Having a pin ranking high on Pinterest can mean a huge increase in blog traffic, which is every blogger’s dream. But getting a pin to rank highly with a niche subject, like health and fitness, can be a challenge. So how did I get one of my pins to rank #1 in my first few months of blogging?
Chances are you’re reading this post because, like me, you don’t want to pay hundreds of dollars to take a Pinterest e-course to have someone tell you some basic information. So instead, I pieced together the information from endless blog posts and eventually figured it out myself. But that took a lot of time and trial and error. That’s why I am saving you that headache with this post!
Below are my key tips for having a high ranking Pinterest pin.
Pay attention to SEO.
If you want to rank #1 on Pinterest then you need to care about SEO. Remember, at the end of the day, Pinterest is a search engine, not a social media tool. Right now, if you type in “weight loss” in the Pinterest search bar my pin, 10 Habits That Helped Me Lose 100 Pounds, will be the number one hit. And that is where the bulk of my Pinterest traffic comes from.
This post contains affiliate links. See Disclosure for details. Opinions are my own.
Even though I write about specific niches, health, fitness, and wellness, I use very broad keywords. The easiest way to pick the best keywords is to start typing your keyword into the Pinterest search bar and then seeing what options come up next. These will be the keywords that you’ll use in the Pinterest description and are the keywords you want to rank for. It is also important to throw in a few hashtags into the Pinterest description as well. I generally use at least three hashtags. Again, think about what people will be searching for and keep it as broad as you can.
Create the right pins.
A lot goes into creating a clickable pin. I have experimented with lots of different pin designs over the years before finally creating pins that truly got my content shared. Here are some must-do basics:
- Choose the right size. Pinterest openly says they prefer graphics that are 600 x 900 pixels. You can go a bit longer but Pinterest cuts off the graphic at 1260 pixels.
- Use a bright image. Yes, some text-only pins go viral and rank high but having a beautiful image makes your pin much more clickable.
- Mix up your font. Find two complementary fonts that go with your brand.
- Reflect your brand. Create pins that reflect your brand so readers learn to recognize your pins and will pin them to their boards.
My high ranking pins are bright, have an eye-catching title, white space, and pretty font. Take the time to find a good, high-quality stock photo for your pin (or use your own if you’re a good photographer) as it will make a difference.
Learn more about creating pins that will go viral at these great blogs:
- How To Create Badass Pinterest Graphics That Go Viral
- How To Create Pinterest Pins That Always Get Clicked
- Pinterest Images Hack Proven To Make Pins Go Viral
Use group boards.
If you’re pinning only to your own boards you are not maximizing your audience, and your pins aren’t going to get seen or shared. Group boards are a great way to expand your audience and get your content reshared quickly. It is also a great way to find similar content to share which is important because Pinterest likes it when you reshare the content of others.
So, how do you find group boards?
By using the search bar and sorting by boards you can easily find open health and fitness group boards. Simply search for “fitness group board” or “health group board” and you will see tons of group boards. See below for an example.
Pin new pins frequently.
Pinning new pins frequently is key to getting your blog posts seen and repinned. It is important to be regularly promoting your best content to get it to rank as high as possible. The easiest way to do this is to use a site, like Canva, to make new Pinterest images each week for your top blog posts. Have a couple of different versions of your Pinterest pins and experiment to see which design performs best.
Personally, I make anywhere from 7-10 new Pinterest pins each week for my top posts. This helps to keep my content well circulated and results in increased repins. I then make sure that I am pinning these new pins every day to various boards.
Use Tailwind.
Tailwind has been a total game-changer for me. It literally took my blog from having 500 monthly views to 30K monthly views in just a couple of months. It also took my Pinterest monthly views from 25K to 1.1M in the same amount of time. Using a scheduler and posting my content to Tailwind Tribes (even better than Pinterest group boards!) has my content being shared all over Pinterest. And the more your content is shared and repinned, the higher the pin is going to rank.
Having a scheduling strategy is so important to getting your content seen on Pinterest. You can take advantage of the metrics of your audience and make sure you’re promoting your pins at the most optimal time. Pinning during the highest traffic time will make sure your blog posts are being seen. Not only that but it’s difficult to be on Pinterest pinning content all day (you got better things to do!) so having a scheduler will save you tons of time.
You can get your first month free plus $15 off your second month using my Tailwind affiliate link.
Check out (and join!) the two tailwind tribes I manage:
Don’t worry if you don’t see immediate results, Pinterest is a bit of a waiting game. It took my pins a couple of months before all my efforts paid off and my pins became high ranking. But stick with it and with these strategies you’ll have high ranking pins in no time!
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You have written very inspiring post on how to get success on Pinterest.
I am also writing on health niche but struggling to get success.
Your post inspired me to keep doing hardwork.
Thanks