How to optimize Pinterest Boards to rank higher!

In my previous post, I explained how to create a Pinterest Business Account and why every online business needs one. Don’t have a Business account yet? Then I’d recommend you to start with setting up a Pinterest Business Account by following the steps in my last post.

Already have a Business Account?

Great! Then it’s time to create and optimize Pinterest boards. In this post, I’ll show you how to do that step by step.

Disclaimer: This blog post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission to fund my coffee-drinking habit if you use these links to make a purchase. You will not be charged extra. So it’s a win for everyone! Please note that I won’t link any products I don’t believe in or don’t resonate with my blog site. Thank you!

Pinterest board optimization?! Why does it matter?

Optimizing your boards on Pinterest will help you to drive more traffic to your blog from Pinterest. It’s not a difficult task to do at all, but it does require a little know-how and time to do it. Just read this post and follow the step-by-step instructions, and your boards will be fully optimized in a few hours!

Pinterest appears to be quite straightforward: you create some boards, save some useful pins, follow a few people, and that is that.

This is exactly what Pinterest is when you use your account for personal purposes only. However, if you want to use Pinterest business-wise to increase your blog traffic, you need to optimize your profile so that Pinterest users will be able to find you and click through to your blog from your Pinterest as well.

Google + Visual Search = Pinterest

For most bloggers, the term SEO is a well-known blogging term. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This means that if you want to rank high in the search engines, you must optimize your content for the search engines. You can write great content, but if the search engines can’t find it, no one will read it, except for a few of your loyal friends and family maybe. 😉

This is also how Pinterest works. While I know Pinterest is considered a form of social media by many people, Pinterest is rather more of a visual search engine. Think about it.

Pinterest SEO

So, now you know that you also need to work on your SEO on Pinterest if you want your pins to be noticed there. Although Pinterest certainly has a social aspect to it, this aspect is not as important for content creators compared to SEO. Of course, it does help if you have tons of followers. I mean, more followers equals more impressions equals more re-pins. Bút, the great thing about Pinterest is that you can rank high with your Pins, without a huge following, just by putting the right keywords into the right places. Unlike ‘real’ social media, you don’t need to have a lot of followers to be successful! Back in my previous blog post, I already explained the hows and why’s to optimize your account profile. And below, I will explain to you the steps you need to take to optimize your boards too. The steps are:

• Create new boards
• Choose board names
• Write SEO-worthy board descriptions
• Declutter and organize

Create new boards

By the way, first things first. Let me begin with a brief explanation of how to create a board. Maybe you already have some boards and know how to do it. But in case you’re just starting out on Pinterest, and don’t have any boards, yet, you might want to know how to create them: 

• Click on your profile picture
• Go to ‘Boards‘
• Click ‘Create Board’
• Choose a board name
• Click ‘Create‘

Congratulations, you just created your first Pinterest Board! Pretty simple, huh? 🙂 

Choose board names

Pinterest gives you lots of options for making it clear to them and to their users what you stand for and what type of pins can be found on your profile. You can do this by using the right keywords for your boards.

Pinterest Boards are searchable. Just like with profiles, or pins, users can also specifically search for boards to follow. So, you want to make sure your boards rank high in the search results when someone enters a search query.

Let me first explain a little bit about Pinterest Boards to you, and how they work. Board names help Pinterest and its users understand what can be on your profile, and of course, on the particular board itself. I see a lot of boards with fun, creative names, such as; nāįłš3, <3 <3 <3, Foodzzziie, and KiDdsZz. But board names like that might make them look more appealing to other users, but in reality, they’re not. Because they’re much harder to find.

You should match the board names with existing and popular search queries. It might seem dull, but I promise you this will bring the best results.

Now you’re probably asking yourself: how do you know which terms people are searching for on Pinterest?

Simple! Pinterest gives this information away. For free!! Take a look at the print screen below. When you type a keyword in the search bar, suggestions automatically appear below your search.

You can also click on the blocks that appear below the search bar, which appear when you press Enter after typing your keyword. These blocks are displayed in order of their popularity.

A brief summary of the things you should pay attention to when creating board names:

• Choose board names that correspond to the keywords you find in Pinterest’s search bar.
• Avoid fun, creative names. They will not contribute to your SEO or to gaining new followers.
• Make sure you have enough boards to pin each Pin that you create to multiple boards.

Give SEO-worthy descriptions to your boards

You can edit your board by clicking on the 3 dots at the top left of the screen above the first Pin. This is where you write your board descriptions. Describe in a natural, easy-to-read text what users can expect to find on this particular board.

Organize & Declutter

By “organizing your boards”, I mean the order in which your Pinterest boards are placed and shown to visitors. There are different ways to organize your Pinterest boards. For instance, you can choose to sort them automatically from A to Z or to display the newest boards first. 

However, the best way to organize your boards is by using the drag-and-drop feature. With this feature, you can choose where each board should be positioned by dragging and dropping them to the right place. I recommend the following order: the first board is your “Best of” board, where you only place your own content. Like my She Can Blog board (see the picture below). Position this board at the top, because the goal is for users to see and engage with your content.

How to organize Pinterest boards:
– Go to your profile
– Click on “Boards”
– Choose “Drag and drop” from the dropdown menu.

Other tips to keep your boards organized and tidy:

• Organize your boards regularly.
• Create board covers with Canva. You can really brand your business on Pinterest when you match the color and design of the board covers to your brand/blog. And board covers give a professional and organized look to your account.
• Archive old or irrelevant boards: check from time to time if all of your boards are still relevant and fit within your niche. If they are no longer relevant, archive them. DON’T DELETE THEM.
• Only pin relevant Pins to your boards.
• Pin gorgeous, vertical Pins with clear, readable text overlays.
• Join Group Boards on Pinterest. You can share your own content there, and in exchange, you can re-pin the pins of other group members on your own boards.

Good luck organizing and optimizing your Pinterest boards. Don’t forget to pin this post to one of your boards for other bloggers to learn from as well! 🙂

Did I forget to mention something about optimizing Pinterest Boards?

Please, let me know in the comment section below!