Creating Pinterest boards: how to use keywords on Pinterest

Using keywords and other SEO strategies on Pinterest is know to work because Pinterest has a built-in search engine. But did you know that you need to do more than just optimize your pins? You also need to optimize your Pinterest boards that your pins will be pinned to. Your boards are basically the most important way for Pinterest to know what you pin is about. There are a couple of elements of your Pinterest boards that you can control and thus optimize. The first one is your board name, then you have the board category and last but not least your board description. The one thing that is difficult to change afterward is your board title, the other elements you can optimize in retrospect and improve as you go. So let's discuss how you can optimize your board for Pinterest SEO.

Optimizing a Pinterest board name

The first step is to create a Pinterest board name that is SEO optimized for your niche. This can be as simple as using commonly used keywords as your board title. A great option is to find some long-tail keywords for your niche that will go along perfectly with your pins and blog posts. A good rule of thumb is to create enough boards that each post has five boards to be pinned to, while at the same time making sure that each board has at least 5 of your blog posts that belong in that niche. You can read more about finding the best keywords on Pinterest for your boards here and how you can use them to find your Pinterest board names.

Choosing your board category

Once you've chosen your board name you'll get a pop-up where you have to choose a category and write the board description. The board category can be a bit confusing as times because the possible categories to choose from are very broad. You can look on Pinterest itself and search each category with the URL: pinterest.com/topics/yourcategory. Or if you have a business account you can go to the 'Create Ad' section under 'Ads' and look for the 'Add Interests' paragraph to get a look at how Pinterest structures its categories. Here you get a glimpse of all the subsections each category has according to Pinterest. Simply use its search function to find the perfect board category for your Pinterest board. Luckily, if you mess this up, you can always go back and change this later on.

Optimizing the board description

The last thing to write is your Pinterest board description. This is a really important place to use the perfect keywords for your board. Do your research and find keywords that are very niched down and preferably long-tail. Then you need to create a list of those keywords that can be used under the umbrella keyword you used in your board name. This way you make sure your board stays firmly within the scope of that keyword and Pinterest will correctly index your board. Once you have your list it's time to start writing the description. Use as many keywords as you can within the limit of 500 characters, just make sure the keywords fit into the niche. Then create a legible text by adding the right function words to connect the keywords together. The one thing you need to repeat for sure is the board name itself. This is just a very quick explanation of how to write your board description, you can learn even more about writing the perfect board description here.

Conclusion: Optimizing Pinterest boards

Now that you know the basic elements of optimized Pinterest boards, it's time to try it out yourself. Start creating boards that fit into your niche and optimize them for Pinterest SEO with your chosen keywords. Fill them up with third-party pins that fit into your niche and once you have a decently filled board, you can add your own pins to them and see how they get the optimization transferred from your boards.

Rose Wismans is a blogger and Pinterest strategist, who blogs at FudgeMyLife.org about using Pinterest to build a successful blog and other blogging related things. On top of that, you will find her writing gift guides to keep it fun.