Wondering how to use Pinterest for blogging? Although there are many conflicting pinning tips and tricks for bloggers, figuring out a solid strategy for how to grow blog traffic with Pinterest can make a huge difference to your blog traffic.
I’ve learned a solid Pinterest marketing strategy for bloggers that I use to grow traffic. I pair this strategy with patience and consistency: it’s working!
Pinterest for bloggers has been a bit of a challenge in recent years. Pinterest tips and tricks change regularly as the platform grows.
Many changes and recommendations from “experts” have made it difficult to determine what works to grow blog traffic with Pinterest.
In this post, I’m sharing tested pinning activities to give your pin the best chance to rank high in Pinterest searches. You’ll also discover how to get people to click on your pins. And grow blog traffic too!
I’ll break down the top Pinterest strategies that have worked for me. You’ll learn how to promote a blog on Pinterest – smartly with a good return on your invested time.
We’ll look at tips for what I like calling “three G’s” of Pinterest marketing strategy:
- Growing Your Audience Through Your Attractive Profile & Boards
- Getting Your Pins Found On Pinterest
- Generating Outbound Clicks On Pinterest
So let’s get started!
DISCLOSURE: The strategies shared in this post are for educational and informational purposes only – they worked for me and may work for you too! This post contains affiliate links, meaning if you click on a product or service, and decide to purchase it, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. All recommended products and services are based on my positive experience with them. For more information, please read my Disclaimer.
Bookmark this post for later: pin it on Pinterest!
How To Use Pinterest For Blogging
Many bloggers focus on two areas for consistent blog traffic: Google and Pinterest.
To understand how to use Pinterest for blogging – and be successful – change your mindset.
When you think of it in terms of advertising, it all makes sense.
Pinterest Pins As “Advertisements”
Your pins are like ads. You’re advertising the content on your blog through pins and video pins.
How do you entice somebody to click to read more?
You do so by creating a visual that speaks to the desired outcome. It tells Pinterest users what to expect when they click the pin.
I’ve pinned many different types of pins, and I’m always experimenting with titles, designs and formats.
Before we start talking about how to use Pinterest to promote blog content, are you following me on Pinterest? I’m there under my MargaretBournemedia username.
You can also follow me on my lifestyle Pinterest account: Suburban Tourist. Thank you!
How To Use Pinterest For Blog Traffic: My Strategies
I decided to share my Pinterest marketing strategies because I know many other bloggers have been struggling with the platform.
Since the start of January 2023, I’ve been working on growing my MargaretBourne.com site outbound clicks on Pinterest.
I’ve focused on three key areas of Pinterest:
- Creating a pro-looking profile and boards
- Designing and pinning attractive pins, and optimizing them with keywords
- Consistently pinning at least one pin a day
The result is that I’ve managed to boost my outbound clicks over time, with ebbs and flows due to seasonality.
You can see it for yourself with this inside peek at my Pinterest analytics:
Remember, it’s harder to drive outbound clicks with a less popular niche on Pinterest. Blogging tips are generally not as popular as food recipes, parenting tips or DIY projects.
I’ve more than doubled my outbound clicks, and it keeps on growing higher!
Learn how I did it by doing these things…
How To Grow Blog Traffic With Pinterest
Newer, smaller accounts seem to have a harder time getting their pins ranking these days.
If you don’t have many followers, you’re bound to get fewer eyeballs on your pins. And so, less engagement.
However, over time you’ll will see regular traffic coming in from Pinterest.
It can take anywhere from six months to a year before some of your Pinterest pins show up in searches. This is why I recommend patience and consistency!
Let’s move on to the first Pinterest marketing strategy.
1. Growing Your Pinterest Followers Through Your Awesome Profile & Boards
Although only about 5% of Pinterest users visit profiles, it’s still important to make a good impression.
If your house is a disorganized mess, with crappy old furniture around, do your friends want to visit you? Chances are that they don’t. They prefer to hang out in a clean, nicely decorated place.
The same applies to your Pinterest profile!
Here’s my profile for my @MargaretBournemedia Pinterest account.
If you aren’t an expert in your niche, you must present yourself and your account professionally. People want to follow people on Pinterest who look like they have their sh*t together.
