Pinterest SEO: The Ultimate Guide For Brands

For online businesses and ecommerce websites, getting traffic and boosting sales is a top priority. More traffic equates to more people looking at your website, and this leads to higher chances of making a sale. Out of all social media platforms, Pinterest has emerged as a winner in this category. Many online businesses have turned to Pinterest SEO to market and give more visibility to their products.
It is interesting to note that Pinterest accounts for a quarter of retail referral traffic and the traffic from Pinterest spends an average of $ 160 versus shoppers from Facebook and Twitter who spend an average of $70. If your business is selling products, you could spend as little as fifteen minutes daily to market your product by pinning and optimizing your account to generate more viewers.
You can generate a huge following on Pinterest that will follow your every post and help you achieve top rankings for certain search keywords.
In fact, it doesn’t matter if you’re up against top brands, because if you play your cards right and put in the time and the effort, you’ll be able to outrank them in searches. With over 100 million unique users on Pinterest, and being one of the top ten social media channels, it has been proven to be the preferred choice for many Internet users.

Why you should focus your Pinterest SEO?

That’s a simple question. The reach is endless.
Their layout uses visuals and very little text so as to keep the viewer’s attention. The problem most other sites have is that text is given equal weightage. This proves to be their loss as Pinterest gears up its site to entice and attract even more visitors. The internet is a place where we are bombarded with so much information that it hard to keep track or pay attention to one site alone. This is why Pinterest has grown in such popularity.
Understanding that visuals are the real draw, the site is designed as such to attract the viewer to make them stay longer at the site. The longer an internet user remains, the more likely they will be attracted to a product and make a purchase.

How can Pinterest improve your business?

There are a few marketing strategies that you can follow to increase traffic and boost sales. Here is how Pinterest can help you and your business grow.

• Make backlinks to your page/ website:

This is a vital part of Search Engine optimizing as many search engines follow a certain formula. This formula sees how many ‘good’ and reliable outside links are connected to your page because this shows that your page or website is popular and trending.
A well constructed Pinterest page can help you generate backlinks. Backlinks are created when you ‘pin’ something on Pinterest and tag the links on those posts.
If another Pinterest user likes what they see, they’ll pin your post and a new link is made. The more popular your post, the more it is repined, the more backlinks are produced. It’s just win-win situation. Pinterest has made it so easy to ‘pin’ your post by the click of a single button.

• Keyword Optimizing:

Creating and finding the correct keywords for your product is one of the main features of SEO strategies. Using certain keywords can make your page rank higher in search engine searches and targets the audience you are hoping to aim your product at. You should insert your keyword into your article or post often for this to work.
Earlier search engines would scan through content on websites, and now they scan through Pinterest posts – so having keywords in your content could make all the difference between being ranked on the top or finding yourself cast into oblivion.
It’s a cycle – when your page is popular, it will rank higher in searches and your backlinks will hold more value – which means your SEO strategies are working! Of course, when we say use keywords often, you can’t spam your content with that keyword. Search engines have smart software that can scan through your post and determine whether it is relevant content or just junk.

• Social Signs:

The more your post is repinned, the more visibility your post gets – that’s clear. However, just like you would ‘Like’, ‘Tweet’, or ‘Share’ posts on Facebook, Twitter or other social networking sites, the ‘pins’ on Pinterest get factored into search engines as they scan through content.
The more your post is repined or shared, the higher your page will be ranked in search engines as they will recognize that your content is valid and relevant.

• Highlighting the community:

A lot of people use Pinterest to share local recipes, homemade products, remedies, DIY projects and much more for the community they live in. If you live in a certain area, you could highlight the ‘Things to do’ and ‘Places to See’ in your area and bring visibility to your town or community. By pinning local places, you are not only promoting your community, but also promoting your business and showing visitors how to find you.

• Available Analytical Information:

The internet has truly made the world a smaller place and now you can view how many visitors your site/ page/ post receives, where they are from and other demographic information that you can use to better target your products to. Knowing your target market will enable to you to communicate better with them as well as utilize better promotional strategies to engage your viewership.

• Profile Details:

You should give information on what your company does, your company name, and other details that would show up in the ‘About’ section. Make sure that you use your Brand name consistently over other websites, and mention it frequently on your own page so that search engines can pick it up and identify it.
Be catchy, bold and creative with your Brand name so it grabs attention but try to avoid taking the conventional boring route of putting your keyword in your Pinterest user name as that makes it seem too obvious – and did we mention… boring?

