Thursday Press #87: the 'lazy' girl's guide to keyword research
[6 JUL 2023] it's a non-negotiable!
Understanding the Pinterest algorithm is a whole full-time job, bestie.
In fact, it's mine!
Which means that it doesn't have to be for you.
To boil it down, there are two foundational things that you need to know to make the most of Pinterest marketing for your business:
Your Pinterest audience
Your Pinterest SEO
Briefly, your Pinterest audience uses the platform to search for inspiration, ideas, and solutions, and they don't care about your brand (at least at first).
That means you have to lead with value in your Pinterest content and consider what stage(s) your audience is at before they purchase/inquire.
But I've talked a lot about audience lately, so let's focus on SEO.
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the foundation of Pinterest's algorithm.
At the core, it's about the keywords, or the words and phrases users search to find content.
Which means that effective keyword research is essential if you want your content to show up in front of your target audience!
And because no one wants to spend hours trying to get worked up in the intricacies of Pinterest SEO and keyword research, I'm sharing my simplest possible process for keyword research.
Introducing the Lazy Girl's Guide to Pinterest Keyword Research!
BELOW THE FOLD
Before we go any further, let's get one thing straight...
"Lazy" doesn't actually mean anything, and it's just a weaponized word of hustle culture.
Buuuut, it is a catchy way to say "hey! here's the bare minimum you can do to still succeed!"
You're not lazy, you're just being intentional about your time and marketing your business sustainable, which I'm 100% here for
So, let's get to it!
1. Considering your current content, products, and services, create a list of 3-5 broad topics that encompass those
These words will be our “seed keyword” from which the rest of our keyword research branches off.
For my business, these topics might be Pinterest marketing, content strategy, and business tips.
Don’t worry about getting too specific here, we’ll have time for that later!
2. Identify your target audience and any other topics they might be interested in and searching for
Remember, it’s not just about our content, but also about our target audience and what they’re looking for.
Let’s say your target audience is coaches. In that case, you might add “coaching business” to your list of seed keyword topics.
3. Use Pinterest’s predictive search to find long-tail keywords
Now that we have a few seed keywords to start with, you’re going to head over to Pinterest and use the tools native to the platform to do further keyword research.
When you start typing in a phrase or keyword in the Pinterest search bar, Pinterest will automatically suggest what they think you might be interested in searching.
This is based on what users are actively searching for the most on the platform, which means these are great long-tail keywords to collect for your Pinterest keyword research.
And if you actually do the search, above the pin search results, you’ll (usually) see several colorful bubbles, called guided search bubbles. These words and phrases can be added to the seed keyword to get even more long-tail keywords.
4. Rinse and repeat with your other seed keywords and long-tail keywords to fill in your keyword bank
You can get really specific and detailed with your keyword research. For example, you can take some of the initial long-tail keywords from the seed keyword and repeat the process in step 3 to get even more keywords!
I did this with the keyword “Pinterest marketing tips” and got a lot more specific keywords that would be great for me to use!
This process can be used to collect keywords for your account overall, or on a more micro-level of doing keyword research for a particular product or piece of content.
Whatever you're researching keywords for, trust me when I say doing the work upfront will save you a lot of time in the long run, as is finding a place to store those keywords. (I like Google Sheets!)
If you want to deep dive into the whole process and learn how to put those keywords into use, check out the two blog posts below!
How to Do Pinterest Keyword Research
Where to Use Your Pinterest Keywords
It's really easy to make keyword research really complicated. But it doesn't have to be.
As long as you know your audience and your content, and you're using the appropriate keywords that those people will be searching to find that content, you're doing it right!
If you'd like some confirmation that you're on target with your keyword strategy or your account overall, that's exactly what I'm here for.
HERE IF YOU NEED ME!