But why is it important to have followers?
The truth is that the more Pinterest followers you have, the greater chance they will see your pins on their homefeed. This is just one way you can grow blog traffic with Pinterest.
Brand Yourself On Pinterest
To have the right, interested people find you, you need to “brand yourself” on Pinterest.
You want to have visitors to your Pinterest account WANT to follow you.
Your description will be key in letting them know what kind of pins you’ll be sharing. This is not the time to be mysterious.
Therefore, be you, and be easy to understand within a matter of seconds. Pinterest users will quickly scan your profile and decide whether you are worthy of a follow or not.
If they take a quick glance through your boards, they’ll also know what content you’re sharing.
So you need to make sure you have the following:
- A photo of yourself if you’re a blogger or an influencer personality. A well-shot and well-edited phone photo can do very well if you don’t have a professional headshot.
- Add a cover that works for your brand. Include a URL like I did, or a brief tagline, logo… whatever works for you, your blog or your business.
- A succinct but keyword-optimized name and description in your profile. Match the board name to what your key target audience would be searching for in the Pinterest search bar (e.g., “Blogging Tips, DIY Crafts, Parenting Tips).
- Boards that are organized and optimized with keywords in their titles and descriptions. Board covers are optional. This makes it easier for people who pop into your profile to figure out what your interests are and if they align with theirs.
Here’s what I did for my popular Great Outdoors & Nature board on my Suburban Tourist account.
| RELATED: How To Find And Use The Best Keywords For Pinterest Pins
2. Getting Your Pins Found On Pinterest
I’m going to say something that most Pinterest experts don’t say.
It’s not about going viral… it’s about getting consistent blog traffic!
The temptation is to get pins to go viral. It does happen, but to get a pin to go viral, you need the luck of the Pinterest gods.
It’s like winning the lottery! YIPPEE!!
Like I did with this viral pin. Holy moly stats!!!
But if your pins aren’t going viral… don’t worry.
You can still get amazing ongoing traffic by implementing a good Pinterest SEO strategy.
The most important thing is to optimize pins to get them found.
You can create the best pins around, but if your target audience can’t find them on Pinterest, you’ve got a big problem.
My second strategy to get blog traffic with Pinterest is to have pins ranking high in Pinterest Search.
To do so, you need to make sure you’re using the correct keywords and key phrases your target audiences are using to find pins on any given topic.
How To Rank High In Pinterest: Keyword Research!
Optimizing your Pinterest pins with keywords and long-tail keywords (keyword phrases) is my number one tip to grow blog traffic with Pinterest.
I’ll explain why.
Like Google, when you search a keyword phrase in the Pinterest search bar, the best, relevant results will pop up first.
Here’s the secret: you need to add Pinterest keywords to your pins in order to get ranked in searches.
Pinterest takes the image, the pin title, and the pin description content and identifies what your pin is all about. This is how Pinterest keyword SEO and Pinterest search works.
There are other factors that help you rank high (engagement!). However, if you don’t have keywords, it’s like putting on a gown but having no shoes or accessories to go with it.
The KEY GOAL of Pinterest is not to have many monthly viewers. It’s outbound clicks!
When I see people touting that they have over 3.8 million monthly viewers, I laugh.
Out of those 3.8 million, what’s the ratio of people actually visiting their site?
Real Pinterest success is to have people clicking on your pins to read your blog’s content on a consistent, regular basis.
That’s it!
For example, I have this evergreen pin about gifts for new moms getting me some pretty good ongoing traffic. I made sure to optimize it with the right keywords and key phrases.
| RELATED: 10 Free Pinterest Pin Templates For Canva
How To Find Keywords & Key Phrases On Pinterest
You won’t be able to grow blog traffic with Pinterest if you don’t use the site’s own keywords.
How do you find Pinterest keywords and key phrases to use in your pin title and description? In the Pinterest Search Bar!
Take a two-word keyword phrase and enter it into the Search Bar. For example, “Blogging Tips”.
Several options pop up, showing the most popular keywords and phrases. These are keywords to incorporate into your description or pin title for your pin to be ranked and easily found.
