Pinterest Text, Titles and Tags – Optimize Pinterest for Business – Part 5 of 8

Michelle G Held

Pinterest Text, Titles and Tags – Optimze Pinterest for Business – Part 5 of 8

Optimizing a Pinterest Pin means using an ideal visual creative for your Pin and then setting it up so it can be found online. Pinterest is a visual and textual search engine. Images can be optimized to use Pinterest’s visual search tools. But your Pinterest Pin titles, text description, and hashtags must be optimized too so users can find them.

Pinterest Pins should be treated like they are part of a search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. Pins can be found on Pinterest and Google searches too. Everything about your Pinterest should be optimized to give your Pins the best chance of getting discovered on Pinterest and Google.

I covered optimizing boards in post number two but also discussed it here and here.

Select an Image for Your Pin

First you should have a good clear image selected for your Pinterest Pin. Remember to use a vertically oriented image for your Pinterest Pin if you need help choosing an image or video This is discussed in part 4 of this series for optimizing Pinterest images and videos.

See all posts and videos in this series:

Select a keyword first, then use it in your Pin and for your board. Ideally, you also have an SEO optimized keyword to use as a landing page. If not, I use and recommend AWeber. (Note: I am an affiliate and do make a small commission if you buy. It helps me pay for this website and videos. I am also an AWeber paying customer)

Pinterest Pin Titles

The title of your Pin is important for search and to earn clicks. Your title can have up to 100 characters. Your target keyword should occur at the beginning (left) of the title field. That indicates that this is the important word for this Pin. It’s also likely to catch the eye of anyone searching for this phrase.

Pin Description

Next is the description underneath the title. Each Pin has 500 characters to fill in and you should use as much of it as possible. This is a 500 character limit (not words) and it includes hashtags. Be sure to leave some room for tags at the end of the description.

Start your description off by using your target keyword again and then writing a long description making sure it is relevant. Don’t “stuff” keywords just to fill space. You can reuse text from a related blog post or video description if needed. Repeat your keyword once or twice with a relevant description that describes what is in the image.

Hashtags in Pins

Hashtags are an important part of optimizing the description area of a Pinterest pin. Hashtags help Pinterest users navigate Pins and find content related to their searches. Like Instagram, use about 20 hashtags in your Pin. If you don’t know what hashtags to use try using the search function at the top of the screen for some hints.

Pinterest hashtags occupy the text description below the title and are part of the 500 character count. When you’re writing your description be sure to leave some room for them.

Add a Link to Your Website or Product

Don’t forget to include a link back to your website or landing page. If you are saving a Pin from a website using, this might be filled in automatically. Be sure to check it.

Now that your Pin is optimized with a clear image or video and optimized text, save it to a board on your Pinterest account that is contextually related. I discuss that in the part 2 boards optimization post and accompanying video.