Where should you use keywords on Pinterest? What are the best places to use Pinterest keywords to reach your audience faster and drive free traffic to your website?
Pinterest is a visual search engine with over 500 million monthly users. People use it to discover ideas, plan for the future, and collect inspirational content for topics they love.
Just like with any search engine out there, keywords are what make Pinterest go around. To maximize your chances of being discovered by new pinners and turn them into customers, you want to use your keywords in all the best places.
Doing this helps the Pinterest search algorithm understand what your content is about. Adding context to your pin images helps the algorithm categorize your pins and distribute it to people actively searching for what you offer.
In this post, you’ll learn 10 best places to use your keywords to make your content searchable so that you can generate more saves and clicks to your blog or business website.
I’ve been perfecting my Pinterest keyword strategy since 2019 when I started using Pinterest in my web design business to help my clients grow their website traffic for free. I’ve tested hundreds of Pinterest marketing techniques throughout the years in dozens of niches, so I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t
Want to transform your Pinterest strategy and maximize your reach? It starts here, with the right keywords in the right places.
Let’s go!
Please note: This post contains affiliate links to products I use, trust, and recommend. If you choose to purchase a helpful product using these links, I may receive a small commission for referring you – at no extra cost to you. These funds help me keep this blog up and running.
What are Pinterest keywords?
Keywords are the words and phrases people use on Pinterest to search for new ideas and content.
When you search for “vegan brownie recipes” on Pinterest, the search algorithm finds the best, most relevant pins as search results for you to peruse:
Hence, the search algorithm knows that these pins match your search query. Pinterest thinks this is the best possible collection of ideas and inspiration for your next brownie bake.
Also, see how Pinterest suggests further keywords underneath the search bar. These are related keywords you can add to your search phrase to make it more specific and granular:
Keywords are everywhere on Pinterest. They are the #1 thing you want to use correctly to make sure people can find your content on the platform.
Why keywords are so important on Pinterest
With over 1.5 billion new pins published every week, how does the algorithm pick the best content to return as search results? How can you make sure your pins are among the top search results?
It boils down to what keywords you use and where you use them.
The algorithm uses a variety of signals and data to assign each pin a Pinterest category and one or more interests within that category.
One of the models included in this classification of pins is the Taste Graph, which helps Pinterest understand what interests each individual pin caters for.
When you share a new Pinterest pin, the Taste Graph uses text inputs and keywords from several places:
- Your pin itself
- The board you saved it to
- Your link URL for that pin
- Your page title and metadata
Hence, these are the best places to use Pinterest keywords!
The more strategic you go about it, the easier you make it for the Pinterest algorithm to show your content to users who are actually interested in what you offer.
If you don’t know what keywords to use or where to use them, your efforts on Pinterest will be in vain. Since your audience can’t find your content, you’re left with zero views, clicks, and website traffic.
And that’s why I created this guide. I’ll show you how to use the Taste Graph to your advantage so you won’t have to second-guess your Pinterest marketing strategy ever again.
How to find the best Pinterest keywords
Finding the right keywords on Pinterest starts with the search bar. This tool is your crystal ball, revealing what people are interested in right now:
Here’s how you can find Pinterest keywords using the Guided Search and autofill suggestions:
- Type in your niche: Begin by typing in a keyword related to your niche. As you input your terms, Pinterest suggests related search terms. These suggestions are based on what people are actually searching for.
- Explore suggested keywords: If Pinterest is suggesting additional keywords to you, pay attention! The algorithm wants you to use those keywords because that’s what users are interested in right now.
- Investigate keyword combinations: Enter different combinations of your primary keyword to see what variations pop up. For example, if you’re in the food industry, typing “healthy recipes” might lead you to “easy healthy recipes” or “healthy meat recipes.”
These keyword suggestions are your #1 method for finding the best keywords for your niche and topic. If you’re only going to use one Pinterest keyword research tool, this Guided Search is your best bet.
For a full guide with further methods, read my complete Pinterest keywords research tutorial.
Best places to use Pinterest keywords
Let’s explore the best places to use Pinterest keywords so you can start seeing a boost in your reach.
1: Pinterest username
Let’s start by adding keywords to your Pinterest username in your Pinterest account settings:
Whether you’re a blogger or a business, your username should reflect what you offer.
My website is all about “Blogging”, so it was a no-brainer for me to add that main keyword into my brand and Pinterest username, too.
This makes the username more memorable. Also, it’s a clear signal about what my account is about.
I know it may be difficult to incorporate keywords into your username, but give it a try. If you haven’t launched your blog or business website yet, now is the perfect time to think about branding.
Remember: When you change your username, your Pinterest profile URL will change, too. If you’ve included links to your old profile URL on your website, in digital product, or social media, remember to update them.
2: Pinterest display name
Your Pinterest display name is your chance to make an excellent first impression with your target audience. It’s the first thing people see when visiting your Pinterest profile:
Also, users will see your profile name in the search feed right beneath your pins:
Using relevant keywords in your display name helps the search algorithm understand your entire Pinterest account better.
