3 Essential Places to Optimize Your Pinterest for Business Account

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Why Optimizing Your Pinterest Account is Important

If you’re wondering how to optimize your Pinterest profile to actually drive traffic and bookings, you’re in the right place.

Pinterest is more than a place to plan your next vacation or get dinner inspo. For business owners (especially those in the wedding industry), Pinterest is one of the most powerful marketing tools you have at your disposal. 

But if your account isn’t optimized, you’re missing out on potential saves, clicks, and ultimately, clients. Think about it this way – your Pinterest account is like a home. You wouldn’t start decorating the walls until the foundation was solid, right? It’s the same with Pinterest. Optimizing your Pinterest profile first ensures your content has the best chance of being discovered, saved, and clicked on by your ideal clients.

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Tips Before We Start

If you’ve ever researched how to market yourself on Pinterest, you’ve likely seen the term keywords come up. That’s because Pinterest is a visual search engine, not a social media platform (that’s a common myth about Pinterest). 

Just like with blogging, Pinterest relies heavily on keywords. They’re what help your pins get seen and connect users with the content they’re searching for. But how do you find keywords on Pinterest? I’m glad you asked! 🙂

How to Find Keywords on Pinterest: Steps for Utilizing Pinterest’s Guided Search Feature

1. Navigate to the Pinterest home page and type a broad term into the search bar (like “Washington elopement”). 
2. Pinterest will suggest related keywords and keyword phrases in the drop-down menu. These are the most searched phrases on the platform and appear in order of popularity.
3. You can also press “Enter” and look at the colored bubbles across the top of the page for additional keyword ideas. 
4. I personally prefer to pull keywords from the drop-down menu, but feel free to use whichever method works for you. 
5. Use these keywords in your account, boards, and pins to rank for the terms relevant to your business.

💡 Pro Tip: Keyword popularity can shift season to season. It won’t harm your rankings, but keep an eye on trending keywords using the Pinterest Trends Tool.

Set Your Keywords Before You Optimize Your Pinterest Account

Before diving into Pinterest optimization, you’ll want to choose your primary keywords. Here’s how:

1. Understand the main service or product you are selling.
2. Choose one main keyword for your business (ie – Washington elopement).
3. Pick 3-5 supplemental keywords that support your services (ie – Washington elopement locations, Washington elopement photography, elope in Washington state, etc.).  
4. If you offer multiple services or serve different locations, create separate keyword lists for each.

For example, if you’re an elopement photographer in Washington, Oregon, California, and Hawaii, you’ll want a keyword list for each location, but only choose one location/service as your primary.

Hashtags are back on Pinterest! Hashtags are found and used just like keywords, however, they should only be placed in your pin descriptions. Use 3-10 hashtags at the end of a description, but strong keyword sentences are more important. 

Understanding Pinterest’s Confidence Score

Pinterest gives your account an invisible confidence score (basically a trust score). 

This score measures how relevant and strong your content is and helps Pinterest decide how often and where to show your pins. 

To improve your confidence score: 

• Stay consistent with your pinning schedule (pin at least 1 pin per day – more if possible!).
• Pin to relevant boards optimized with keywords (and filed with other relevant pins).
• Add relevant keywords to your pin titles and descriptions.

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3 Key Places to Optimize Your Pinterest for Business Account

When it comes to optimizing your Pinterest account, focus on these three areas:

1. Your Profile
2. Your Boards
3. Your Pins

Let’s break each of these down with some easy-to-follow Pinterest optimization tips!

How to Optimize Your Pinterest Profile

The first step in how to optimize your Pinterest profile is making sure your profile is searchable and clearly aligned with your brand. Your Pinterest profile is the foundation of your account so you’ll want to optimize this first before publishing a single pin. 

Steps:

• Set up a Pinterest for business account
  • This gives you access to analytics + rich pins
• Choose your display name wisely
  • By default, your account name is the name you entered when setting up your account (typically your first and last name). However, you’ll want to go in and update it to include your business name and at least one main keyword. 

• Write a clear, keyword-friendly about section
  • Describe what your account is about
  • Use your main keyword at least 2 times (3 if possible)
  • Keep your tone conversational and helpful 

• Upload a professional profile picture
  • Use the same username and profile photo across all platforms for a cohesive look
• Claim your website
  • This makes it easy for people to click through to your site 
• Set up rich pins
  • This step requires a bit of coding, but it’s worth it as it adds extra details to your pins and improves their performance

How to Optimize Your Pinterest Boards

Pinterest boards are one of the most important (and often overlooked) places to optimize your Pinterest account. Your boards tell both Pinterest and your audience what your content is about, and if they aren’t set up correctly, they can actually hurt your account’s performance. Since Pinterest scans your boards to better understand and categorize your content, optimizing them properly is essential if you want your pins to reach the right people.

Steps: 

• Create around 10 boards related to your niche
  • Examples: Washington Elopement, Destination Weddings, Elopement Party Inspiration, etc.

💡 Pro Tip: Create a board just for your branded content. This board is ideal for pinning rich pins from your blog!

• Archive or hide personal/unrelated boards
  • Unrelated boards hurt your account’s performance and can confuse pinners
• Use keyword-rich board titles
  • Keep titles minimal and close to the main keyword. Broad, searchable terms are best 
• Write clear board descriptions
  • Use natural, keyword-rich sentences that describe what your board is about
  • Include your main keyword 2-3 times (no keyword stuffing)
  • Include a CTA to encourage users to follow your account
• Pin 10+ pins to each board to start (this helps Pinterest learn what your account is about)

💡 Pro Tip: It’s better to have fewer, highly active boards than a lot of boards you never use. The more a board is interacted with, the more Pinterest will prioritize it and the more it will get shown to others (aka the circle of Pinterest) 🙂

• Only pin relevant content
  • Example: Pin only Washington elopements to a Washington board

How to Optimize Pins on Pinterest 

Your pins are the final piece of the puzzle. Every single pin needs to be optimized correctly to have the highest chance of reaching the right audience. 

