Launched in March 2010 by Ben Silbermann, Pinterest is rapidly becoming the most creative way to showcase your products.

Mimicking a photo board Pinterest is an online photo sharing website. Allowing users to upload their own content as well as like and ‘re-pin’ the collections of others, Pinterest uses visuals to create connections and share interests.

Below are some useful tips to use Pinterest to boost your search engine ranking.

• Due to its soaring popularity Pinterest is a great platform for link building. It has a first-rate domain authority. The more popular a domain name, the more likely it will appear in search results therefore the more items that are posted with a link to your website the better your rankings.
• There are two Pinterest widgets available, the Pin it button and the Follow me on Pinterest button. The Follow me on Pinterest button will simply allow people to follow your collections (similar to following a person on Twitter) whereas the Pin it button allows users to pin the content to one of their boards, this should be used within your web content.
• Pinterest is a picture dominated platform; therefore make sure you choose a visually appealing image. Images that motivate, trigger social interaction and stimulate conversation are more likely to be repinned or commented upon as well as drive traffic towards your site.
• Pinterest gives more in depth information than with other social media sites such as Facebook. For example, Facebook will simply show you a referral path whereas Pinterest will show you which piece of content generated the referral click and allows you to click through and see that item. These analytics make it easier to identify what pins and pinboards people are engaging with the most (likes, comments, repins) and what is driving traffic back to your website, allowing you to focus on interacting with these people and producing more relevant content.
• Pinterest allows you to display your activity on other social media sites such as Flickr, Twitter and Facebook. Signing into Pinterest through Twitter or Facebook will link your timeline to your Pinterest posts. This will allow your friends and followers to see the content you upload to Pinterest, providing a link back to your page.
• Your website should be optimized to focus on keywords which are relevant to your own business. Make sure your content title and photo captions on Pinterest contain your keywords as Google now indexes individual Pinterest profiles and boards.

By Colin Harris