How to Use Pinterest to Increase Website Traffic

Guides and Tips

Pinterest is a powerful social media platform with over 200 million monthly users and over 2 billion monthly searches! This ‘visual discovery engine’ is a powerful tool for promoting your e-commerce business because:

Pinterest users are planning for their future and are in discovery mode
55% of pinners use the platform to shop. while 67% look at saved Pinterest content in store
39% of users are likely to be active retail shoppers

Read on, if you’d like to learn our 7 steps to driving traffic from this powerful social media/ search engine hybrid!

1. Create a Pinterest Business Profile

To sign up for a new business account, head over to Pinterest’s website and follow the prompts.

Ensure that you:

Select interests that appeal to your target market
Set up your profile
Upload your logo as a profile picture
Fill in your business name
Add additional words to describe your business as required
Add a trackable website URL
Add a one- or two-line description
Claim your website so that Pinterest knows that the content is shared from your website

2. Enable Rich Pins

Rich Pins have a specific call to action button and provide additional information on your pin. There are 4 types:

Product Pins: Encourage users to ‘visit’ your online store and include real-time pricing, availability, and product information.
Recipe Pins: Encourage users to ‘make’ your recipe by providing ingredients, serving sizes and cooking times.
Article Pins: Show users a headline, author, and story description so that users can check if stories are relevant to them.
App Pins: Encourage users to download and install your app without leaving Pinterest.

3. Create Search Friendly Pinterest Boards

You can categorise your saved pins into boards. They help to group your content into clear categories or silos. Create approximately 5 boards to begin with so that you have a rich profile.

You can also optimise your Pinterest Boards for search! Use searchable keywords in your board names and descriptions. Try to include as many relevant searchable keywords as possible (you don’t get punished for keyword stuffing on Pinterest as you do on Google). Hashtags are also now available on Pinterest, so don’t forget to add them to enhance your visibility!

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel either. Test search terms that you know are also performing well in your Google Ads account. Also, use the Pinterest search bar to see what suggestions come up. These suggestions are reflective of what people are already searching for in the platform.

Once you’ve saved a minimum of 2 Pins to your Board, you can to set a board cover. To choose an image for your Board cover, simply click the pencil icon to the lower right-hand side of the Board and under the ‘cover’ subheading, click change. Instead of using a random image saved within your Board to represent it, we recommend creating custom covers that visually communicate what your board is about. This can be done with a variety of tools, such as Photoshop or Canva.

4. Follow Relevant Profiles and Brands

Once you have created a few Boards, you should follow relevant brands and profiles. This will populate your feed and enable you to keep an eye on what your competitors sharing.

To follow a new profile, simply search a term, click on a profile that appeals and hit follow.

5. Add Pins to Your Boards

It’s time to start adding Pins to your account. You can share pins from other people’s accounts or from your own website.

Regardless of whether you’re saving someone else’s Pin or creating your own, remember to:

Share visually stimulating images. This is how you are advertising your content and generating traffic. Make sure you read ‘Pinterest’s 5 essential tips for great Pins’ because image quality has a strong influence on your click-through rate.
Ensure your images are the right size – Pinterest recommends an aspect ratio of 2:3 (1000 x 1500 pixels).
Save content that is relatable to your audience.
Focus on your copy description – make sure it includes search-friendly keywords while being helpful, detailed, and interesting. Don’t forget to include a call to action!
Ensure the Pin’s URL is working and relevant.
Pin a mix of your own content and others – this shows that you’re a team player.
Pin at the right time – Pin when your audience is on Pinterest.

6. Stay Active

Now that you have everything set up, it is essential that you stay active on Pinterest. Make sure you are frequently adding more content to your profile, and assess what your audience is searching for. We recommend Pinning at least 5 times per day and spacing out your Pins.

Don’t have the time to go on Pinterest 5 times per day? Neither do we. Scheduling tools like Buffer make life much easier, allowing you to save time and schedule your Pins to post consistently.

7. Build a Community

No man is an island! Build up your Pinterest following (and potential website traffic) by engaging with other users frequently.

Interact with other users by commenting on and saving their pins
Join a Pinterest Group Board so that other people who follow the board will see your pins. The easiest way to find a Group Board is to search on PinGroupie. Just search for a keyword and see what’s out there!
Advertise on Pinterest. Pinterest offers a range of ads that align with your business goals, target audience, and creative needs. To find out more, make sure you read ‘How to advertise on Pinterest’.

Pinterest is a powerful social media/search engine hybrid platform. Users are actively engaged and you can cater to your audiences most niche interests. If you’re an e-commerce player, start using this underrated traffic generation tool.

For more ways to increase your website traffic, read How to Use Google Search Console to Gain More Search Traffic.