Should bloggers utilize Pinterest? Absolutely!! Pinterest can be a beast for your blog traffic, but here is the catch, you have to know how to use it effectively. To the distress of many bloggers what works for Pinterest changes from year to year (sometimes even more than that!) However, I have you covered for 2020. Here is my Pinterest Tips for 2020 Guide.

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Pinterest Tips For 2020

Back to the Basics

First, let me just share a couple of basic tips in case you are just starting out.

1. Make sure your Pinterest account is set up as a business account.
2. Claim your website.
3. Enable Rich Pins

The Pinterest business account is free to use and easy to set up. Click here for the steps to go from a personal account to a business account. The business account gives you access to your Pinterest analytics, which helps you to see which pins are performing well and gives you the choice to pay to promote a pin. Don’t forget to claim your website, which is simple:

1. In Pinterest, click on your settings menu at the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
2. Click the Confirm website button.
3. Follow the instructions. You’ll be prompted to verify by uploading an HTML file to your server or adding a meta tag to your website’s header.

The business account will also allow you to enable Rich Pins. Rich Pins provide more information directly on the pin. Click here to learn how to enable Rich Pins.

Now that we got the basics out of the way let’s move onto the nitty-gritty.

Pin Quality

Be honest, pin quality matters. When you are scrolling through your feed, you tend to click on what catches your eye. Pinterest is a visual search engine, so the quality of your pin is paramount.

So what should you keep in mind when creating your pins?

1. Create vertical pins
2. Make sure they are helpful
3. Attractive
4. Contain text
5. 2:3 size ratio (recommended by Pinterest)
6. Use more white space in your images
7. Call to action is extremely important when you have a freebie in that post
8. Always brand your pin with a personalized logo or your website
9. Use high-quality images

My Mom Bloggers on Pinterest Facebook Group has an acronym for pins.

HALT: H(elpful) A(ttractive) L(ong) T(ext)

Canva is another great tool to use for creating attractive pins! Canva allows you to design anything and publish straight from their site. It comes with thousands of templates that can be customized to fit your needs and personal style. It is great for Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook images for posting. Creating a Canva account is free, and there’s no need to pay for its essential features. The free option still allows you to make beautiful designs and publish them. Canva has apps available on iPhones, Ipads, and Androids. It is my go-to for creating pins.

Pin Consistantly

You have three options to start pinning your content:

1. Add your Pinterest image to your blog post, and then save it to Pinterest from there with the Pinterest browser button or the hover Pinterest button on your images.
2. Create your pin on Pinterest by uploading your picture.
3. Schedule your pins.

A great way to make sure you are pinning on a regular, consistent basis is to use a scheduler. Personally, I highly recommend using Tailwind. Tailwind helps you to quickly set up a schedule with optimized time slots. This helps so that you don’t have to manually pin as much. Tailwind allows you to schedule multiple posts for Pinterest and Instagram, months in advance. You can even set it up to pin to numerous boards. Tailwind allows you to track activity and trends and offers analytics to help you monitor your Instagram and Pinterest followers, brand mentions, likes, repins, boards, etc.…

How much should you be pinning?

For 2020, it is actually recommended to pin LESS than previous years. However, you should pin more of your content. I actually have my Tailwind schedule set to pin 15-20 a day, half is mine, and the other half is another blogger’s content. Previously, most people were pinning 30-50 pins a day. Be very careful because you DO NOT want to get put in Pinterest Jail. Pinning too much can actually hurt your traffic and get your account suspended for being “spammy.”

I also want to note that Tailwind post 15-20 pins for me over 24 hours. However, I still manually pin and directly upload new pins daily. Here is an example of my daily Pinterest schedule:

• Tailwind pins 15-20 pins a day for me.
• I manually pin other pins a few times a day when I have a chance to scroll through Pinterest or if I have blogging friends that have put out new content, and I want to make sure to share it for them.
• Then I directly upload my new pins several times throughout the day. I usually pick my most popular post (at the moment) or seasonal posts. I pin 3-5 pins directly to Pinterest in the morning, around lunch, and in the evening.

**It is worth noting that I notice the pins that I upload directly to Pinterest each day, get WAY more clicks and impressions than pins straight from my site or Tailwind. Pinterest is really paying more attention to recency and relevancy for 2020. For example, when I sit down in the mornings to pin my 3-5 pins, I have seen my views jump 200+ within minutes of directly pinning those pins to Pinterest.

Create Multiple Pins Per Post

It is crucial to create multiple pins for each blog post. The reason for this? Pinterest favors new pins. Plus, if you create different pins, you are creating options for your readers. Recently, I found a plugin called Tasty Pins, which makes hiding pin images A LOT easier. Tasty Pins is a tool that “allows you to optimize your blog’s images for Pinterest, SEO, and screen readers.” It isn’t free. However, it is only $29 a year! That isn’t bad at all. Break it down, and that is less than $3.00 a month! It is definitely worth your time to research it.

Fresh New Content

This has been a big thing for Pinterest for years now. However, for 2020 it’s imperative for the new algorithm. For 2020 Pinterest is putting its primary focus on FRESH content. Whether that be new blog posts, new products, or new pins, it doesn’t matter as long as it is NEW!

