10 Effective Pinterest Keyword Research Methods For 2023

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Finding good Pinterest keywords is a large part of Pinterest marketing. 

Since Pinterest is a visual search engine, using optimal keywords is very important to get your pins seen in Pinterest’s home feed, search results, and related pins. 

Thankfully, there are many places that you can find great Pinterest keywords even right on Pinterest!

This comprehensive guide will show you many unique Pinterest keyword research methods to help you find Pinterest keywords that will hopefully help you grow your blog or business!

By the end of this post, you’ll hopefully be able to create a long list of great Pinterest keywords.

Let’s dive in.

Please note: Pinterest is always changing, and while I try my best to update my posts, not all information may be up to date. If you’re looking too see the most updated tips, strategies, and information, check out this resource page.

What is keyword research?

Keyword research is the process of finding relevant words and phrases that are relevant to your audience.

Generally, keyword research aims to find keywords that are searched for, relevant to a specific audience or niche, and popular.

For instance, some examples of keywords in a food niche could include “easy breakfast recipes,” “pasta recipes,” or “low-calorie dessert recipes.” These keywords are searched for, are relevant to its niche, and can be popular to people interested in different recipes.

Why are keywords important on Pinterest?

Keywords are essential for Pinterest SEO (Pinterest search engine optimization). Optimizing your Pinterest with relevant keywords is key for increasing your reach on Pinterest.

Using keywords on your pins, boards, or profile helps to tell Pinterest exactly what your content is about.

Since Pinterest’s main goal is to provide a positive user experience, Pinterest uses keywords to understand and distribute the most relevant and high-quality content to users who may be interested in it, whether that be in their home feed, search results, or related pins.

Evidently, using Pinterest keywords is incredibly helpful to grow your Pinterest account.

Related: Complete Pinterest SEO Checklist (20+ Steps)

Pinterest is a search engine

You may have heard Pinterest being called a “social media.” However, Pinterest is more of a search engine than a social media. 

On users, pinners search for inspiration. Pinterest’s search feature is one of its most used features — a feature where users search for specific things such as recipes, playlists, or skincare tips. This is different from other social platforms that are meant for keeping up with friends or family.

When a search is completed, dozens of pins are shown to that user that are most likely to satisfy what that user is looking for.

For example, if someone searches “travel packing list,” a pin about “tasty salads” won’t show up in the results. Instead, pins with packing lists will appear.

Pinterest search is a great way for ideas and content to be discovered by other Pinterest users. So as Pinterest creators, we want our pins to show up in searches! Pinterest uses keywords to know what pins are the most relevant.

Related: How To Rank On Pinterest (5+ Tips)

Understanding the algorithm

Although trying to rank your pins is important, pins can also be found in other ways. Besides the search feature, another main way that pins can be discovered is through the Pinterest home feed.

Pinterest’s home feed (also known as the Smart Feed) is an individualized collection of pins put together that Pinterest thinks a user will like based on the interests of that user. 

Pinterest engineer Chris Pinchak says in this post that…

“The home feed should be a reflection of what each user cares about.”

Simply put, if a user is interested in arts and crafts, more arts and crafts pins are going to be shown in their home feed. 

It’s important that Pinterest understands what our pins are about so that they can be shown to users who have an interest in those areas, so relevant keywords are very important.

What type of Pinterest keywords should you search for?

Whether you’re a blogger, a small business, or an influencer, most content creators on Pinterest share the same goal: getting their content found (and then getting users to engage or take action on it).

So, when considering keywords, what type of keywords should you try to find?

This is unique to every user. Bloggers, businesses, and influencers are all going to target different keywords based on the audience they are targeting and their goals.

Before you search for keywords, it’s important to understand your target audience and niche.

Are you targeting:

• A certain age group?
• A certain gender?
• A specific interest or niche?

Also, you need to fully know your business goals.

Are you:

• Looking to drive people to your website?
• Trying to get clients?
• Selling products?
• Growing a larger social following on multiple platforms?

Your answers to these questions will change the way that you do keyword research and the type of keywords you search for.

