With over 200 million users utilizing Pinterest each month, the platform has features similar to those of other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in addition to features similar to those of search engines. As a catalog of ideas, if you utilize the platform properly, it can drive an increasing amount of traffic to your website and help improve conversions. If you haven’t started using Pinterest for your business or have been slacking on the content you push through the platform, 2018 is the year to start utilizing it more seriously.
The Smart Feed Algorithm
Just like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, Pinterest utilized a chronological feed in the early days but with it’s tremendous growth over the years, it has switched to an intelligent ranking algorithm. This new algorithm mixes all of the pins in together and the user will see the ones that are being pinned and engaged with the most. With each personalized feed, the user now sees:
- Users see a diverse overview of the latest content from a variety of sources
- Pins that are of “poor quality” will either not be seen or will be shown later in the feed
- The quality of the pin will be more dominant in when it is shown versus the newness of the pin
In addition to the way the pins are shown, Pinterest also includes related pins and pins based off of the users interest in the feed. When Pinterest pulls images into these two categories, Pinterest looks at domain quality, pin quality, pinner quality, and relevance.
How to Improve Domain Quality
When Pinterest pulls in pins for users, they only want to be sharing high quality pins from reputable websites. To help increase domain quality, do the following:
- Switch to a business profile
- Claim your website
- Enable rich pins
Improving Pin Quality
Instead of just pinning whichever images that are on your website, take the extra step to focus on the quaity of the images. This will increase the chances of Pinterest pulling your content onto the feed of the millions of Pinterest users. Experiment with the following:
- Create long, vertical images
- Utilize high quality images and stay clear of grainy or blurry images
- Feature the content title on the pin
- Utilize Pinterest templates – Canva has some great ones that make creating high quality pins easier!
With a business profile, you also gain access to analytics on your pins. When you’re trying new techniques or improving the contet on your pins, keep an eye on the analytics to see what’s making a difference.
Stay Active on the Platform
Just like any other social media platform, the more active and engaged you are on the platform, the more traffic you’ll see. Pinning, liking, and commenting all count as interaction and you’ll want to be doing this daily! If you don’t have time to be spending on the platform, utilize a scheduling platform or ask your SEO company for assistance.
Optimizing Pins and Boards
Pinterest can’t see the images you are pinning so it relies solely on the titles and descriptions of the content you are sharing in order to determine relevancy for the user. Because of this, you’ll want to make sure you are including keywords in the titles and descriptions in order to see an increase in rankings.
Quick Tips for Opitimizing Your Pins and Boards:
- Do keyword research in the search bar of Pinterest to get a better idea of the keywords that people are searching for
- Always use long-tail keywords and keep them very specific (i.e. “midi dresses under $150” versus “midi dresses”) to give more context and help rank for various keywords
- Pin and board descriptions have a 500 character limit – use this space to create enticing descriptions, utilize hashtags, and include your keywords
- Include industry specific keywords, an enticing title, and a creative drescription to both your profile and boards