There are 6 places to use keywords to optimize your Pinterest profile.

Optimize Your Pinterest Profile

Did you know that there are six different places where you should be using keywords on Pinterest to maximize and optimize your Pinterest Marketing Strategy?

One of the biggest mistakes most marketers make is not filling in their board descriptions, using searchable board titles or even focusing on their profile display name or bio.

I want to help you to uncover all of the places you need to put those keywords so you’re maximizing your efforts in your Pinterest strategy.

Pinterest Profile Optimization Mistakes

People often ask me – I have to use keywords, but how do I use them, and where do I use them? Before we dive into the 6 places to use your Pinterest SEO research let’s first cover the things you shouldn’t do.

Mistake 1: Keyword Stuffing

This is something a lot of “Pinterest experts” still teach and to be honest it’s just tacky.

You should never attempt keyword stuffing on Pinterest. Pinterest told us that they are smart to this in 2018. Their bots and algorithms are intelligent, and they know what we are doing. Instead focus on using full sentences to maximize your Pinterest SEO strategy.

Mistake 2: Not using long-tail keywords

This is something most people just don’t understand because they’ve focused for years on perfecting their social channels. Search engines are vastly different than social media channels.

I prefer to use long-tail keywords that are three or four words long over shorter keywords. These keywords are more like a phrase.

For example, if you are targeting coffee tables, that may be tough to rank for. But if you target mid-century modern coffee tables, that may be a little easier to rank for.

I prefer to use longer-tail keywords when and if possible. If you cannot find keywords within your industry or your niche that work for you, head to google and do some research.

Use their related search terms and then use those in the keyword search bar on Pinterest to see if that sparks anything for you.

Unfortunately there isn’t a Pinterest keyword tool other than Pinterest itself, the Pinterest trends tool and the ads manager.

How do I Optimize my Pinterest Profile

Now that you know my best practices for keywords let’s learn where to use keywords to optimize your Pinterest profile.

Use Pinterest Keywords in Your Display name

You can use keywords in your display name. You cannot use the word Pinterest in your display name though.

I found that out the hard way because they took it away from me a couple of years ago. There is very little space, so you should choose the main keyword you want to rank for.

For example, if you are a home decor stylist and your name is Heather, you can write your display name as:

Heather | Mid-century Modern Home Decor Specialist

For a long time on my mom blog Pinterest Account, I had ‘The Balanced Mom’ as my display name, but I changed it to ‘Stay at Home Mom Tips for better ranking.

So, if you really want to rank for that main keyword, you should try to use that in your display name.

Pro Tip: if you can’t get the display name to save on desktop make the change on your mobile device.

Use Pinterest Keywords in Your Bio

You get 140 characters in your bio so be diligent about that space. Best practice is not to use this space for a URL for a freebie, or an Instagram link. Use this space to tell people what you do and utilize your keywords in there.

Those links aren’t clickable in your bio anyways and you can claim your Instagram in your settings so it will link in your bio on it’s own.

So, if you are a budgeting expert, you can say something like:

I help overwhelmed moms conquer budgeting for beginners. Browse around for easy budgeting tips.

This isn’t perfect but it gives you the ideas.

How to Optimize Your Pinterest Boards with Keywords

If you are not going to use your keywords in your board title and board descriptions, the platform will not understand what your pins are about, and they won’t be indexed appropriately. So your boards must be well optimized with keywords before you pin your pins to your boards.

Make sure your board titles are optimized for search because boards are searchable.

We can use the budgeting example here again.

So as a board title, you could use:

• Beginner Budgeting Tips
• Budgeting for Beginners

These titles would be very well optimized for search.

Optimize Your Pinterest Board Descriptions with Relevant Keywords

Your Pinterest board description should go on to use five to ten keywords in sentence format. It cannot be keyword stuffed. It looks tacky, and you should avoid doing that. Tell people a story about what they might find on your boards.

Try to write five sentences with one long keyword in each sentence. This rounds up to 500 characters using all five keywords available.

If you write shorter sentences, then you can use more keywords. There is no fixed amount of keywords that you have to use to rank. Just be as natural as possible with your formatting.

Write complete sentences and include keywords that make sense. Don’t write a description like that look like this:

Budgeting for beginners | Budgeting tips for moms | Budgeting | Finance | Money Management | Family Budgeting

Write sentences like you are explaining to your mom what this board is about.

You can head over to my Pinterest Profile – Pinterest.com/Heatherfarrisco and get inspired there.

Use Keywords in Your Pin Title

Your pins are going to come up in search. So, make sure you are using your main keyword for the pin in that pin title. Put it towards the beginning of the pin title if possible.

Think of it as Google SEO. You use your main keyword for the blog in the first sentence and in the title closer to the beginning.

Use Keywords in Your Pin Description

Use your main keyword in the first sentence of the description. Use the same philosophy – five sentences, five long-tailed keywords, a five hundred character description. Tell the pinner what your pin is about and why they should click on yours.

Use Keywords in Your Text Overlay

One place where most people don’t realize they can use keywords is in your text overlay. Use the main keyword in your pin for your text overlay. Pinterest can actually read the text you put on your pins.

This way, the algorithm actually reads your Pinterest images, and it indexes that information to serve up later. This is just an extra little thing that tells the platform what your pin is all about.

Final Thoughts

Ensuring you use your main keyword for the pin in your pin title, pin description, and text overlay, board title, board description, and bio will help you to rank for your audience to find.

As long as you use three or four-word keywords in all these places, you will see better results in the long term because the platform will know what our content is about.

If you aren’t using keywords in those places you should definitely do an audit on your profile to see how you can better rank on Pinterest.

Lastly, if you want to take your Pinterest strategy further you can hop into Pin Profit Academy, our monthly membership. This is a place where you can find strategy, support & accountability.

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