Hence, you want to use your most high-level, niche-specific keywords here.
For example, if you are a travel blogger, instead of just the name “John Smith,” consider something like “John Smith | Travel Tips & Guides.” This lets Pinterest know exactly what you’re about, helping the algorithm connect you with users searching for travel tips.
2: Profile About text (profile bio)
Your Pinterest “About” text is one of the best places to use keywords to describe what you offer and how you deliver value to your audience:
You want your profile description to answer one question: “Why should someone follow me?”
Again, using keywords here will make your profile more searchable. Keep it concise, informative, and align it with what your target audience is searching for. What do they need from you? Let them know that your profile is the best place to find the content they’re interested in!
3: Board titles
Your Pinterest boards are the collections of ideas related to your niche, target audience, and website. Your boards are visible on the Saved tab on your profile:
If you’re in the DIY and crafts niche, your boards will include ideas, tutorials, and resources. Hence, you wouldn’t create boards filled with budgeting tips or urban architecture because your audience isn’t interested in those.
Again, the Pinterest search algorithm needs your help to understand what your boards are about. When you start saving pins to a board, the algorithm looks at what interests those pins cater for. Your board title has to match those interests and the main Pinterest category they fall under.
You can edit your board title by clicking on the three dots next to the board name and selecting Edit board:
Make your board title as clear and self-explanatory as possible. Avoid vague, misleading, and creative board titles.
If your board is a collection of DIY ideas for Christmas, your board title should be “Christmas DIY ideas” (instead of “Stuff I want to make”). If it’s about cake recipes, the title should be “Cake Recipes” (instead of “Let’s bake y’all!”).
While those creative, cute board titles may seem fun, I suggest keeping it simple and straightforward.
In short: Your board titles should help the algorithm, not confuse it.
4: Board descriptions
Once you’ve found the perfect board title, it’s time to add even more context by including further, related keywords in your board description.
Think of it as a mini summary of what your board is about. This is where you delve into more specific long-tail keywords and search phrases.
Remember: all the keywords in your board description should be related to the board title. For a board filled with brownie recipes, you wouldn’t use keyword related to cupcakes or cookies, for instance. That would confuse the algorithm.
For my “Blogging Tips” board, I’ve written a board description packed with related, popular keywords:
Your board description should answer three questions:
- What type of content is featured on this board?
Use your most important keywords to describe what niche and topic this board belongs to, and add more context with more specific sub-topic keywords. For example, your “Christmas DIY Ideas” board description could include keywords like “easy”, “to sell”, and “paper”. - What problems does this content solve?
You need to know the pain points your target audience struggles with. You want to help them overcome and solve their biggest problems with your content on this board. - Who is interested in this content?
Clearly state who will benefit from the content on this board. Think about who will find this board useful, like “small business owners”, “bloggers”, “stay-at-home moms”, or “graphic designers”.
Here’s a helpful Pinterest board description template for you:
This board is about [board title] and [related keywords]. Discover the best ideas for [more related keywords] and [more related keywords] to help you [problem + solution/outcome] to [more related keywords]. Find more tips for [related keywords] at [your website URL].
5: Pin titles
Pin titles are one of the most important and best places to use Pinterest keywords. When users see your pin in the search results, your pin title is one the first things they see.
Your pin title should be clear, concise, and benefit-driven. Give users a good reason to open your pin and click through to your website!
Use keywords in your pin title to address the biggest problem your pin solves. If your audience struggles with time management, you can write a blog post with the best productivity and organization tips for busy people.
The pin title for that article could be:
“15 Instant Productivity Hacks For Students You’re Not Using Yet (That Really Work)”
Let’s break this pin title down to see what makes it click-worthy:
- “15” indicates that people can find a long list of hacks in one post.
- “Instant” means that people can implement your hacks for instant results.
- “For Students” speaks directly to your target audience.
- “You’re Not Using Yet” adds a sense of urgency for people who’ve tried a bunch of hacks already.
- “That Really Work” adds to the credibility, telling people that you’ve tried and tested your hacks and you’re only sharing the best ones that bring real results.
Using keywords like this in your pin titles makes them more click-worthy. The more curious people feel when reading it, the more likely they are to engage, save, and click.
6: Pin descriptions
Pin descriptions allow you to add even more context and information about your pins and what people will get from your content:
Needless to say, you want to use this keyword real estate to help both the algorithm and your audience understand your content better.
Again, only use relevant keywords related to your pin title and the board you’ll save your pin to.
Rather than stuffing keywords, use conversational and engaging language. Write like you were talking to a friend, telling them what this pin is about and what they can expect from visiting your website or blog post.
7: Text overlays on images
In most niches, Pinterest pins with text overlays work best for generating clicks and traffic. They encourage engagement and highlight elements of the pin that aren’t obvious from the image, like a specific product feature, for example.
Using keywords in your text overlays serve three purposes:
- Promising a clear benefit through a solution for a pain point.
- Creating a sense of urgency by hinting that they might be missing out on something important (FOMO).
- Standing out from similar pins through an opt-in offer or a unique case study.