Pin Design Tips: 

• Use a vertical image with a 2:3 aspect ratio
• Include high-quality photos or graphics
• Keep your design attractive and your text easy to read
  • Pay attention to phrasing. Use keywords in your pin graphic and make sure your text tells the pinner what the pin is about. Play around with different wording and design formats to see what works best for your audience.
• Rename your image file with your target keyword before uploading to Pinterest
  • Example: washington micro wedding.jpg

💡 Pro Tip: Use consistent branding (colors & fonts) across all pins for a professional look

Uploading Pins:

• Use the “create pin for ad” feature instead of the organic “create pin”
  • This layout tends to perform better even for organic pins
• Pin to the most relevant board 
  • Always upload pins directly to the board that matches the pin content

Pin Titles & Description: 

• Add a keyword to your pin title
  • Your keyword does not need to be at the very front, but it must be relevant
  • Describe what the pin is about 
  • Include one long-tail keyword sentence if possible (Pin titles allow up to 100 characters, but only the first 30-35 will show in users’ feeds)

• Write a conversational pin description
  • Start with 2-3 sentences describing what the pin is about. (When applicable, include locations in your pin titles and/or descriptions as this will improve your chances of showing up).

💡 Pro Tip: Start your description with a question to grab attention

• Add 1 or 2 long-tail keyword sentences naturally. Don’t keyword stuff! 
• Include a CTA. What do you want the pinner to do?
  • Example: “Click to read the full blog post on how to plan your adventure elopement!”
• Add 2-5 hashtags at the end of the description if possible. (If you run out of space, try to fit in at least 1). 

• Add a pin URL
  • Make sure every pin leads to a working webpage. Ideally, a blog post, not just your homepage

💡 Pro Tip: This is why blogging + Pinterest go hand-in-hand!

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In Summary: The 3 Key Areas to Optimize

Optimizing your Pinterest profile takes a little work upfront, but once it’s set up, it keeps working behind the scenes for you—driving clicks, saves, and client inquiries while you focus on what you do best. See for yourself what the results could look like!

Mastering how to optimize your Pinterest profile comes down to focusing on these three essential areas:

1. Your Profile: Make it searchable, clear, and cohesive
2. Your Boards: Keep them organized, on-brand, and filled with relevant content
3. Your Pins: Design them well, use strong keywords, and link them to valuable content

When these three pieces work together, Pinterest becomes a powerful engine to drive steady traffic to your site.

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Ready to Make Your Pinterest Work for You?

If you’re spending time on Pinterest but not seeing results, chances are your foundation needs a little fine-tuning.

Instead of guessing what’s wrong (or sinking even more hours into trial and error), let me take it off your plate. With a Pinterest Audit, I’ll take a look under the hood, fix what’s holding you back, and provide you with clear, actionable steps to move forward (aka a strategy that actually works). 

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FAQs About How to Optimize Your Pinterest Profile

What are the benefits of a Pinterest business account?

A Pinterest business account unlocks valuable tools that help you grow your visibility and reach your ideal clients more effectively. With a business account, you get access to Pinterest Analytics (so you can track what’s working), the ability to run ads, and Rich Pins that automatically update important details like pricing and availability. You can also claim your website, which builds trust with your audience and tells Pinterest to prioritize your content. Click here to learn more about the benefits of using a Pinterest for business account.

How do you find Pinterest keywords?

The best way to find Pinterest keywords is by using Pinterest’s built in guided search feature. Simply search for a term in the search bar on the Pinterest home page and see a list of results appear. Those are the most commonly search terms (aka keywords) on Pinterest.

Can I use hashtags on Pinterest?

Yes, but sparingly and only in your pin descriptions. While hashtags can help categorize content, Pinterest primarily relies on keywords for search functionality. Focus on incorporating relevant keywords into your pin profile, descriptions and titles for better visibility.​

How do I optimize my Pinterest profile for SEO?

When it comes to optimizing your Pinterest profile for SEO, ensure your username and bio include relevant keywords related to your niche. Use a consistent profile picture and username across platforms to maintain a professional look (and make it easier for people to find you), claim your website, and enable rich pins.​

How can I improve my Pinterest board titles and descriptions?

Use clear, descriptive titles that include relevant keywords. In the board descriptions, write concise summaries that incorporate additional keywords naturally, helping Pinterest understand the content and improving searchability.​

How often should I pin new content to my boards?

Consistency is key. Aim to pin new content regularly (aka daily), to keep your profile active and engaging. Utilizing scheduling tools (like Pinterest’s built-in scheduler) can help maintain a steady posting rhythm without requiring you to spend time in your account every day.​

What are rich pins, and how do they help?

Rich pins provide more context about an idea by showing extra information directly on the pin. They can include details like product availability, pricing, or article headlines, making your pins more informative and increasing engagement.

Should I delete underperforming pins?

It’s generally better to focus on creating high-quality, engaging content rather than deleting pins. However, if certain pins are outdated or no longer align with your brand, you can delete them to keep your profile relevant.

What is the most important metric on Pinterest? 

According to Pinterest, “people are 7x more likely to purchase a product that they previously saved on Pinterest.” Even if they don’t take action right away, saving a pin is a strong signal that they’re considering your service or content. Prioritize saves and outbound clicks when evaluating performance, as these are high indicators of interest.

Check out some of our other Pinterest Marketing Resources