So even though you have hidden more than one pin in a post, you still need to be creating new pins for your post weekly (as many as possible). Here’s the key, it doesn’t have to be a new blog post each week, just new PINS!

What is considered to be new?

1. Different image
2. New title or font for the text overlay
3. Different colors, graphics, or layouts

Pro Tip: I like to create at least 3-5 different templates for each blog post. Then when I am creating new pins for the post, I just make changes to those 3-5 templates, and before you know it, I have over 50 new pins!

Group Boards

Group Boards can be beneficial if used correctly. However, stick to niche-specific group boards. You can request to join group boards, or you can create your own and invite others to join your group board. Niche-specific group boards help you to make connections, grow your followers, and increase your repin numbers. However, because of the new changes, it is more important to focus on your own boards, and then you can fill in the gap with your group boards.

The key here, again, is relevancy, so you need to only pin your pins to relevant boards. It is now recommended to pin each new pin to ONLY 10 boards, so you want to focus on your boards first. Additionally, if you’re going to stay out of Pinterest Jail, Pinterest recommends using an interval of at least 2-3 days between pinning the same pin to the same board.

Create a “Best Of” Board

This gives people a quick glance at everything you are about. I would place this board at the top. This is extremely important for bloggers to have.

Take Advantages of the Seasons

Seasonal content is huge on Pinterest. Things like recipes, DIY projects, decor, and gift ideas for each holiday or season is a must. Move your seasonal boards to the top of your profile as the season approaches and move it back to the bottom when the season is over. More relevant content should be at the top.

SEO Your Profile

If you are a blogger, SEO is not a foreign term for you. Keywords should be everywhere. Place keywords in your pin description, board title, and board descriptions. This allows for better searching.

You have two places in your profile that you can utilize to build your Pinterest SEO: your bio and business/profile name.

As you can see, my business name includes my name, but I also included keywords that I want to rank for in Pinterest. By optimizing your profile name and adding keywords, it makes it easier for people to search for you through the search bar. You have 65 characters, so use them wisely.

Make sure to include more keywords and anything that you want your followers to know about you in your bio section.

SEO Your Boards

As you are creating your boards, have SEO in mind! Your title, description, and category can be hugely beneficial for your Pinterest SEO.

Your board title should be clear. Don’t try to be too cute with the name because you want Pinterest to pick up on exactly what your board is about.

Choose your board’s category, and be sure to include more keywords in the description. I even add a few hashtags.

SEO Your Pins

You should be sure to include a detailed description of each pin that is full of keywords. It is still recommended to add a few hashtags at the end of your description. Make sure you include hashtags and keywords for precisely what you want to be ranked for in Pinterest.

Be Active

Ways to be active on Pinterest:

1. Manual pin and schedule consistently.
2. Pin other people’s pins, along with your own content.
3. When Pinterest recommends a “Board to Follow” in your Home feed, follow it IF it fits your niche.
4. Check your pin activity regularly.

How to check pin activity and what to do next!

If you are on a phone or tablet, the button will be at the bottom. The notification icon is a bell. However, if you are on a desktop or laptop, your notification button is at the top right (see image).

Once you pull your notifications up, look for the notifications that say “blank of your posts were saved” and click on it (see image).

It will take you to your pin activity (see image).

Find your pins that were pinned in each board and repin them to your boards or group boards. This is an excellent way to show Pinterest that you are physically on their platform and being active.

Track Your Progress Further

It’s essential to keep up with how your pins AND boards are performing. You can do this by checking your Pinterest Analytics regularly.

Go to Pinterest > analytics > overview > claimed accounts > yourwebsite.com, and if you scroll down, you’ll see your top pins. You can filter them by impressions, saves, link clicks, etc.

This is where you can check out what pins are performing the best. If you notice any similarities, like fonts, colors, or layouts, then you should take some time to create similar pins for other posts.

Another way you can check your analytics is by using Google Analytics. Go to Google Analytics > acquisition > all traffic > referral > pinterest.com There, you can see precisely what pins brought you traffic.

It’s important to note that you can also get Pinterest Analytics through Tailwind.

Use That Search Bar

Earlier, we talked about SEO, the Pinterest Search Bar is a great place to find topic ideas and keywords to include in your board descriptions, pin descriptions, and board titles. For example, say I am writing a post about mom hacks. Type in “mom hacks” into the search bar (see image). You will be given a TON of ideas to make your keywords more specific. This could even give you ideas for future posts. For example, I could write a post about mom hacks for babies, and then the next week, write a post about mom hacks for toddlers!

Hashtags

Hashtags are still all over Pinterest. I haven’t seen new confirmation for a hard yes or no on hashtags. The key is to always write a pin description and to not use too many hashtags. I try to use 3-7 hashtags in my description and limit them to keywords. The bottom line, I recommend still using them. However, don’t use up too much of your description space with them.

Remember

• Encourage saving from your site (fresh pinning)
• Confirm your Instagram, Etsy, and YouTube accounts (if you have them) with Pinterest
• Use your branding
• Stick to your niche

This is a great place to start, and I can vouch that it works. These are my Pinterest tips for 2020 and these tips have really helped increase my blog traffic for this year. Do you have any Pinterest tips or secrets? I would love to read about them in the comments.

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31