Similarly, you can find keyword pairings when you look at one keyword, like this:
Write all the relevant ones down and use the best ones that fit your pin description.
How To Add Optimized Descriptions On Pinterest
Unless you’re good at using HTML, it can be difficult for you to set a title and description for each pin.
You don’t want to add them to the alt-text section.
Google doesn’t like alt text entries longer than 125 characters. So long Pin descriptions don’t help you optimize for Google searches.
Instead, use Tasty Pins, a plugin that helps you set the pin title and description.
Hashtags Are No Longer Needed On Pinterest
The message that the Pinterest team is sending to many is that hashtags are no longer needed.
Apparently, as a result of spammers overusing them, Pinterest is no longer using them to categorize and rank pins.
How To Grow Blog Traffic With Pinterest: Generating Clicks With Attractive Pins
So you have a beautiful profile, organized and optimized boards and have your pin title and descriptions SEO’d with keywords.
What next?
Learn how to grow blog traffic with Pinterest.
Since Pinterest is a visual search engine, you need to have attractive pins. This is the third way to drive blog traffic using Pinterest.
Over the past year, I’ve tested out several different styles of pins, font pairings, images and so forth.
Pinterest Best Practices For Bloggers
I’m sharing my tips for how to use Pinterest for blogging and generating traffic:
- Pin size: 1000 x 1500 pixels is optimal (2:3 ratio). I make longer vertical pins (1000 x 2100 px) for A/B testing.
- Create a consistent look & feel based on your brand colour palette
- Pins have one to two brand colours, with black and white for text
- Use images related to the topic
- When using free stock images, zoom in or modify them to look original
- ALWAYS use quality photos
- Create a contrast so text can be easily read
- Use large text on pins with sans-serif fonts so it’s easier to read
- Use script or handwriting fonts sparingly for emphasis words only
- Choose attractive fonts – avoid using juvenile-looking fonts on parenting pins (your audience is an adult)
- Create “white space” by leaving room around text
- Consider bright, warmly-coloured pins for most niches; self-care/outdoors/travel are OK with greens and blues
Here’s my example of an attractive pin… You can pin it if you like to save this post for future reference. It’s all ready to be pinned with a title and description!
Create Catchy Pinterest Headlines But Not “Clickbait”
My final tip to drive more traffic with Pinterest is to create a catchy headline.
For this, I use the following approach:
- “How to”, “10 Ways to…”, “A Guide To”
- Address a pain point – e.g., grow blog traffic, dealing with the terrible threes, relief for daily stress
- Throw in action/dynamic words: “My secret”, “Unbelievable”, “Ridiculously easy” …
Here’s a fantastic write-up on words and terms that convert for sales… they work just as well in many cases with pin headlines.
I always check my pin text using Sharethrough Headline Analyzer to see if it has “clickability”.
So the rule is: use fewer words, carefully crafted to attract interest and desire to click!
Experiment With Video Pins
Video pins – formerly known as Idea pins – are another format that you can explore.
They’ve been around for a long time, but now have been combined with Idea Pins that Pinterest introduced a few years ago.
They are a good strategy for driving traffic to your blog and showcasing your knowledge and abilities.
Through video pins, you boost your engagement. People stay on your profile just a bit longer when you’re sharing a short video.
In terms of video pin content, choose a common problem, and offer a few solutions with vibrant visuals.
For example, if you have a food blog, offer a few slides or videos on how to make a recipe.
If it’s a DIY project, do the few steps to create something.
Finish off with a call-to-action at the end, and click the pin to find out more.
| RELATED: How To Create Stunning Video Pins And Add Them To Pinterest
3. Pinning Strategies: Consistent Pinning Every Day
Like every other social media platform, Pinterest wants to see you active on it every day.
It also wants to see you adding fresh content daily.
I know life can get busy, so try to pin one pin a day.
You can do this by:
- Batching pins and scheduling them in advance
- Using a pin template to quickly design a fresh pin
- Designing your own pin from scratch and pinning it
You’ll find the Canva app on your phone is a great solution for the last two options.
Pinning Best Practices
What are the pinning strategies that will help you grow traffic with Pinterest?
- Quality content is what gets read and re-pinned. Create content that people want to read about. When writing blog posts always consider the question first and answer it.
