Alisa MeredithThere is no point mourning the loss of the old chronological listing of pins on our Pinterest feeds. Those days are gone and we’ll be dealing with algorithm changes from here on out. That said, any time the topic of Pinterest SEO (or DEO – Discovery Engine Optimization) pops up, so will the tactics and iffy strategies that miss the larger points of best practice.
Some people advocate deleting pins without a fair number of repins. It is assumed that having a high engagement/virality rate helps your pins rank in Pinterest search. That has been found, at least anecdotally, to be true. So in theory, deleting pins without engagement will help.
There, I said it. It hurt.
However, there are other things you can – and should – be doing that will likely provide better results AND get you on your way to a much better Pinterest presence from here on out. As an added bonus, you won’t need to constantly monitor and delete pins. Just get back to enjoying pinning!
Get Back to Basics
Even if you had a solid strategy when you first started on Pinterest, you might find that after a few years of fun Pinterest rabbit holes, your account has become something of a hodgepodge of disparate topics and abandoned boards.
If you have no clear view of your customers (get a sample buyer persona here which you can edit for your own needs), stop pinning now. Take a few minutes to get this in mind. Write it out on paper and then take another look at your account. Do they match up? Are you the solution to their needs, goals, challenges, and questions? If not, it’s time for a reboot.
If one-third of your boards are for your business and then you have personal boards for recipes, funny memes, clothes, etc., consider creating a personal account. Then you can duplicate those boards on your new account, repin all your board pins to the personal account and delete the misfit boards on your business account. If you would rather not have two accounts, you can create secret boards on your business account and move your non-business-related pins there.
Take a fresh look at your profile description. Are the keywords still relevant? Do the same with all your board descriptions. You might be surprised to find that some of your boards don’t even have a description. Fix that now! Are your board titles clear and keyword optimized? This is not the place for cute and clever. Be sure each board assigned the most applicable category. Never opt for “other” if you can help it!
Could you make some of your boards more specific? For instance, if you started with a board for social media, but now you have 500 pins about many social networks, could you split them up by network? It’s so easy to move pins in bulk right from Pinterest now, there’s really no reason not to!
Now you have a much more focused account, which is going to make for happier followers and some added Pinterest SEO love.
Get Rich Pins
If you don’t have them already, enable rich pins on your site. Rich pins display extra information on your site that you can’t get from a description alone – and they can’t be changed by anyone repinning or pinning from your site. They also stand out in the feed, increasing the chance that someone will click, like, or repin.
Pin Better Pins
From here on out, resolve to do a better job with pinning. For your own content, make sure your images have keyword-rich image names and a good description built into the alternative (alt) text. With anything you pin from your site, write a thoughtful description which should include a personal thought, “I can’t wait to make this for my kids! 3 recipes for a healthy school lunch.” as well as a subtle call to action, such as the URL to the article.
Be more particular about the images you pin. Are they attractive? Are they vertical? If you love it but it’s not ideal, you can make your own with Canva or your favorite image editor. When pinning from websites or repinning, you don’t have to settle for the description that pops up. Make it better!
Oh, and always, always check before you repin – make sure the pin does not lead to a spammy site. There’s no quicker way to lose your fellow pinners’ trust. On the other hand, if you consistently pin well, you might find other pinners trust you and will repin your pins more often. I have a few pinners who I completely trust – I know I never have to check their sources. It saves me time and increases their exposure.
Delete Underperforming Boards You Don’t Use
Did pinning about MySpace seem like a good idea at one time? If you’ve lost interest and so has everyone else, you might as well delete it.
The same thing goes for group or collaborative boards. If you accepted too many invitations and now you just can’t keep up, leave the ones that aren’t paying off.
Now you can concentrate on your remaining high-quality boards. Pin the best pins possible and you’ll never need to consider spending your time on tactics like deleting pins.
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