|
|
|
Pinterest is a relatively new social media site that is seeing an explosion in popularity and registered users. According to PRDaily.com, Pinterest has 10.4 million users and growing –– around 90 percent of which are female.
Pinterest is excellent for organizing and sharing Web stories based on photos and images. For example, instead of posting a link to your favorite band’s website, you can “pin” a photo from the website and share it with everyone. When you pin something, Pinterest automatically links it back to the original Web page so readers can find the corresponding story.
Pinterest presents an excellent opportunity to boost SEO for several reasons.
The first reason is because of the power of links. We talk a lot on this newspaper SEO blog about links –– whether you’re linking to a Web page within your own site or whether an outside site is linking to you. Every link that “points” to your site is one “vote” for you in terms of trust, authority and worthy content.
Google spiders use the number of links a website has to gauge whether or not it has trustworthy information –– in other words, the spiders figure, if people are linking to your content, it must be good stuff.
So every time you pin something from your site on Pinterest (or every time someone else pins something on Pinterest from your site), you get an automatic link back to your website and, hence, one vote for your content.
Another reason Pinterest is great for SEO is because Google indexes Pinterest profiles, which means you have more opportunity to appear in search results if you have matching.
But how do you ensure your Pinterest profile appears in the search results when it should? By using the right keywords and naming conventions. (Ahhh… keywords –– there’s that word again.)
Use appropriate keywords when choosing names for your pinboards and writing in the description field.
In Pinterest, you can categorize your pin into as many pinboards as you wish to have, but make sure to use smart and specific keywords like “dinner recipes,” “Chicago sports” or “Mother’s Day gifts.”
Then, when you decide to pin a photos or image from your site, make sure you categorize it in its appropriate pinboard. Pinterest will prompt you to include a description of your pin, which should be one to two sentences and include keywords that match your subject.
For example: Pinboard: “Dinner recipes.” Description: “This dinner recipe for Sesame Salmon Salad is sure to satisfy all your guests around the dinner table. You can also substitute the salmon for any fish you prefer, such as halibut or cod.”
Do you have any questions on SEO and Pinterest? If so, please leave them in the comments field below.
From most popular stories of the week from GateHouse Media news organizations to the latest tips and info on search engine optimization, you'll find great examples to help you make your website a must-see for your town. On analytics, you'll find ideas for using Google Analytics to analyze your own numbers website. Find out what's popular, where readers are coming from and more. And on SEO, you'll learn how to drive traffic to your website.
