Pinterest SEO: How to Use Keywords on Pins and Boards

The short answer

Find the phrases people search with, then use them in plain language in your Pin title, your description, your board names, your profile and the page the Pin links to. Keep titles to 100 characters or fewer and descriptions to 500 or fewer. Check results in Analytics and adjust. No tool or trick replaces a useful page behind the Pin.

What Pinterest documents and what is advice

Pinterest publishes limits and tools, but it does not publish a ranking formula. So this page keeps two things apart. Limits and features, such as title length, Pinterest Trends and rich Pins, come from Pinterest help pages checked on November 7, 2026. Placement advice, such as which fields to put keywords in first, is common practice and our experience, not a Pinterest rule. We do not promise rankings or traffic.

Step 1: find the words people use

• Pinterest Trends. With a business account, Pinterest Trends shows top search, save and shopping trends for up to the last two years. You can compare up to four keywords at once. Pinterest says to use a desktop or mobile browser, not the app.
• The search bar. Type your topic and write down the phrases that appear as suggestions and in the results. These are real wording people use. Treat them as ideas to check against your content.
• Your own Analytics. Pinterest Analytics reports impressions, saves, outbound clicks and engagements, with custom ranges going back about a year and a half.
• Ready lists. Browse Pinterest keywords by niche, which are curated ideas without volume numbers, then group them with the keyword grouper.

Match intent. A person searching a broad idea wants inspiration, while a person searching a specific product wants to buy. Choose keywords that fit what your page actually offers.

Step 2: where keywords go

Titles and descriptions

Write the title for a person first

Good: a clear promise with the phrase in it, such as a topic plus the result. Weak: a vague phrase or a string of keywords. Open with the main phrase so it still shows if the title is cut. Check your draft with the pin title analyzer and generate options with the title generator.

Use the description to add context

Say what the Pin leads to, who it helps and one or two related phrases, then a clear next step. Because Pinterest says descriptions do not appear in the home or search feed, the title and the image text carry more of the first impression. Draft with the description generator, count characters with the character counter, and add alt text with the alt text generator.

Hashtags

We do not claim hashtags improve reach, because we could not verify that from Pinterest. If you use them, keep them few and relevant. Niche ideas are in Pinterest hashtags by niche.

Board names and profile

Name each board for a topic a person would type, and avoid cute names that hide the subject. Add a short description in natural language. Pinterest says archiving a board does not reduce your board count, so you must delete boards to free the space. Get ideas from Pinterest board name ideas, and check lengths there. For the profile, the bio generator and username generator help with first drafts.

Your website and rich Pins

Pinterest pulls signals from the page a Pin links to. Claim your site in your business account so saved Pins show your profile picture and a follow option. Add Open Graph or Schema.org markup so Article, Recipe or Product rich Pins can appear, and allow up to 24 hours for data to sync. Pinterest says listicles and image heavy pages with little text do not count as articles. The WordPress to Pinterest guide walks through this for a blog, and the Rich Pin Checker helps you test.

Measure and improve

1. Publish several pins per page with different titles and images, using the same target phrase.
2. Wait long enough to compare, and look at impressions, saves and outbound clicks for each.
3. Keep what earns clicks, rewrite what earns impressions but no clicks, and retire what earns neither.
4. Repeat keyword research each season. See the holiday marketing calendar for timing.

Not sure where to start? Run the Pinterest account audit.

Free tools and keyword pages

• Pinterest SEO checklist, the one to open first.
• Pinterest keywords, hashtags and board names hubs.
• Pin SEO score checker.
• Bulk pin creator and Pinterest scheduler to publish at scale within the rules.