The Other Search Frontier: Pinterest as a Social Search Engine

It’s easy to think Pinterest is just another social media platform. It’s been around for years, it doesn’t feel all that new. 

But unlike Instagram and Facebook, Pinterest was never built as a tool for social interaction. Instead, it’s much more like a traditional search engine than many people realize.

A Recap: Search Has Evolved

We know that for most social platforms, they’ve been used as a top-of-funnel awareness driver. They gather an audience and push them to websites, where the customer will ultimately make a purchase:

Social Media → Website → Owned Channel (Email) → Conversion

But we also know that most users don’t operate in such a linear way. Their journey moves through various touch points until they have enough information to convert:

Direct → Social Media Ad (IG) → Google Ad → Direct → Organic Content (TikTok) → Organic Search → Direct → Conversion

We’ve already seen how this works on new social platforms like TikTok. But how does this work for more established social networks?

Pinterest: The First Inspirational Search Engine

Like TikTok, Pinterest’s search functionality operates within a closed loop. Each piece of content moves a user from the awareness stage of the funnel, all the way through to a conversion. 

But unlike many typical Google searches, users come to Pinterest looking for ideas and inspiration. The starting point on Pinterest is very rarely solutions-oriented. With that in mind, marketers must tailor their content accordingly.

It’s top of the funnel, but not in the way you’d normally think about it. 97% of Pinterest searches are unbranded, which further emphasizes its position as the online pinboard for aggregating ideas and inspiration.

Pins can be disseminated widely around the platform and evergreen content continues to appear years after it was posted. Taking the time to produce high-quality visual content is worth it, not just to attract initial interest, but also to benefit from the longevity of content promotion that the platform has.

Pinterest For Social Commerce

The ideation and inspiration aspect of Pinterest is critical, but many marketers still struggle to see how this fits into their overall brand strategy. 85% of users report using Pinterest to plan or prepare for projects like home renovations or parties. But how does that impact a business’s bottom line and turn into tangible conversions?

Over the years, Pinterest has added additional features to encourage sales within the site itself. In-platform shopping and checkout have seamlessly integrated into users’ searches, leading them from idea to a purchase decision.

Even without an in-platform sale, brands are still benefiting from Pinterest’s social commerce functionality. Personalized product recommendations now appear under most search queries alongside informational content, capturing users at all stages of the funnel. 

Furniture and home decor brands have also integrated augmented and virtual reality technology into their pins, allowing users to visualize products within their own spaces ahead of a purchase. 

Ultimately, investing in Pinterest SEO allows your brand to influence the direction of the user journey. You’re fully integrated into every stage of their search and become an integral part of their experience on the site.

An Example: Planning a Bachelorette Party

Since planning is a common use for Pinterest, let’s take a look at an example of organizing a bachelorette party. 

First up is Discovery—this is where you’ll see users searching for general terms like “how to plan a bachelorette party” or “how to throw a bachelorette party.” The pins here are more general and topic-based, but still match the query as closely as possible. 

From there, users will move into the Curiosity phase. Searches become more targeted around a particular topic, but are adjacent to the original search. For instance “best cities for a girls weekend” aren’t necessarily targeting bachelorette parties, but still work for that overall topic.

Searches start to narrow at this point through social reinforcement. User queries will become more specific, like “nashville bachelorette party”. Content for these searches typically feature more real-life images and link to blog content where users can find first-hand experiences from others who have already organized a bachelorette party in that location.

Finally, users move into the final stage, Trial. This is where they move from ideation and planning to an active purchase interest. More shopping pins will be shown under these queries, supporting users who are ready to buy.

Interaction with Google Search

Pinterest can show up in traditional SERPs, but you’re more likely to rank under the images section. There are plenty of opportunities to rank for both individual pins and complete boards. Profiles can even be picked up and appear in this section too.

This is why optimizing your Pinterest content is crucial. Not only does it benefit you when it comes to in-platform search potential, but you could also benefit from additional SERP coverage elsewhere.

Ranking Your Pinterest Content

Keyword research is just as important when trying to rank your Pinterest content as it is with any on-site content. 

But instead of thinking about this in the same way as you would for Google using tools like Keyword Planner or SEMRush, your focus should be on how Google Images categorizes this content. Pinterest’s own affiliated categories within the platform work in a similar way to image search, so start your keyword research here for ideas to get you going.

As with any marketing, audience research is also critical. You need to know where your customers are in the buying cycle when they come across your content. Are they still primarily in the ideation phase? If so, think about what inspiration can your brand offer them to pin and share.

Features You’ll Recognize

With an algorithm more similar to Google than other social platforms, Pinterest has a few key features that active Google users will recognize. Pinterest Trends is a great place to start your keyword research, especially if your brand offers seasonal products or services. 

Like Google Trends, you can search by region and see what’s trending within the last month, along with when users start to search for specific trends that are relevant to your business.

Pinterest also provides suggested searches for users directly under the main search bar. This allows users to narrow their search focus or find related, alternative searches that they might be interested in. This can also be a good place to look for content ideas for your brand and get a sense of the type of topics users are interested in.

Limitations of Pinterest SEO

As with any digital platform, Pinterest isn’t perfect. The search functionality continues to have issues identifying and course-correcting for typos, which can limit the effectiveness of search results. 

There’s also a tendency for Pinterest to over-index newer content, particularly when populating personalized feeds. This can cause relevance issues and make it more difficult for highly relevant, evergreen content to appear higher up in search results. Keeping your content fresh and optimizing for adjacent topics is one way to navigate this issue.

Pinterest has also been slow to move on video content. While there are videos that populate within search results, the functionality has some limitations and the site simply can’t compete with video-first platforms like TikTok. If video is an increasing part of your brand content, this is something to keep in mind.

A Few Final Thoughts

Getting your content in front of interested users is always the end goal of marketing, but any traffic you generate needs to convert into hard sales eventually. Always be testing, both on Pinterest and other platforms, to find the balance of what works best for your business. Adapt where you need to and focus on your biggest lead generators.