You want to try to find keywords that cater to all of your business and target audience needs, while also making sure your keywords are searched and relevant on the Pinterest platform.

Also note that not all Pinterest keywords will help you reach your goals. My free e-book will help you determine the what are the best Pinterest keywords for your business to hopefully help you reach your goals and scale your results! (Learn more here)

Also, remember that people aren’t going to click on your pins to read a story about your life. They are looking to find inspiration and answers for their own necessities. You have to create your content with that in mind. Your content should provide value for the viewer, or else no one will click on it regardless of how good your keyword research is.

A good way to determine this is to ask yourself: If I was someone in my ideal audience, would I want to view this content?

How to find keywords on Pinterest

Here are some effective Pinterest keyword research methods to help you easily uncover popular Pinterest keywords.

1. Pinterest keyword bubbles

In 2022, Pinterest re-introduced their colorful keyword bubbles in searches due to popular demand. You can see them once you search for a term in the Pinterest search bar.

These bubbles show you other popular keywords that are related to your term! The great thing is that these are based on what users are actually searching, so you can be confident that these are things that pinners want to see!

Tip: If you are not seeing these keyword bubbles, try clicking Videos option. Some users who don’t see the keyword bubbles in search have noticed that keyword bubbles appear when toggling to this setting. Currently, you can only do this on desktop.

2. Pinterest search

Even after many updates, this Pinterest keyword research method remains a reliable source of keywords.

Here is how you can find keywords with Pinterest’s search feature:

1. Go to the search bar and type in a keyword but do not click search

2. Look at the suggested autofill words that appear in grey text

And just like that, you have some keywords!

The autofilled words are based on common searches by other Pinterest users.

This means that users are actually interested and looking for these keywords, which gives you a great opportunity to create content that is popular and that you know users want to see.

3. Pinterest topics sitemap

This keyword research method is easiest on a laptop or computer.

This technique uses the Pinterest topics sitemap. 

The Pinterest topics sitemap is a directory of all of the hot topics on Pinterest. The directory has 26 pages of topics, each with hundreds of keywords per page! 

At first glance, it can seem intimidating and difficult to navigate. The topics are not in alphabetical order or grouped by category. Plus, there are 26 pages and hundreds of words on each!

Here is my advice for finding keywords with the sitemap:

1. Choose one general keyword you want to look for at a time. (For example, “recipe” or “decor.”)

2. Using your computer or laptop, on your keyboard click control + F (or on Macs command + F). A search bar should appear on your screen. Type in your keyword.

3. See if any topics become highlighted. Click throughout the different sitemap pages to see if there are any keyword opportunities on other pages. (You can navigate from pages 1 to 26 if you scroll to the bottom of the screen.)

Anything that becomes highlighted is a keyword idea!

You may not find keywords for all niches, such as the very specific ones. For instance, I have trouble finding keywords for the Pinterest marketing niche.

There’s still more you can do with this! You can also click on any of the topics to get even more keyword ideas.

Look what happens when I click on the topic “Country Kitchen.”

I’m taken to an idea page that looks like this:

This idea page gives me 10 examples of great “Country Kitchen” pins. And as seen above, you can see key components of the pin (the image, title, description, board it’s pinned to, pinner, the website, and sometimes even the number of saves).

That’s not even the best part! When I scrolled down, Pinterest provided the top searches for that keyword! And beneath that, Pinterest showed some related topics.

(Please note that Pinterest may not show you top searches and related topics for all of the keyword idea pages.)

Plus, you can click on any of the related topics bubbles and find an entirely new idea page with a whole new library of possible keywords!

If you have a hard time finding your keywords in the sitemap, other methods later in this post will show you an even easier way to find keywords and explore the top searches and related topics on idea pages.

4. Pinterest categories

This next keyword research method may not work for everyone because it primarily targets the most popular niches on Pinterest. 

However, if you fall under one of these popular niches, this technique may be great for you!

To use this method, visit Pinterest’s category explorer.

When you click on the page, you’ll be greeted with a library of the most popular categories on Pinterest. It should look like this:

Next, click on one of the categories.