- Telling pinners what to do next through a clear call-to-action.
Canva is an excellent free tool for designing Pinterest pins even if aren’t a professional designer. The interface is intuitive to use and you get access to thousands of free stock photos, fonts, and graphics for your designs.
Here’s how to create the perfect Pinterest pin text overlay:
- Keep it short and to-the-point:
Address a pain point and provide a solution. - Give it room to breathe:
Avoid cluttered, busy text overlays to improve readability. - Use clear, readable fonts:
Make sure your text overlay is easy to read on smaller screens, too. Use script fonts sparingly. - Use a large font size:
Highlight your most important keyword, benefits, or message by using a large font size that stands out. - Include keywords:
Obviously, your text overlay should include your most important keywords for that piece of content.
Want to learn how to go viral on Pinterest? Then read my guide on how to design stunning Pinterest pins like a pro.
8: Image file names
This may feel like a minor detail, but you want to use your Pinterest keywords in your pin image file names.
To encourage your visitors to save your content to their Pinterest boards, you want to add pinnable images to your website. Use the Social Warfare plugin to add social sharing buttons to your blog or website within minutes.
When you embed a pinnable image into your blog post or website, make sure it includes your most important keywords for that piece of content.
For example, you don’t want to use default file names like “IMG001.jpg”. You can, but that’s wasted keyword real estate.
To give your pin image more context, you could use your blog post title, the main keyword for that blog post, or your pin title in the file name.
For example, this blog post is about the “best places to use Pinterest keywords”. Therefore, the pin image file name for this guide is “best-places-to-use-pinterest-keywords-01.jpg”. I’ll create further pin images in the future and they’ll follow the same pattern.
And it gets even better:
Adding keywords to your pinnable images can help those images show up on Google for related search queries, too.
9: Your website or blog SEO
The Pinterest Taste Graph also looks at the metadata of your website or blog when determining what your pins are about. Therefore, you want to use relevant keywords throughout your website, blog posts, and product pages.
Use Pinterest keywords in these places on your website:
- Page meta title:
Search engines like Google display your meta title as the main heading of your content in search results. - Page meta description:
Most often, you’ll see your meta description underneath the meta title in Google’s search results. It works a lot like your pin descriptions: your meta title should clearly say what people will get from reading your blog post, for example.
Meta titles and meta descriptions may sound technical, but they’re easy to manage and configure. If your blog or website is WordPress-based, use the free Yoast SEO plugin to add custom meta data to your content:
10: Pinterest image caption (custom pin description)
When you embed Pinterest pin images on your website for people to save to their boards, make sure those images have a custom pin description text.
This is where things can get a bit technical, so let’s break it down:
By default, Pinterest will pull the ALT text from any image people save to a Pinterest board from your website.
However, the ALT text isn’t the best place to use your Pinterest keywords. Instead, you should use the ALT text field to describe what people can see on that specific image.
Anyone using a screen reader won’t see that image, but instead the screen reader will read your ALT text out loud to them. Therefore, it makes sense to write a clear description for the contents of that image in the ALT text field.
Instead of the ALT text, you want to use your Pinterest keywords in a custom, Pinterest-specific meta text called the “data-pin-description”.
When someone saves the image to a Pinterest board, that meta text will become the pin description for that image.
And since we know how important keywords are in pin descriptions, you definitely want to add Pinterest keywords to this meta text, too.
So how in the heck do you do that?
You could add the “data-pin-description” text manually into the HTML code of that image. But that’s a hassle and very prone to typos and errors.
The easiest way to add a custom Pinterest pin description to an image on your website is to use a plugin. Here are two best WordPress plugins for custom pin descriptions:
- WP Tasty Pins:
Easy to use, allows you to write custom pin descriptions and hide individual pin images in your content in case you want to add multiple Pinterest pin options for people to save. - Social Warfare:
Packed with nifty features like customizabe social sharing buttons, custom pin descriptions, and more. I use this plugin and I can’t recommend it enough.
Now, just like you’d write a keyworded pin description for Pinterest, add one to every pinnable image within your content or through your Media Library in WordPress.
Final thoughts: Where to use Pinterest keywords
Whether you’re just starting out with Pinterest or want to grow your existing reach, it’s absolutely essential to audit your Pinterest keyword strategy asap.
Using the right keywords in the right places (all of them!) is the best strategy for reaching a wider audience and generating more free traffic to your blog or website.
The main takeaway here is: Pinterest SEO is all about helping Pinterest understand your content better. If you get it right, the algorithm knows exactly what your pins are about and who might be interested in seeing them.
Think of it like this:
If you don’t use keywords on Pinterest, your pins are like blank cardboard boxes. No one knows what’s inside, so they get pushed into the corner. And they will stay there, unopened.
Your job is to cover that box with keywords that are relevant to what’s inside. When you hand that box over to Pinterest, they understand what it contains and can then deliver it to the people who need it.
Grab your free Pinterest marketing quick guide to start growing your traffic now:
How’s your Pinterest keyword strategy coming together? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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