What are Keywords and Why are they Important to Pinterest

Do you ever hear something in conversation, a word or a phrase, and you kinda know what it means, you’ve heard it before, but you’re like, not exactly sure what it means? That’s how I feel about the word “keyword”. If someone asked you to define it, would you feel called out?!

It’s one of those semi-techy words that make you nod along in a conversation, just like server and SEO, and domains (oh my)!! You may have heard that keywords are important, you may know that platforms like Pinterest, Google, and Youtube are built off keywords. But what are keywords? And WHY are they important?

If you only know how to find keywords, and you don’t know what they are and why they are important, you might just miss the mark on finding the right keywords!

This is how I think of keywords…

“Keywords” are the words used to describe your content, product, or service. It’s often the words or phrases typed into a search bar on platforms like Pinterest, Google and YouTube. Keyword searches are often written as a question or describe a problem or a desired result.

For example,

• How to get rid of acne for adults

• Best farmhouse style lights for an entryway

• Healthy meals that aren’t salads

• Outfit ideas for a valentines date night

• How to schedule my Instagram content

Pinterest, and search driven platforms like it, have one goal. To provide relevant results to a user based on their search. If you went to Pinterest and used the search and got random results, you would think Pinterest was useless! So what they do is they look at the content people are creating on the platform. They categorize the words used to describe that content — the keywords — (Pin Title, Pin Description, the text on the Pin Graphic, the board the Pin was saved to, etc.) and when a user searches, they determine how relevant is the content that is saved on the platform to the search.

This is why keywords are so important in content marketing

The best way to understand which keywords you should be using for your Pinterest content, is to first understand what your ideal client is looking for and what words they would use so that your content can land in front of them.

• What problems do they have?

• What results do they desire?

• What are related things they may be looking for?

For example, you might have a handmade soap business. And this soap can do a lot of things, but one thing it can do is clear up adult acne. If you just described your content with:

• Handmade

• Soap

• Fragrances

• Ingredients

• Etc.

You might miss the customer that is looking for a desired result of clearing their adult acne! They might not even know that they are looking for a handmade soap. Their desire is to have a clean and clear face, and your handmade soap is a solution for them.

So when you’re creating content and posting on Pinterest, think of how your audience is going to find this piece of content. What are they looking for, what words are they using, and using these keywords in your content and using the keywords to describe your content will help search driven platforms like Pinterest, Google, and YouTube rank your content so that it gets in front of your ideal customers.