When you click on a category, you’ll be taken to a page that has nearly endless keywords! Look at what happens when I click on the category “Lawn and garden.”

If you scroll on this page, the page shows you so much useful information and potential keywords, including:

• Popular and top ideas
• Featured articles
• Top Pinterest searches

To get even more keywords, if you click on one of the idea boxes, you’ll be taken to an idea page like the ones mentioned above. And, similarly, if you scroll down, you’ll find more top searches, related topics, or both!

Note: The categories on this page may occasionally change depending on the season. (For example, lawn and garden may not appear in the middle of winter.)

5. Popular pin keywords

To use this keyword method, make sure you are on a laptop or computer and open an incognito or private window.

Next, open up Pinterest’s category explorer again. Instead of clicking on categories, this time utilize the search feature.

In the search bar, type in any keyword and search. For example, I searched “European travel.”

After that, click on any of the top pins. 

Beneath the profile of the pin creator, there is a row of related keywords in grey bubbles.

(Pin by Fashion Edible.)

You can scroll horizontally to see even more keyword bubbles.

Here are all the keywords I found with this single pin!

The reason that I love this keyword research method is because you can find keywords for any topic, no matter how niche or broad!

And again, similar to the Pinterest topics sitemap and Pinterest categories, if you click one of the topics above the pin title it will lead you to an idea page that shows you even more valuable keyword information!

If you click on one of the grey bubbles, you’ll be taken to another page like this with some other bubbles or to an idea page.

And if you click on one of those bubbles, you’ll be taken to another idea page!

6. “More like this” feed

The “More like this feed” is another place you can find Pinterest keywords.

Once again, I’d recommend using this method in an incognito desktop window.

All you have to do is find a pin (of any type — Standard, Idea, Video) and scroll down.

When you scroll down, you’ll enter the “More like this” feed, which looks like this:

The “More like this” feed is a pin of related pins to the pin you clicked on.

If you keep scrolling, you’ll likely see two groups pop up that have keyword ideas:

1. Similar ideas popular now
2. Ideas you might love

Both of them give you some keyword ideas!

Also, you can see some other keyword ideas in grey bubbles, similar to the method above.

This method is great because you can find trending or popular keywords based on other keywords you use or that are popular.

7. Pinterest ads keyword research tool

This method is a popular one that many people recommend. (Don’t worry, you won’t actually create an ad and you won’t have to spend a penny!)

Here are the steps to uncover keywords with Pinterest ads:

1. On your Pinterest account, click on the ad drop-down at the top of the page. Then click “Create ad” or “Create campaign.” 

2. Make sure your drive consideration for building traffic is selected. (This should be selected by default.) Then, scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Continue.”

3. Under targeting details, select “Choose your own.”

4. Scroll down to “Keywords & interests” and select it. Beneath that select “Add keywords.”

5. Type in a keyword and see what other suggestions are given!

You can also scroll to the bottom and click “See more” to get even more keyword ideas generated.

One of the great things about this method is that you are able to see the number of monthly searches for a keyword, so you can therefore see how popular a keyword or topic is. 

For instance, look at what happens when I type in the keyword “dessert recipes.” 

At first, all of the search results showed a monthly search of over 5 million! (Meaning that users usually search that keyword over 5 million times per month!)

However, as I continued to click “See more,” I found keywords with lower monthly searches, meaning that they are likely less competitive but still searched for.  

To remember the keywords, you can click the “+” sign next to them, and they will be added to a list. You can compile a list of great keywords directly on Pinterest!

Another really great thing you can see is the potential audience size of one or multiple keywords when you add them to the keyword list. This is found in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, as you can see in the image above.

Take a look at how the potential audience size changed when I added some keywords to a list:

The more narrow you go with the keywords, the less potential audience you’ll likely have. (BUT, this isn’t a bad thing! Later on, I’ll explain how more specific keywords can actually have many benefits.)

8. New boards

For this technique, you need to be on the mobile Pinterest app. 

To do this, find a pin that fits your niche or one of your niches.

Then, act as if you were going to pin the image (you don’t have to actually pin it), but do not choose one of your boards. Instead, click “Create board.” (You don’t have to actually create a new board either.)

