Pinterest has long since ceased to be just a place for inspiration boards and mood boards. It’s a widely used visual search engine and, for many brands, an underrated channel for organic traffic. Especially if you offer products or services that are visually appealing—such as interior design, fashion, food, or travel—Pinterest SEO is a smart next step in your SEO strategy.
In this blog post, we share 13 concrete tips for using Pinterest as an organic channel to increase your visibility and grow your brand. The article includes practical guidance based on our experience as SEO specialists.
Pinterest is a powerful and underrated channel: the platform has more than 400 million monthly users worldwide. What many companies don’t realize is that 97% of searches on Pinterest are non-branded. That means users don’t yet have a specific preference for a brand, and your brand can be discovered as they explore their options.
Pinterest is also a long-lasting search engine: pins remain visible and relevant for weeks or even months. Unlike social media, where content often disappears after just a few hours, Pinterest ensures lasting visibility.
Users actively search there for ideas, products, and inspiration. That’s exactly when you want to be visible. This makes the platform particularly valuable for brands looking to build top-of-funnel reach with visual content that converts. Our 13 tips below will help you grow your visibility on Pinterest.
To determine your visibility in search results, Pinterest looks at your profile name, username, and bio to figure out what your account is about. So be sure to use relevant keywords that your target audience uses.
Example: Do you sell sustainable furniture? If so, choose a profile name like “Sustainable Furniture | Brand Name” and include terms such as “green decor” or “bamboo furniture” in your bio.
This tip is relevant and can be applied right away to lay a solid foundation for your visibility on Pinterest, making it one of the first steps you should take to grow your account.
On Pinterest, boards function as category pages. So don’t think in terms of departments or internal structure, but in terms of search intent. Base your board organization on what your target audience is searching for and how they’re searching for it.
Use a mix of broad boards (“Interior Inspiration”) and more specific ones (“Minimalist Scandinavian Living Room Design”). This approach helps you structure your content in a logical and user-friendly way, which has a direct impact on SEO.
Pinterest also uses the board description to determine what your pins are about. Avoid vague wording and use search terms naturally. A good example is a description like: “Get inspired by modern living rooms featuring natural materials, neutral colors, and sustainable furniture.”
Use tools like PinClicks and Pinterest Trends to find out what your target audience is actually searching for on Pinterest. Pay particular attention to terms related to inspiration, solutions, or lifestyle. Search volumes are less visible on Pinterest than on Google, and no clickstream data is available. Therefore, focus on relevance rather than just the data.
A pin is essentially a mini version of a landing page. So be sure to pay attention to:
Be sure to include alt text for uploaded images to provide additional context, which helps on Pinterest and Google Images, among other platforms.
Pinterest loves activity, but it’s best to adopt a consistent strategy rather than posting a lot all at once. Schedule pins throughout the week and combine seasonal content with evergreen visuals.
Tools like PostPlanner help you plan and space out your pinning activity. By pinning consistently, you ensure relevance and added value for Pinterest users.
Do you already have blogs, products, or landing pages that convert well? Repackage them visually and repin them in multiple variations. Consider different designs, calls to action, and angles. Aim for 2–3 variations per piece of content, spread across multiple boards.
Use Pinterest Analytics to see which pins generate the most traffic, saves, or engagement. Don’t just look at views—focus especially on outbound clicks. Optimize pins with a low CTR or focus more on successful formats.
Don’t let Pinterest stand alone. Link your pins to optimized pages on your website. That way, you’ll strengthen your branded search, authority, and remarketing opportunities. So make good use of search engine optimization for both Google and Pinterest. The benefit is that Pinterest crawls the linked page to gain more context and determine the quality of the target URL. If you’ve optimized your page well and offer added value to your users, Pinterest will reward you for it.
Pinterest SEO is an ongoing process. Track metrics, test new formats, and gradually build topical authority on Pinterest. You’ll see sustained growth after an average of 4–8 weeks of active pinning and optimization. So keep testing, scaling, and making adjustments.
By verifying your website on Pinterest, you’ll gain access to additional analytics and conversion data. The Pinterest tag (similar to the Facebook Pixel) helps you track actions on your site and gain a better understanding of the impact of your pins.
You can also add a “Save” button to your site so that visitors can pin your content directly to their boards.
Rich Pins automatically pull additional information from your website into your pins—such as product details, prices, or recipes. This makes your pins more valuable and trustworthy to users. For e-commerce, product pins are particularly effective at increasing conversions.
Use Pinterest yourself as a source of inspiration. By searching for relevant terms, you can see which pins perform well, which formats are popular, and which topics are trending. Take screenshots of these and use them as inspiration for your own visuals, content planning, or pin designs.
Pinterest SEO isn’t just a gimmick—it’s an important part of your marketing mix. Especially for brands with visual content, it offers a sustainable way to be found, even without an advertising budget. Want to know if Pinterest SEO is a good fit for your brand or online store? Schedule a no-obligation introductory meeting and discover the growth opportunities.
With a passion for SEO and an unmatched drive for results, Jarik Oosting is the driving force behind SmartRanking. With over 15 years of experience in the field, he has built an extensive body of knowledge spanning technical SEO to complex site migrations. As the founder of SmartRanking, he has assembled a team of like-minded SEO specialists who help businesses achieve sustainable online growth.
His academic background in information science at the University of Groningen, with a specialization in natural language processing, gives him a unique perspective on the world of SEO. For Jarik, it’s not just about visibility in search engines, it’s about sharing knowledge and guiding businesses toward sustainable online success. That mission also led him to write a Dutch book about GEO.