- More blog posts and pins result in greater blog traffic. Start writing and promoting via pins!
- Always produce fresh new pins weekly (minimum 10 to 15/week) and pin them to relevant boards. You can use a scheduler such as Tailwind to speed up the process and easily keep track of your content.
- Optimize your pin images on your blog with keywords using Tasty Pins. This plugin helps you fill out the Pin Title and Pin Description per image.
- Always create fresh content. Don’t re-pin old pins. Fresh pins mean new text fonts and titles, a new image and a new title, description, etc. EVERYTHING NEW.
- Limit re-pinning pins from others. Focus on creating fresh pins and occasionally re-pinning your older pins to new boards.
- Don’t spam with more than 25 pins/day. Space out my pins over a few hours with manual scheduling on Pinterest.
- Intervals are important for pinning. Don’t pin the same pin on the same day to all your boards.
- Make your pin title reflect the blog post content. This way it will get repins and people will stick around on your blog. Don’t over-promise and then under-deliver!
Create More Than One Pin Per Post
Don’t get discouraged when what you think is a great-looking pin doesn’t get any traction. It may not be the right time for that topic.
Always create more than one with a different headline and template style.
A/B Testing helps you find the one that will go “mini-viral” and even viral.
On average, I create 3 to 5 pins for new blog content.
A few months later, I’ll create another 2 to 3 new pins for that post.
PRO TIP: If you have a pin that includes a date, such as “How To Declutter Your Home Like A Pro In 2024” and the year is 2025, create a new pin with a new design and new date. People are more likely to click on something recent and more relevant.
| RELATED: Top Pinterest Strategies And Tips For Blogging Success
The Best Pinterest Resources & Tools I Use All The Time
Want to know how to grow blog traffic with Pinterest like I did?
These are my tried, tested and true Pinterest tools and resources – my essentials!
Tools For Designing Pinterest Pins
Canva – This free graphic design editing tool is a good solution for creating your pins.
Styled Stock Society – Hands down, one of the best stock photography memberships I’ve had. Over 5,000 beautiful lifestyle and workplace images, with more photos added each week.
Check out other free and membership stock photo sites: over 25+ to choose from in my 50+ Blogging Resources & Tools post.
| Read More: 10 Best Places To Find Stunning Stock Photos
Tools For Optimizing Pins & Auto Scheduling
Tasty Pins – This plugin helps you set your descriptions without using the ALT Text. You can also set which images you’ve added will or won’t be pinned. You can add hidden pins that will pop up when somebody clicks your share button or extension button.
Sharethrough Headlines Analyzer – It gives me a score based on my headline text, identifying whether it will be click-worthy or not.
Tailwind For Pinterest – Awesome scheduling tool for beginner bloggers with too much on their plate. It keeps you organized. I’ve used it along with manual pinning for optimum results. Read more about why Tailwind is a useful tool for beginners.
Need some extra Pinterest templates to QUICKLY create gorgeous pins?
Check out my package of 100 Pinterest templates for Canva in my Template store.
All The Tips For How To Grow Traffic With Pinterest
So now you have a better idea of how to grow traffic with Pinterest! The goal was to learn how to promote a blog on Pinterest, and I’ve covered all the key bases.
As you can now see, you can grow blog traffic with Pinterest. It’s a powerful tool to get your content in front of your target audience.
For the best success in increasing blog traffic with a Pinterest marketing strategy:
- Gain an interested audience that follows you
- Optimize your pins with the right keywords
- Create beautiful pins with click-worthy headlines
One final BONUS TIP: Use Pinterest to grow your email newsletter subscriber list. Promote your awesome free lead magnets!
If you haven’t even started a Pinterest account for your blog, I’ve written this ultimate beginner’s guide to starting on Pinterest.
And don’t forget to get the free Pinterest pin templates!
| RELATED: 15+ Places To Submit Your Blog Posts To Get Huge Traffic
READ MORE: How To Grow Your Newsletter Subscriber List With Attractive Free Lead Magnets
QUESTION: What’s your biggest challenge with Pinterest? What tips did you find the most useful for your Pinterest marketing strategy?
Like this post? Bookmark it on Pinterest – thank you!