After that, Pinterest will take you to a page to create a new board. On that page, beneath where it says “Or pick one of these,” Pinterest has a row of suggestions of board names, which are some good keyword options! 

Once you are done, you can click the back arrow in the left-hand corner if you don’t wish to create a new board.

9. Pinterest trends

Pinterest Trends is a great and free tool that shows you what topics are trending on Pinterest and when they are trending, especially seasonal ones.

The great thing about Pinterest trends is that you can compare topics to see which is the most popular and gets the most searches. You can compare up to four keywords on Pinterest trends.

For example, take a look at the graph when I searched the terms “coffee recipes” and “tea recipes”:

From this graph, I can tell that coffee recipes are being searched for more than tea recipes. As a creator, I would use this knowledge in my Pinterest marketing strategy and likely post more coffee recipe pins because Pinterest users have a greater interest in this currently.

At the bottom, you can also see some related trends.

On the other hand, look at the graph for the term “Christmas cookies”:

This graph shows me when this keyword is trending, which is helpful for planning out seasonal content.

You can also use Pinterest Trends for finding keywords on Pinterest. On the homepage of Pinterest Trends, scroll down to the Discover trends section.

Find the Keywords section and type in a broad keyword.

You can type in multiple keywords. Then, look to the right to be trending keywords. You can use this to get some Pinterest keyword ideas!

.

10. Pinterest predicts

Pinterest predicts is Pinterest’s reports of what they think will be popular and trending in the upcoming months or year, and it’s a great way to get a head start on some possible keywords.

I recommend reading Pinterest predicts as a downloaded PDF because it is much easier to read. You can download it as a PDF at the bottom of the Pinterest predicts page.

Although these keywords are not definite, it at least provides an insight into which categories, topics, or niches will likely perform well down the road.

Long-tail keywords on Pinterest (and why they’re important)

A lot of times, super popular keywords (or niches) on Pinterest can be extremely competitive and difficult to rank for. But what happens when you’re in one of those popular niches?

The best solution to this problem is to target long-tail keywords.

Long-tail keywords are narrowed down or niched down phrases that usually stem from a large or popular term. 

For example, long-tail keywords for the highly searched term “recipes” could include:

• Easy overnight oats recipes
• On-the-go lunch ideas
• Low-calorie cake recipes
• Healthy breakfast recipes

Although long-tail keywords may not be searched for as often as the “popular” keywords, there are many benefits to using them.

1. They help a more targeted audience to find you. This can be great for building an engaged following, makes sales, building an email list, and more.
2. They can be much less difficult to rank for because likely, fewer people are targeting those long-tail phrases in their content.
3. If you rank for them, they often provide consistent engagement, such as follows, outbound link clicks, or saves. 
4. If you successfully target many long-tail keyword phrases, you can definitely scale your business growth.

How do you find long-tail keywords on Pinterest?

Finding long-tail keywords on Pinterest is simpler than it seems.

Actually, many of the keyword research methods mentioned above provided some long-tail keyword ideas, such as the Pinterest search method, the popular pin keyword method, using idea pages, and the new boards method.

One of the best ways to find long-tail keywords is to start broad and get more and more specific.

For example, if you were in the beauty niche, instead of using the popular term keyword “makeup,” you could start off with terms “drugstore makeup,” “makeup tutorials,” or “makeup dupes” instead to narrow the search.

One of my favorite ways to find long-tail keywords is by using the Pinterest search autofill words.

For example, here are some long-tail keywords with the autofill words with the term “drugstore makeup.”

You can even continue to narrow it down, and I’d recommend trying this! (Remember, oftentimes, the more specific you go, the easier they are to rank for!)

Related: How To Find Long-Tail Keywords On Pinterest (Tutorial)

How to track Pinterest keywords

You’ve tried some of the keyword strategies above and found a great list of keywords with lots of potential. Now what?

You need to keep track and hold on to these keywords! You should always have a list of good keywords ready to go so you can use them on the go. Keyword research can sometimes be time-consuming, and you definitely don’t want to look for new keywords every time you go to make new content.

