I had no idea how to get traffic to monetize my blog until I started Pinterest’s magic and some Pinterest advanced search tips.
I avoided Pinterest for years because I thought it was another social media platform. Pinning recipes was fun and getting brainstorming ideas for adorable DIY projects, but I did not understand how or why a business would engage in Pinterest.
In fact it even sounded… silly.
I struggled with getting traffic to my blog for years, until I got addicted to online courses. In my serial course taking a Pinterest course opened my eyes to the potential Pinterest has for directing traffic.
And it was the secret to unlocking how to grow traffic to my blog.
What Is Pinterest?
Pinterest is not a social media platform. It is a powerful, visual search engine. And knowing that Pinterest is a search engine and not a social media platform will change the way you handle your Pinterest marketing strategy.
Ranking in Google with SEO can take years. It is important, but it is definitely a long term strategy.
With Pinterest you can grow your traffic quickly by being consistent. For more tips on how to grow your traffic, check out how I grew a Pinterest account from 0 to 200k impressions in 30 days.
What Is A Pinterest Keyword?
Keywords are specific words that you use so that you audience can find your content. The goal is to use the right words so your niche can find you.
Keywords are how Pinterest organizes content. You do not want to use broad, generic language in pin descriptions and titles. You want someone you search for a specific topic and find it. This is how a qualified audience will find you on Pinterest: accurate keywords.
Keywords will help Pinterest know what you are all about so that it can share your content with people who have not followed you yet.
How To Keyword On Pinterest
Start By Optimizing Your Site
If you have an existing blog you might have to go back and change some things up. Take a look at your numbers to see what links are generating the most traffic and optimize those pages first.
I use a WordPress plugin called Yoast that helps me to SEO optimize my blog posts. It gives great tips for optimizing, including a friendly reminder to optimize your images as well.
SEO optimizing your images is particularly important if you want people sharing content from your website directly to Pinterest, or if you will be pinning from outside of Pinterest to launch new content.
I can’t write a blog post about Pinterest advanced search tips without mentioning Rich Pins. Rich pins are a way for Pinterest to to provide more context about a pin but showing more information in this organic pin format.
It’s super simple to set up and you can find the 2 step instructions right here on Pinterest.
Keyword The Heck Out Of Your Account
Your Pinterest business account is a magical place to put keywords in all kinds of places. Anywhere you can type in your account is a potential place for keywords for this Pinterest advanced search tip. Everything in your profile should be fully filled out.
Account Name: Your account name can be your business or your blog name. But you can also add keywords to the tail end. Example: Mary Pots | Career Coaching; or Kay Tack | Minimalist Mom.
Board Names: You want to create boards that are relevant to your niche. Use keywords in all of your board titles.
Board Descriptions: I can’t tell you how many times I have created a board and forgotten to edit the description of it. This is a huge mistake if you are trying to generate organic Pinterest traffic with keywords.
Location: Unless you are a local business or a brick and mortar kind of place, the location or you online business isn’t really that relevant and won’t help your traffic that much. You can use this field to add more keywords.
Use Keywords In Pins Like It’s Glitter
Okay, not really. But you want to use keywords anywhere that you can. Remember to be natural and organic. Don’t be forced and awkward when trying to integrate keywords into your pins.
Pin Title: Your pin title should be short, simple and relevant.
Pin Description: Keywords should definitely be used in the pin description. Make sure that your description is not forced. Just a few sentences is fine.
Outgoing Link: Make sure that the outgoing link is accurate and that you followed all the steps to optimize the site people are going to be directed to.
How To Find The Right Keywords
Ok, so now that you know how to use keywords to get a good grasp on some Pinterest advanced search tips… how do you know what keywords to use?
Pinterest keywords and Google keywords are very different. The exact Pinterest ranking method for keywords is not fully understood.
I usually start my keyword search with the search bar in Pinterest itself. I type in a term I might be writing about and see if plenty of relevant, attractive pins show up. If so I will investigate further into the subcategories and see the quality of the pins in each one.
If the pins in a search are all odd shapes and strange or off topic, then your keyword search is a bust and you need to start over. Once you have a good list of topics and sub topics, you can cross reference them with Google keywords and see if they hold up for you.
Want To Learn More About Pinterest?
If you are here, then you are probably not new to Pinterest. Maybe you have been using Pinterest for a while or are new to using Pinterest for your business.
But if you didn’t know you can use Pinterest to make money… I want to tell you its possible.
