Pinterest SEO & Pinterest Search Result Rankings

When you hear Pinterest Search Result Ranking, people usually mean one of three things:

1. Pinterest URLs in Search Engine Results: Are your pinned images showing up on search engines like Google?
2. Business Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Are your pinboards playing a role to propel your business URL (your domain URLs) to rank higher in search engine results?
3. Ranking in Pinterest Search Results: How images you pinned show up on Pinterest

How to SEO Your Pinterest URL

The first item, Pinterest Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to ranking your Pinterest page URLs high in the Search Engine results.

Pinterest URLs are already showing in Google search results, so applying typical SEO techniques to your Pinterest account should help your pinboards (Pinterest pages) rank higher in search engines.

Just about any SEO strategy can be applied to your Pinterest account. (Use keywords, create incoming links to your individual pinboards and pins, create 2-3 boards on a related topic, keywords in image file names, keywords in URLs, etc.)

How to Give Your Business a Pinterest SEO Push

Can Pinterest boost your business url page rankings?

In the strick definition of SEO – as in ranking your business higher on search engines, an inbound link from Pinterest is an inbound link, so it should help. Now, if you have pinned 2,000 blog posts, whether Google would count that as 2,000 links or 1 link — I would tend to think the latter.

However, there is more to a Google rank boost. Pinterest can certainly bring traffic to your blog. 2,000 inbound links are like 2,000 roadways or entry paths into your domain. Pinterest CAN HELP bring traffic.

• Frequency of Search Engine Bots: At a minimum, Pinterest will create a path for search engine bots to visit and crawl your website. Frequent visits help index new content. The bots will not count the link as a “weighted” link, but nevertheless, the bot passes through to the next page.
• Links: Place links in the Pinterest description of every pin to create inbound links to your business url or blog. These are no-follow links but still equate to opportunities for bots and customer visits.
  (Note for Affiliate Marketers: Many links with affiliate coding have the individual tracking reference (referral ID) stripped out, so consider linking to your own website that might have a review, etc. of the affiliate item or service and then the user would click through to make the final purchase.)
• Pinterest Goodies Remind Visitors to Pin Use provided Pinterest goodies to add a Pin it button to images on your business website url. This reminds and encourages visitors to pin (which will create more links and paths to be spidered by search engine bots). Add the Follow me on Pinterest button to your website, so users can receive and repin your pins.

Pinterest Plugins

Watch for Pinterest WordPress plugins: Some place a Pin it button before or after the blog post, others display a Pin it button when users hover over images, and some place a Pin it button on every image.

Optimize Pins for Pinterest Search Result Rankings

How can your pin be ranked first in the results on Pinterest?

Understanding the different Pinterest Search Options gives you an understanding of how users find images.

But, you want users to find YOUR image.

Of course no one can claim to know (except Pinterest) why Pinterest search results rank as they do. However, from trial and error and listening to other pinners, the following things appear to impact the search result rankings when you use the Pinterest search box:

1. Keywords: Add these to your profile, pin title, board name, image name, pin URL (where the original image is located), and pin descriptions.
2. Keyword Density: Repeating words such as “Cat, Cat, Cat” in the title no longer works, but there does seem to be an indication that the first words in a description weigh more heavily on ranking than the last words, and there is also an indication that the number of words impacts the results. For example: Pinterest Seo Tips would give the word Pinterest a rating based on 3 words, where as a description with 100 words might then rate the word Pinterest less significantly. (However, keep in mind that longer descriptions give you opportunity to be found on a variety of topics which could equate to more repins, and repins are another ranking factor.)
3. Likes: Number of likes a pinned image receives
4. Repins: Number of Re-pins
5. Freshness: How new is the image on Pinterest (as well as the freshness of likes and repins – how long ago they occurred). This makes sense. Think about holiday items. Those would be repinned often around the respective holiday and we wouldn’t want to see them at another time of the year. (So, if you sell seasonal items, plan to refresh them each year.)
6. Frequency – Community Participation: How frequently is the user of this image pinning, liking, repinning, commenting, – engaging and participating on Pinterest.

I’ve seen recommendations from spreading your pins out to 2-4 times a day, to pinning 5-30 times a day. Users seem to disagree. Some also say frequency will also impact Google search results for pinboards, pins, and your personal website.

All of these ideas sound like good rules for active participation in the Pinterest community anyway.

How to Rank High for Other Pinterest Search Options?

Don’t forget the other ways to rank on Pinterest, such as in the new Guided Search buttons, hashtags, and by pinner or by board searches.

Search results can get a little frustrating, and in 2015 Pinterest is supposedly going to roll out Promoted Pins, which will spin the results once again.

We need to remember that Pinterest is intended to be an IMAGE SHARING social site as opposed to an IMAGE SEARCH engine. Pinterest is about visually finding an image, not finding an image with words. Discovery of images drives Pinterest social connections.Your best promotional strategy might not be to answer “How do I get my pin to rank first?” but instead, “Why will Pinterest users want to SHARE my image?” The viral power of sharing in social media networking may well outweigh the importance of ranking #1.

~ Can you think of anything else impacting search rankings on Pinterest Search results or in search engines? Use the comments to add your ideas.

If you found this useful, I would really appreciate it if you would.

Other Pinterest Tutorials

• Pinterest Search Options
• Scheduling Pinterest Pins
• Ideas on Pinterest SEO