So, how can you track keywords?

There are many ways that you do this. Using Google Sheets is a great place to store and keep track of your keywords. You can keep track of them any way you like, and an example is below:

Of course, you don’t have to use Google Sheets. There are many other programs that will do the job just as well.

Find the way that works for you and keep to it!

Where should you put keywords on Pinterest?

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, keywords are essential for Pinterest SEO. They tell Pinterest everything it needs to know about your content, which helps it do be distributed to the right audience.

So, you want to use your keywords everywhere and anywhere you can.

My Pinterest SEO checklist goes in-depth on every single place you should put keywords, how many, and how to format them!

But, here is a brief list of key places you should aim to put your keywords:

1. Board titles
2. Board descriptions
3. Pin descriptions
4. Pin title
5. Pin alt text
6. Profile bio
7. Profile name
8. Blog posts (if you have a blog)
9. Pin image file names
10. The words on your pin images (Pinterest can actually read the words on your pin!)
11. Pin URL (if possible, but definitely not necessary)

What Pinterest keywords should you use?

Did you know you have to be strategic about what keywords you actually use and target on Pinterest?

Not all of the keywords you find are going to be good to use. Some you just won’t see great results with. So, how do you know what Pinterest keywords to use?

My free e-book that will help you to figure out which Pinterest keywords are the best to use to help you reach your business goals.

The ebook will show you how to determine whether or not you can likely rank for a keyword, what type of pins to create to rank in Pinterest searches, and how to use certain keywords to scale your Pinterest. (Learn more here.)

Should you use Pinterest keywords as hashtags?

I highly recommend not using hashtags on Pinterest. Pinterest itself has said that hashtags can be seen as spammy, so I wouldn’t waste time on this. It’s better to be safe than sorry. In general, hashtags don’t do much on Pinterest because users don’t usually search hashtags. You can absolutely see incredibly and “viral” results without them.

What are some Pinterest keyword research tools?

Although finding keywords directly on Pinterest is one of the best ways to find keywords because Pinterest basically tells you the best keywords to use, there are some other great tools you can use.

1. Pin Inspector – Pin Inspector is the all-in-one Pinterest keyword research tool. This is a software that provides you with all the data you need to find the best keywords for your business. And, it takes the information directly from Pinterest! Pin Inspector makes it easy to find new Pinterest keyword ideas that may be “hidden,” and I’ve found great keywords while using it.
2. KeySearch’s Free Pinterest Keyword Tool – This tool shows you the approximate monthly search volume of Pinterest keywords and even gives you some other related keyword ideas! These metrics may help you to discover low-competition keywords and some long-tail keywords that you can rank for but still get some eyes on.

Can you see Pinterest keyword search volumes?

There are some ways that you can (sort of) see search volumes of Pinterest keywords. This post will show you a few different ways you can find this!

Do Pinterest keywords need a niche?

It’s definitely helpful for your Pinterest account (and therefore keywords) to have a niche because Pinterest will better understand the topic of your account and content and see you more as an authority, which can help your reach.

However, having niched Pinterest keywords isn’t completely necessary and multi-niche or lifestyle accounts still see success. As long as you use lots of keywords that are relevant to your pins and boards, your content should be seen by others.

Are Pinterest keywords still important in 2021?

Yes! Pinterest is focused on giving users a positive experience, and a major part of that is making sure they are seeing content that they are interested in. Keywords tell Pinterest exactly what a pin, a board, or a profile is about so they can be shown to the best audience and be distributed on the platform where they are most relevant.

Conclusion

Researching keywords on Pinterest can seem intimidating at first, but when you know exactly how to do it, it’s not too difficult!

I hope that these Pinterest keyword research methods help you to discover lots of Pinterest keywords and make the keyword research processes much simpler.

I’d love to hear what your favorite keyword research method was in the comments!

If you want more valuable Pinterest information so you can skyrocket your success, read more on my blog or join my email list (I provide some of my MOST VALUABLE INFORMATION to my email list!)

I hope to see you around again soon. Thanks for reading!

Leah Marie

PIN FOR LATER!

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