This post has been updated for 2024 Pinterest best practices.
A truly useful post! I was wondering how long it takes for Pinterest to start showing results. I launched my lifestyle blog, Highlighted in Pink, and I am pinning regularly, but I don’t know if I am on the right track?!!
It will take a few months: remember that Pinterest is trying to understand your niche. Start producing beautiful pins that attract saves. Populate your boards with relevant content from others and from yourself. The point is to position yourself in your niche.
Such great tips. I’ve worked my way through your Pinterest Course as well which was fantastic!
I’m so glad you found it helpful!
Very helpful blog post thank you! Do you have any more information or other blogs on the difference between a video pin or a static pin and why one may be preferable over the other?
No other blog post, but I can tell you that both seem to be showing up regularly in the results when I search for something. Play around with them. There aren’t as many people using video pins, so I feel that some times these ones get a bit more traction from the algorithm.
Really great tips, thank you! Some of them I wouldn’t even think about implementing. I’ve been pinning and repinning for awhile now, but I still don’t get any traffic to my blog. I’ll make up some new pins based on your advice, and work on being patient!
This is the perfect guide for a blogger like me. I created three Pinterest accounts because all were deactivated. I tried to pin all the images of my blog on the same day.
Yes, it’s a common mistake! Pinterest is very picky about this, and will see you as a spam account.
These se are great tips! I appreciate that you update it to keep it relevant to the changes that Pinterest makes. I struggle with Pinterest and find this very helpful
This is chocked full of great tips! I have this bookmarked so I can come back and check thru each tip. My goal recently has been to really tighten up my keyword game and my branding so my pins can start to be recognizable.
This was a much needed post for me. Pinterest used to my best friend and has recently become my enemy so hopefully I can utilize these tips and experiment with different strategies. Thanks for your wisdom Margaret!
Hope you gain some success in 2023!
I want to stop obsessing solely on SEO next year and learn Pinterest more. Thanks for this!
Amanda, knowing how much effort you’ve put into SEO, you’re set for now. Let your presence in Google grow and then update as needed in about 6 months or so. For now, push into Pinterest! 🙂
These are great tips! I appreciate that you update it to keep it relevant to the changes that Pinterest makes.
I read this article a few months back before I started my Pinterest account and so glad I did! I’m getting pretty decent engagement with my pins.
That’s fantastic feedback! I’m glad to see they’ve helped you get traction.
As always, your tips are so very helpful! Thank you! I realize I need to start working on creating idea pins for Pinterest…so there’s the first goal for 2023! Also, working for consistent traffice vs. getting a pin to go viral is so hard to focus on…but you have definitely proven that this is indeed the way to go!
Experiment with Idea Pins and see if they work for you! Consistency is always a winner.
Really practical and clear tips we can all apply as usual Margaret! Thanks so much.
I hear Pinterest has listened to user woes and will soon change idea pins to have clickable links!
I hope so too! Idea Pins were a great idea but missed the mark without being clickable.
Thank you for the tips! I wish I read this article before I starting pinning everything and anything to Pinterest. You have inspired me to reassess my approach!
I know the feeling – you should have seen my first Pinterest account for my lifestyle blog! But you can catch up with good Pinterest strategies.
I’ve a question, how much time a new pinterest profile will take to get decent traffic from Pinterest?
Give it at least 6 months of consistent pinning (at least 2 to 5 a day) to start seeing your pins getting traction. You want Pinterest to “get to know you” and what content you share. Also consider timeliness and seasons – what are people searching for in Spring in your case “Spring flowers” or “Spring shrubs” etc. Pin these at least a month or so before Spring arrives for Pinterest to index the pins.
Pinterest was my #1 traffic source, but after 2020 I lost all.
I googled and read a bunch of posts on Pintrest traffic, but this guide stand out.
I has worthy content.
I can relate to this! Glad this is helpful to you. Good luck in 2023!
Incredibly helpful post, thank you for your efforts.
Glad you think so – you’re welcome!
Thank you for these tips! They are very useful for a beginner like me.
I’m glad I found your blog! 🙂
Me too! Glad to have you as part of my community. 🙂
Great resource for new bloggers like me. Learnt some new strategies here. Bookmarking the post for reference.
