And it’s all about how pinners are using the platform.

Most people go to Pinterest for a reason, not to just randomly scroll the platform like they would on Instagram or TikTok. People are going to Pinterest for specific inspiration.

They’ll search up their query on Pinterest (For example, budget meal prep) and look for one that appeals to them.

These pins are showing up for a few reasons. They are titled and designed well, people clicked on the blog post and stayed long enough on the content that Pinterest wants to keep promoting it.

But in our case, what is most important is that the pin SEO was done well.

>> Read more: How To Write An Effective Pin Description For Pinterest!

This description is filled with strong keywords to help it get found in search:

• Meal prep for the week
• Quick, affordable recipes
• Easy healthy meal prep ideas
• Listing out the dishes
• 30 minutes or less
• Lunch meal prep/work meals
• Healthy, high-protein meals
• Meal prep on a budget

With a description like this, it’s easy to see why this pin is doing so well. And I’m sure you’ll find this pin ranking under more than one keyword.

So, if you can copy this formula (Which I’ll show you how to do) and do Pinterest SEO properly, you’ll be able to create strong pin descriptions like this, get your pins ranking in search, thus leading to more blog traffic!

Want to learn more about Pinterest SEO? Check out my course Pinterest Simplicity! I’ll teach you my 1-hour-a-week pinning strategy that will help you rank pins in search and grow your blog traffic organically with Pinterest!

Common Pinterest SEO Mistakes I See Bloggers Making

Many bloggers struggle to get traction on Pinterest because they’re making mistakes when it comes to Pinterest SEO.

For example:

Using cute titles for board names instead of searchable phrases

A board titled “My favorite foods” may sound good, but it’ll never get found over something like “Easy Dinner Recipes” 

The second title is definitely more boring, but way more effective for search traffic. You’ll get way better keyword suggestions that way.

You may also be making the mistake of guessing keywords or targeting only broad terms that are oversaturated.

Which is where the new tool I’ve been using, KeywordToPin, comes into play. 

Pinterest itself doesn’t tell you the search volume on keywords; it simply suggests the next best one. 

You can kind of tell which ones are better to use because we can assume that words higher up in the predictive text are more commonly used than anything below them.

But that still doesn’t tell you much of anything, which is where things can get difficult. 

All you can do right now on Pinterest is guess. You’re guessing what keywords to search, guessing related words, and guessing how popular they really are. 

But, using a tool like KeywordToPin, you can find the search volume for keywords you want to use!

Now, let’s get into the pinning strategy and how to use this tool.

My Simple Pinterest SEO Process

Step 1: Start with an ideal blog post in mind

I always start with the topic I’d like to talk about, but I never finalize it until after I do the keyword research, because based on what I find, it could slightly change the direction I’m taking the post.

I come up with a rough title and a few keywords I’d like to include, and usually I’ll have a rough outline in mind. But nothing is set in stone.

Step 2: Find related search phrases

After that, I’ll go to Pinterest and search for my blog post idea with potential keywords to see what shows up in the auto-complete.

This will help me refine my search and get a better idea of what people are searching for.

I can find out what keywords might be good to use, and it will help guide the questions I answer in the post as well, so this is where I can get a better idea of the outline.

Steps 3: Refine keywords with KeywordToPin

Now I’ll go to the KeywordToPin tool and type in what I’ve found to get actual search volume.

This is going to tell me if the keywords are actually useful. If it has super low searches, then I might not want to use that term.

But on the flip side, if it has a TON of searches, that might be an overcrowded keyword to use. 

In that case, you can still use it to get found, but you also want to include some middle-ground keywords because the market won’t be as oversaturated, so you’ll likely get found more easily. 

It’s just something you’ll need to balance out with popular keywords and more niche keywords, since you want to be using more than one keyword throughout your post anyway.

And don’t panic if your long-tail keyword doesn’t have many searches. If you search for words like “Dinner ideas,” that is more general, or what we call a short-term keyword, over “Healthy dinner ideas for two,” which will likely have less search volume.

Both are still good to use; one is just more specific, and therefore fewer people are searching it.

Step 4: Use those keywords consistently in your post

Once you have your list of keywords, you can order them with the level of importance you think they have, based on how popular they are on Pinterest.

You really only need 3 or 4 strong options for each post.

So you’ll want a main keyword (this one will get used the most and should go in your blog post title) and in your headings, while also being used throughout your blog post.

Then, from there, choose a few other short keywords and 1-2 long-term, more specific keywords that you use throughout your post.

You’ll also want to use all of these keywords in your pin titles (of which you’ll end up creating multiple), your pin descriptions, and if this is a topic you’ll talk about a lot, you can use it in your boards and your board descriptions.

Step 5: Create multiple pins around the same keyword cluster

Once you create your blog post, it’s time to promote it on Pinterest!

I recommend creating 3-5 pins when you first launch a new post and scheduling them out throughout the week.

But, you’re not done promoting your post after that; you’ll still want to mix in promoting this post over time so you can keep getting traffic to it.

New content should always take priority, but you can promote posts for as long as you want, as many times as you want, as long as it’s relevant and is bringing traffic!

So, in order to keep promoting this post, I’d use KeywordToPin to create a keyword cluster and use a few keywords from the list every time you pin the post again. I keep track of all my Pinterest information in a Google Sheet.

Want to learn more about Pinterest SEO? Check out my course Pinterest Simplicity! I’ll teach you my 1-hour-a-week pinning strategy that will help you rank pins in search and grow your blog traffic organically with Pinterest!

How to find the perfect Pinterest keywords

Let me show you around this tool a bit so you can see what it offers and why I’ve been using it recently!

• Keyword research tab

This is where you can search for any keyword you want. I searched up “Travel essentials” and found not only the search volume for that particular keyword, but also related ones I can use!

Any of these keywords are clickable, so you can research them a bit deeper and find other related keywords. Choose whichever ones are most relevant to your post, create a keyword cluster, and use that in your pin descriptions to help you rank in search.

• Explore topics and discover keywords

Or, if you’re looking for content inspiration, you can use the “Explore Keywords” tab.

Choose your niche, see what’s trending, check out the competitors’ pins, or search up your own keyword to see how it’s doing.

• Pin scheduler

I haven’t used the pin scheduler since I just use the scheduler directly on Pinterest (Using this manual pinning strategy I teach in my Pinterest course!), but they do have a pin scheduler as an option if you want to test it out.

There are a lot of other things that this tool has to offer, like a Competition Analysis, you can analyze anyone’s profile, and save reports from the information you’ve gathered.

I highly recommend trying out this Pinterest SEO tool to enhance your pinning strategy, making keyword research easier and therefore helping you get more traffic to your blog!

And remember, when you do try out this tool, make sure to use my code SarahMarie because it gets you 20% off at checkout!

>> Check out KeywordToPin right here! <<