Learn to SEO-Proof Your Pinterest with these 11 Simple Tips

We previously delved into 9 ways to improve your Pinterest marketing. Today we cover how to improve your SEO power for your images on Pinterest. You will learn to SEO-Proof your Pinterest with these 11 simple tips, and increase engagement on your pinboards.

As with most online marketing strategies, it is important to understand as much as you can about maximizing site search engine optimization (SEO) so you can maximize your time using the channel for marketing purposes. You can pin until eternity, but if you're not optimizing for keywords(and in return, searches) and using an effective Keywords Strategy, you are wasting your time. You want to set everything you do online up to withstand any future algorithm updates that Google and all other search engines and social media sites undergo.

Let's get this poppin'!

1) Develop a Keyword Strategy for Pinterest

Now, before you go make your first pinboard, think about what your goals are for Pinterest and how you want to appear to the world. Will this be business-driven or for personal fun? You've likely already researched keywords and hopefully have hundreds to choose from. Set up your Keyword Strategy for Pinterest to match what you're doing on your website and with other social media. You want to be able to unify your brand throughout your different accounts, but showcase yourself differently and uniquely.

2) Optimize Your Username

On Pinterest, you should choose a username that contains a keyword (if it fits your needs), but try to maintain the same username throughout your various social media accounts for branding purposes. This allows your followers to maintain contact should they hop to another social outlet. This will help a lot, because if your username is a keyword for your niche, whenever someone inputs that term into the search bar, your pinboards will come up in the search. You'll get a lot more followers without even trying if you put a keyword in as your username.

3) Create a Full Keyword-Rich About Section/Profile

Pinterest gives us a generous-sized “About”/”Profile” section that you should use to fill with information, link to one main page (switch it up from time to time for promos and special events), tell your story, and use keywords within the text as you do so. Don't keyword stuff or force it. This should sound natural and read natural, but using keywords within the About/Profile section is a smart idea since it will help those familiar and unfamiliar with your brand find you when they search for those keywords.

4) Create Optimized Pin Descriptions for Your Images

One of the best ways to SEO-Proof your images is to make use of the description area for your pins. You have room to work with. Make them readable, lively when possible, but also include relevant keywords and URLs when appropriate. Either way, have fun with this!

5) Always Link Back to Your Website

While pinning can become a Black hole of images and fun distractions, remember why you're on here. Your purpose of learning to SEO-Proof your Pinterest with these 11 simple tips is to increase engagement and visibility for your brand. Especially if this is business-driven, you always want to send people back to your main website!

You can link each pin that you create back to your site and back to specific pages, blogs, and products on your site. Always take advantage of this and make sure they don't always just go to the home page. Make pins link back to specific landing pages on your website that are relevant to the pin.

6) Watermark Your Images

No matter what you do, someone might take your picture and try to use it as their own. But you can watermark it with your logo and URL. Some suggest trying to do this as unobtrusively as possible. I agree. Watermarking will help with SEO too, as will updating the meta tags on your images also helps. I use watermarking for images that I have altered or have altered for my business. I don't agree with taking someone else's image and watermarking the unedited format – that's just “half-@ss,” lazy, and Creative Stealing. Let's work together and not against each other. There's way too much room in the sandbox for that foolishness. Play nice out there.

7) ALT Text on Images = Mmmmagic… Kind of

Maybe I'm slightly exaggerating about the Magical touch of ATL text on images, but it does help with increasing with SEO-Proofing of your website and posts. When you upload an image onto your website, you have something called an ALT tag or Alternative Text. This is an area where you should use keywords to describe the image. Don't just say “butterfly.” Instead, say something like “This is a picture of a monarch butterfly that I took using my Nikon D700.” This type of ALT tag would be relevant to a pinboard devoted to photography.

8) Your Website is “Home” for All Pinned Images

Once again, everything starts and ends with your website. When you want to create pins and pinboards, first create a blog post on your website with the image, infographic and connect it to your post. Then pin your featured images to the pinboard of your choosing (topic/category focused) but link it back to the post on your website so that visitors always have a link back to your site. Keep them reminded of where they can find that image and others should you switch things up a bit on Pinterest.

9) Cultivate Theme-Focused Pinboards

Don't just randomly post pins. Instead, create themed pinboards where the theme fits with your niche and is a keyword for your niche. This gives you more opportunities to include keywords and more in-depth information about your niche for your followers. You can think of pinboards as categories to the larger picture like you have on your blog, if that helps.

10) Always Use Appropriate Hashtags

Like with any social media today, Pinterest also supports hashtags. Use them well and they will pay off. Really give thought to what the hashtags should be and how they relate to your niche before including them. Check around and see what other hashtags are currently floating around. No need to reinvent the wheel if there are perfect hashtags popping up. Position yourself properly and you will be all set!

11) Re-Pin Items That Carry Your Keywords

Look up your keywords, maybe one or two a day, and re-pin (or save) other people's pinboards and pins that carry your keywords. Also, follow them and their followers – just a few each day to help build your own following and interaction. Repinning other people's amazing pins allows you to not only grow your following but images as well!

The Rundown

As you learn to SEO-Proof your Pinterest with these 11 simple tips, your pinboards will go a long way in helping you maximize the most of Pinterest as a marketing channel for your brand.