How to Use Pinterest For SEO

Social media is more important than ever for building brand awareness and improving search page rankings. But there is one site whose influence is becoming a big challenger in the popularity stakes, Pinterest.

Pinterest is an image sharing site which was launched in March 2010, and has since grown to half a billion monthly users and continues to grow.

Studies have shown us that Pinterest users shop more frequently, purchase more items on a more regular basis and in greater quantities, than those on any other social network. But these are not the only benefits for creating a significant Pinterest presence for your company. Pinterest has a growing relevance in organic search pages, Google crawls and index's all Pinterest pages, meaning if used correctly your companies Pinterest profile could have a huge effect on your search rankings, and here's a couple of reasons why:

Backlinks

First and most importantly Pinterest serves as a fantastic back link building tool. It consists of users building mood boards based around different subjects, each one containing pictures they have 'pinned' from other sites. Once an image is 'pinned' to your board it serves as a backlink to the site it came from, a simple click on the picture and you are taken straight to the page the image or video originated from.

If users like your image they have the opportunity to 'repin' it to their own board, anything that has been repined also serves as a backlink. As your popularity builds as will your repins, which in turn will build a larger backlink profile to your site. Statistics tell us that last year 80% of pins on Pinterest were repins, just think how many backlinks those result in.

This process works because it forces company marketers to think creatively, as the entire site is built upon content people want to share. In truly successful campaigns, as content builds exposure there is a strong possibility your content will be shared across to other social media sites and blog pages, increasing your backlink profile even further.

Keyword Research

Your keyword research is vital in creating an effective Pinterest campaign. Google bots crawl and index each profile and each private and public mood board. Therefore the incorporation of effective keyword phrases into pin descriptions as well as within your 'about me' section becomes incredibly relevant to your search engine ranking. Keywords can even be added into photo comments within your boards to further increase your visibility to Google.

Fully optimised boards and profiles will not only aid your search engine ranking, but increase the chances of your Pinterest profile showing in results also. This increases the amount of real estate your company occupies on the results page, thus increasing the click through rate to your site. Not to mention a high ranking Pinterest page increases the value of all of your backlinks

Google Analytics

One of the great aspects about Pinterest is that it is social media you can monitor. You can use Google Analytics to see which pieces of content have earned a referral click, meaning you have a way of monitoring how successful your social content truly is. Not only this, but you can track those who repin your content and interact with them. Allowing you to build a better understanding of your customer base, meaning you can target future campaigns in a more directed manner.

Local Search

Content marketing is a growing business and the idea of visual storytelling is becoming more and more relevant. As with videos, collections of images are easier to digest, and with the advancements in high resolution and retina screens, images are becoming more effective than ever before.

With this in mind Pinterest is proving a big tool in monopolising on local search. Images are more effective on mobile devices than text based content. By pinning images of shop fronts and highlighting local landmarks, the opportunities for your business within local search will become a huge benefit to your online marketing campaign.

With forty million users after just three years in business, there is no doubting Pinterest's influence in the social media world. Whilst Pinterest made it clear that 2013 is going to involve growing and developing the site for all users, social media history tells us it will be only a certain amount of time before there are more specific elements added for companies to take advantage of.

In its current format, using Pinterest for SEO visibility is a quality link building tool with relevant content that is Google friendly. Building an effective Pinterest presence should be an essential tactic in any companies digital marketing plan.