The Pinterest keyword secrets that will change how you pin forever

Creating beautiful boards on Pinterest is the fun bit. But you also need to be sure they’ll get seen by the right people.

How do you do that? Keywords, that’s how.

Let’s dive into finding out how keywords work on Pinterest and where to find the best ones for your business.

What are keywords and why do you need them?

Keywords are the words Pinterest users type into the search box to find inspiration or specific items.

By using the right keywords on your pins, you’ll increase the number of people who find your products or posts.

Four ways to find keywords:

●      Pinterest search box

Type a word in your niche into the search box and take a look at the related categories Pinterest shows you

●      Pinterest ads (don’t worry, it won’t cost anything)

Go to Ads at the top of the page, click Create Ad and choose the Create Campaign. On the first page scroll down and click Continue.

On the next page scroll down to the keyword section and type in one of your topline keywords. Pinterest will then show you related keywords

●      trends.pinterest.com

This brilliant tool lets you enter your keyword then shows you related terms. It also shows you the week’s top trends.

●      business.pinterest.com/content/pinterest-predicts/

Want to know where the really cool keywords are hiding? Get ahead of the game by heading into Pinterest Predicts - it’s the platform’s crystal ball into what’s going to be big. Click on a category to see trending search terms. In 2020, Pinterest got 8 out of 10 of its predictions right! 

It’s a great idea to make a long list of keywords that you can add to and use for different types of pins.

For example, if you’re a business coach, you might have some keywords grouped around things like productivity hacks, self-care, and mindset. If you’re a kitchen company, you could include keywords like “kitchen inspiration”, “rustic kitchen” or “pale blue kitchen”.

Where to put keywords on Pinterest

There are lots of places that your keywords are searchable so take advantage of as many as you can:

●      In the text on your image

●      In the pin title

●      In the pin description

●      In the board title

●      In the image alt-text on your website

●      Image names

●      In your Pinterest profile description

Often people use the same wording for their image text and pin title but, as both these spaces are searchable, it’s best to vary them for greater impact. Use your title to give people more information and more reasons to click.

Here are some fab examples from Pinterest where keywords have been used to perfection.

 This bio includes lots of relevant keywords:

And these pins showcase how you can use a few keywords effectively, without making your descriptions unreadable!  

Pinterest stats that will surprise you

71% of Pinterest users are women

‘Holidays’ is the most searched for term on Pinterest

There are around 2 billion searches a month on the platform

85% of people view Pinterest via mobile

77% of weekly users have discovered a new brand or product via the app

For more help with Pinterest contact me via rebecca@rebeccaperkins.co.uk and we can arrange a chat.

How do I find the best keywords?

When it comes to getting found online, keywords are king. Using the right keywords is important for SEO, Google Search Ads (or Adwords as many people know them) and social platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. How you would like to describe your product or service isn’t always the most important thing - it’s often the words your customer would use to search for your offering that matters.  

So what’s the best way to find the right keywords? Research! 

Some of my clients provide a list of relevant words they think their potential customers might use, and that’s a brilliant starting point. But you’d be surprised how many terms you’ll miss if you don’t delve deeper. Here are a few of my favourite keyword research tools:

Google’s Keyword Planner

Keyword Planner is available for free (as long as you have a Google Ads account). It is a great way of getting ideas for keywords and finding out how popular they are. By looking at the historical data on search volumes, you can analyse which keywords have been gaining the most traction and can also spot seasonal trends. 

The ‘People Also Ask’ box in the Google search listings 

Not strictly a tool as such, but another tip is to type in a keyword and look in the ‘People Also Ask’ box that pops up near the top of the Google search listings. This will let you know other popular searches that are closely related to the term you’re searching for. 

If I type in ‘Keyword’ for example, Google says that people also search for ‘What are keyword examples?’, ‘How do I find the best keywords?’ and ‘How do I use keywords?’. These might all be great additions to a Google Ads campaign or could even be used as a blog title!

SEMrush 

SEMrush is one of my favourite tools. It’s great for finding phrases and keywords to complement those suggested by Google’s Keyword Planner. There is a limited free plan but if you’re serious about improving the SEO on your website, or run a lot of Google Ads, I would recommend trialling the paid-for plan for a month or two. It’s definitely an investment but it’s also great for competitor research and now offers a social media toolkit which I have yet to explore. 

Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a really intuitive and easy-to-use option created by Neil Patel. You get access to different numbers of keywords depending on which plan you choose. There is a free plan, which gives you lots of ideas and also a handy ‘content ideas’ tabs where you can see how the keyword has been used in popular content on the web. 

Soovle 

I’ve only just discovered Soovle but it’s a really nifty tool! It lets you type in a keyword and then you can see what related terms people searched for across different platforms like YouTube, Amazon, Yahoo! and Wikipedia. It’s a great way of finding ideas that are a little bit different which your competitors might not know about.

I’m always on the lookout for more ways to find keywords - do let me know in the comments if you have any other suggestions. 

And if you need assistance researching keywords for your business, please email me at rebecca@rebeccaperkins.co.uk and we can discuss how I can help you.