These are fantastic suggestions!
Video pins have helped me a ton!
Thanks for sharing this! I have such a love-hate relationship with Pinterest.
Me too! Me too!
Thanks Margaret, very helpful tips for beginner blogger. I’m also very struggling with how to transfer Pinterest viewers to my blog site. My total monthly viewers might be growing however the engagement rate is quite low. I seldom finds a practical blog post to share their secret sauce of driving blog traffic instead of promoting a lot about their affiliate marketing products. Thanks for your genuine share!! I will try to hybrid some your strategies to mine.
Hi Erin – thank you for the great feedback on the post. Really pay attention to your text on the pin. It needs to capture the interest and really clearly spell out, succinctly, what the Pinterest user will get out of your post. I’m always tinkering with my pin text overlays to come up with effective ones. Sometimes simple text + Pinterest SEO works wonders.
This is so timely. I want to do Pinterest this year and had no clue where to begin. Thanks!
That’s great! Read up and try as many strategies as possible. Always create beautiful, compelling pins and pin them in the right spots. You’ll get traction over time!
I really need to take a look at my pinterest again. It’s been ages and isn’t something I typically pay attention too.
And it’s such an important tool for getting traffic to your site! Do it! 🙂
I’ve been trying to figure ways to grow my Pinterest and get more traffic and this is right on time. I will follow your tips and see the results.
I hope they help you grow your blog! 🙂
Thanks for the great tips! I am trying to get more visitor from Pinterest, and I hope using your tips I will get there!
I’ve definitely tried a bunch of these tips but traffic from Pinterest is NOT explosive. So I still feel like, despite my efforts, I am not doing it right.
It takes time and consistency in pinning. That’s probably the best thing I can share. Don’t give up too soon!
These are awesome tips! Pinterest used to generate most of my PVs but after tons of changes over the years, I kinda lost track of what’s what. Have you ever had success with promoted pins?
I haven’t used them, for the key reason that some bloggers who have, have had mixed experiences. I’m working way on organic reach for now.
Pinterest growth is one of my biggest goals for this year with my blog. I have been working on optimizing things, so this is very helpful. I am working on writing up my Pinterest to-do list and strategy, so I am bookmarking this to read again!
That’s great! I know it’s lots of work, but in the end, you’ll definitely see a boost!
I fall in and out of love with Pinterest… I’m just not sure I get much traffic from it, but I will give your tips a try!
Let me know if they help out. It’s so much experimenting with the pins themselves and making sure you’re using the right keywords. Over time you’ll get some really good reach.
Thanks for sharing. I didn’t know about Sharethrough Headlines Analyzer, it’s a great tool!
It’s FANTASTIC! I love to check out if my headline will be worthy of a click or not.
These are great tips for getting traffic with Pinterest. Pinterest is so helpful to bloggers if you know how to do it right.
Exactly!
My biggest challenge is getting good looking pins. I need to spend some time and revamp some of my older pins.
I’m doing this as well. It’s also good to go through old posts and get pins for them!
Thanks for the wonderful tips. I will try them for sure.
Hope they help you grow your blog traffic!
I need to do a better job with my long tail keywords, thanks for the nudge!
Nudge, nudge! It will change how things work for you in terms of blog traffic.
This is so good! I don’t have to read everything right now…I am coming back!!! 🙂
I’m glad! Hope you get some great tips out of this post!
Thanks for these awesome tips! I definitely need to work on my keyword game. I love that you mentioned to type in a couple of words and see what the most common key search words are. I’m going to work on that!
Yes, it’s digging in deeper to get the longer longtail keywords is what really gets you traction with your pins!
Wow! These are great tips! I’ve only really just started giving pinterest an effort, and I’ve already seen a huge difference!
That’s AWESOME! Pinterest is so important as a traffic source. I ignored it too long.
These are such great tips for exploding your Pinterest! I think both new and old bloggers can use these tips. I’m definitely bookmarking this page as a reference. I can’t wait to try out some of these tips and see what happens.
I hope they work for you too! It’s hard work, but it does change how you get traction and traffic.
Thank you for the tips. These are helpful!