In October of 2012, image-sharing website Pinterest overtook Yahoo to become the fourth-largest traffic-generating site in the world, quite an achievement for such a young website.
Businesses looking to increase website traffic need to consider a Pinterest presence as part of their SEO strategy. Below are some tips to get traffic moving through your pinboards.
Backlinking Profiles and Pins
Your Pinterest profile should include a keyword-rich description of your business, including who you are and what you offer. Be sure the profile includes a backlink to your website, so curious pinners can visit.
In fact, every image you pin should include appropriate keyword descriptions and a backlink to your site. Remember Google sees rePins as valid and valuable backlinks, improving your search engine results. Repinning is also an organic means of improving your online presence.
Consider Your Keywords
Create clusters of related keywords for each board on your profile. Don’t focus on one or two keywords to the exception of all others, which Google may see as keyword-stuffing. Brainstorm alternate versions of keywords and use relevant long-tail keywords (key phrases with high relevance but limited traffic). Your goal is a board where image keywords form a network of relevant keywords.
Whether you’re selling cloud computing services or trying to find oil investment scams, make it as easy as possible for users to find your images. Add hashtags to images for users to search by. For instance, a cloud service may use a hashtag like #inthecloud, while a pest-control manufacturer might opt for #zapbugs, #killmosquitoes and similar tags. Remember to add a hashtag based on your company name and popular products.
Should You Watermark Images?
This one’s tricky. Many companies watermark their images with their website URL. This ensures no one tries to pass the image off as their own, and the image is always connected to the business.
On the other hand, pinners often find watermarks distracting, and chose not to repin watermarked images, reducing your Pinterest presence. Some businesses opt for a balance, watermarking their most important images while leaving less-sensitive images clear.
Pinterest and Website Images
If you’re using Pinterest to drum up traffic, make it as easy as possible for website visitors to pin your site’s images. Adding Pin It buttons to your WebPages along with other social media links is essential.
Optimize your website images with repinning in mind. Each image should have a well-written description and title in the Alt text. It’s this information Pinterest captures by default when a user repins from your site, so make sure it contains useful information and relevant keywords.
Watch Your Repins
You can’t establish a presence on Pinterest without repinning other people’s images. A little care is advisable here though. Before repinning everything, check image links to ensure you’re not connecting to link-farms, spam or disreputable sites. Repins with questionable links could hurt your search engine optimization.
Make sure the image lists the correct source credit, and be vigilant about respecting copyright. A business caught pinning copyrighted material faces more potential fallout than individuals making the same mistake.
Schedule Pins
Pinterest’s feed moves slower than Facebook, so pinning too much too fast does you little good. Instead, schedule when you pin images around popular pinning times. Peak pinning times include 2:00 to 4:00 pm on weekdays. Weekends are more fluid, with people pinning at all times of day. Outside tools such as Pingraphy let you schedule pins ahead of time.
Use Source
If you are interested in seeing what images from your website are most popular on Pinterest, you should use Pinterest Source to check. Simply go to pinterest.com/source/yourdomain.com (replace with your domain name) and see what images appear most often. This can help you learn about pinners’ behavior – what they like to pin and repin, and what images are less likely to catch their eye.
What other techniques for increasing your Pinterest account’s influence have you tried? Let us know in the comments!