• Engage Viewership and increase followers:

Put some thought into your Pinterest board – things that you feel viewers would want to engage in. A well constructed board carries more weight overall as there is more content to engage users, instead on only one pin. Another point is to have a board that is content specific. If you make a generic Pinterest board, you’re like Jack of all trades, master of none. You may not get the target audience you want, and your success rate will not be at optimum levels.
Create a board that has content about a certain topic so that people who are looking for similar topics will be drawn to your page. It helps if it is visually appealing as that makes people stay on your page instead of skimming past it to move on to another board that is catchier. Include your keywords and a small write-up so users know what you are all about.

• Choose good content and prioritize it:

Just like any store or business, you always showcase your best products first to get visitors to enter your store. Similarly, your best stuff should be placed on the top of your page with relevant keywords and information and attached links to boost your SEO.

• Be Creative:

Search engines are always scanning for new content. Although repinning and reposting other content is good, it can only get you so far. Be creative with your posts; write new content and post regularly to engage your viewer’s attention. You should have content that cannot be found on everybody else’s page. Having unique but relevant content will ensure that you receive more unique visitors and increased traffic.

• Photo Optimization:

Pinterest, as we mentioned earlier is a visual heavy social media networking site and we advise optimizing your photos. How? Google and other search images not only scan through text, they scan through images too. Post relevant images that are relevant to your brand and have your keyword mentioned on them. This helps in boosting your post and ensuring that your business gets the visibility it requires.

• A unique Business page:

This page or website should be created solely for your company – and to top it all, you will get a link that connects viewers who click on it directly to your profile. This generates more traffic to your website which is where you will make your sales. You could also use the analytics tool we mentioned earlier to keep a track on visitors and their details. These statistics help in determining the type of audience that your products attract, and the demographics that you can target your marketing strategies.

• Visibility:

Now there’s really no point in following all these amazing points if your profile is set to private. You’d be surprised; there are many users who don’t realize that their settings are not public, and that means all their hard work and posts will not reach a wide audience. Go to your settings tab and familiarize yourself with the features so you know exactly how your page seems to others – this way you can improve your page (if it needs improving).
The above points should help you to a good start in using Pinterest to boost sales for your company. Now let’s see how to optimize your Profile in the ‘About’ section mentioned earlier. The above points give you a good layout to follow to make the most of your Pinterest page. Now we can delve into the nitty gritty details that have to be followed to really, truly make your Pinterest page the most happening thing. (At least you’d think so.)

• Username Optimization:

Great Pinterest SEO begins with a simple thing as your Username. For most companies, it is mostly a straightforward, no-brainer step. Take The New York Times – they choose simple usernames like NYTimes which is relatable, relevant and easy to remember. It is also important to be consistent with your profile name AND profile picture in various social networking sites. This helps in people finding you faster.
Not all of us have brand identities that are that simple or well known, but the trick is in going about it the right way and the smart way. Pinterest has one limitation – your brand name can take up only 15 characters. This is both good and bad. Good so that the viewers don’t have to deal with trying to remember a brand name that is as long as the queue for a Powerball ticket, and bad because it limits your creativity. This is where you think a bit to come up with a name that is relevant, connected to your brand and easy to remember.
Think about it. Your company name is Mr. Muscle’s Cleaning Agent Now – you could use MrMuscle or MrMuscleCAN. You get the idea.

• ABOUT Section:

You are given 200 characters to play with and you have to come up with creative ways to get across your company name, what you do, who you are and where you are based in that limited space. The challenge lies in finding the perfect balance between clarity and expressive. Also, be sure to go to Settings; Search Privacy and click on ‘No’ when you are asked if you want your page from being shown on Google searches. You want visibility – you want to be seen.

• Having a strong Pin description:

Pinterest launched their Guided Search two years back and this allows users to sift through content faster. This way they can locate topics, subjects and products they are interested in faster. This is also where your page descriptions, product descriptions, board titles and comments on your post/ pages come into play. They will judge how often your posts pop up on other member searches.
You are given 500 characters to explain your product/ page. Use it wisely. This is your opportunity to communicate your product to a wider audience. Use compelling language, be clear and concise, and be simple. We mean use language that is understandable by the general public – if you start sounding like Einstein, people will drift away from your page.

• DO NOT make the mistake of ignoring pin descriptions.

You are in Pinterest land; do as the Pinterest Empire commands. If you are on Twitter, you’ll know the importance of hashtags. Use them to connect and to link with other content. This makes your post search friendly. Be creative with your board titles – something generic could get lost in the crowd – you want to stand out.
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Following the above pointers should help you boost sales through your Pinterest Page and these SEO guides will help you benefit from having an account with Pinterest.