How to Use Keywords To Write The Best Pin Descriptions
One of the questions I am asked the most is how to write great pin descriptions. To help you get the most from your Pinterest marketing efforts and drive more traffic to your website, let’s have a deep dive into Pin descriptions.
I know you hear me talk a lot about the importance of using keywords throughout your pins, but let's look at exactly how to use them in your pin descriptions. I really can’t stress enough just how much impact using the right keywords will have on the discoverability of your content.
What keywords Should I use?
If you haven’t done so already, grab a copy of my brand new Pinterest Keyword Planner. This will be an amazing help to you as it will give you 12 months of the top trending keywords for each month, and suggestions on content to plan ahead for. One thing you need to know about Pinterest is that you want to get your pins on the platform at least a month, ideally two months, in advance of a topic trending on Pinterest. This allows the algorithm time to understand what your pin is about and ensure your pin appears in the most relevant searches. Click here to download your free Pinterest planner now!
Also, check out the coloured keyword bubbles at the top of a search (see picture below), and the Pinterest Trends Tool for the latest trending keywords.
How to craft a strong pin description
So, now you have done your keyword research let’s move on to writing the pin description. There are several things you need to know to be able to get the most out of your pin descriptions.
Firstly, you need to understand the biggest goal of your pin description is to ensure that the Pinterest robot understands what your pin is about. Most Pinterest users are using mobile devices to view the platform and the description isn’t fully shown (see picture below), it doesn’t mean that the description is not read at all though - if someone wants more information about what they’ll find when they click through they often check out the pin description, so it's important to tell them more about your pin and what they will find if they click your link e.g. read my full blog post, listen to my full podcast etc…
What this means is people are using the information on pin design to make the decision as to whether to click your link for more details. This really stresses the importance of your pin design and the use of compelling text on your pin - we will look at both of these in closer detail in my next blog posts - so keep an eye out for them!
Going back to the pin description - If you're thinking that, if people aren’t going to read the pin description I can just write a list of keywords right - wrong, please whatever you do don’t just write a list of keywords. Pinterest is very much focused on user experience, so they are looking for a clear written description about the pin which mostly their robot will read (crazy I know!), but that robot, otherwise known as the Pinterest algorithm, will read the description and based on what you write, it will determine what your pin is about, so it shows your pin in the most relevant searches. To go a little deeper, Pinterest actually assigns tags to your pins based on its understanding of the pin design, title and description - look out for my upcoming Pinterest strategies course where I teach you how to look up the tags that Pinterest has associated with your pin. If you would like to sign up for information about my upcoming course and hear about my discounted early bird offer click to register here.
So how to write the best pin description for your pin so it will reach a larger audience?
You have up to 500 characters for your pin description. I suggest that you want to write between 300-500. Generally about 3 to 4 sentences about your pin.
Make sure you’ve done your keyword research using the guided search bar, the Pinterest trends tool, or use my free keyword planner. You want to get a good 5 or 6 keywords or keyword phrases in your description.
For Example:
If I was designing a pin about a chicken casserole, the keywords that I would use are:
Easy; healthy dinner recipe; weeknight dinner recipe; comfort food.
There are also some seasonal trending keywords that I would also want to include (it’s these trending keywords that really make a difference to the reach of your pin - my keyword planner will really help you with this). For my chicken casserole, the current trending keyword(s) that I could use are: Winter dinner recipes; cold weather dinner ideas.
So to put this together, I would create the following description for my chicken casserole:
Looking for cold weather dinner ideas? Give my easy chicken casserole recipe a try! This warming, healthy winter dinner recipe is packed with nutrients and flavor. Using just 10 ingredients, this chicken casserole comes together in no time making it a perfect weeknight dinner recipe, it’s comfort food that the whole family will love. Get the recipe here.
That’s 356 characters (I checked!), I always use Wordcounter, it's a great free resource to check how many characters you’ve used. Check it out here. As you can see, I have been able to get a good amount of keywords in the description.
You’ll notice the last sentence highlighted in blue, it’s my Call To Action (CTA) to encourage people to click through to get the recipe. Always include a CTA to help guide people who do read pin descriptions to take further action on your pin and click through to your website.
Should I use hashtags in my pin descriptions?
As of today 19th November 2023 - Pinterest are using hashtags again, you’ll see them come up in the keyword bubbles when you perform a search on Pinterest and you’ll notice that they are highlighted in blue when used in a pin description. As they are now recognised, I would recommend adding 2 or 3 hashtags at the end of your description. I would use the top keyword you want the pin to rank for. Using my chicken casserole recipe example above, I would opt to add the following hashtags #winterdinnerrecipe #chickencasserole #comfortfood
If I design 5 pins for 1 blog post do I need to write a new description for each pin?
This is a question I get asked loads and the answer is yes, each description should be different, this will ensure that Pinterest identifies each pin as a fresh new pin. The secret to making this as easy as possible is you can target different keywords with each pin. It not only helps you maximize your keyword reach but also allows you to tailor the description to highlight specific aspects of the blog post. You can change the order of some of the sentences and keywords, as long as you change at least 5 or 6 words within each description it will be classed as a fresh description.
Crafting unique descriptions for each pin using different keywords is a great way to capture a much larger audience and will increase the chances of engagement.
Start implementing these suggestions when you’re next writing a pin description to help you boost the discoverability of your content on Pinterest. Also, one last tip, if you have had a pin that hasn’t done as well as you’d hoped, you can go back and edit the pin description using these tips and it might be all it needs to get it going.
GRAB MY FREE 12 MONTH PINTEREST KEYWORD AND CONTENT PLANNER HERE