Do you know how to write great Pinterest descriptions?
Are you getting all the impressions and clicks you want from your Pins and titles?
If you’re reading this, I’m guessing the answer is ‘no’.
But that’s okay, because there are some simple ways to make the most of your pin descriptions. And titles too!
Let’s dive into how to use them to get more traffic, leads, and sales.
Disclosure: I may earn a referral fee if you purchase from some links on this page.
When you click on a pin on Pinterest, you’ll see both the pin title and the pin description right away.
The pin title is the bit at the top in bold.
This is the headline, and the part that shows on the home feed if Pinterest is showing anything.
Below, in smaller type, is the pin description.
If it’s long enough, only the first part shows – then you can click ‘more’ to see the rest. But Pinterest uses the whole thing to help understand your pin.
If you’ve enabled Rich Pins , there might be different descriptions at the top and bottom of the clicked pin. One is pulled from the meta description of your web page, and the other is what you’ve set as the pin description.
In the example below, the meta description is the top one, with the editable pin description at the bottom.
This meta description doesn’t always appear though, depending on Pinterest’s latest experiments. Don’t worry if you don’t see it.
In fact, this year Pinterest has tested not showing any description! But they assure us that info is there, working behind the scenes to get your pin found.
Pinterest descriptions are one of the most important parts of Pinterest search engine optimization (SEO).
They are at the heart of Pinterest’s best practices .
They also play a big part in convincing someone to take action on the pin.
Pinterest descriptions contain keywords that act as signposts for Pinterest to follow. By including these relevant keywords, Pinterest understands what your content is about.
Combined with the pin title, the name of the board it is added to, and that board’s description, you have the core of Pinterest SEO.
Having a well-written pin description as well as a keyword-rich board description means you have the best chance that your pin will get found on Pinterest .
And by the right people too! People who are searching for your topic.
Not only that but the description is a mini-sales pitch. It’s your chance to tell someone why they should click your pin and what they get if they do.
That’s why using a call to action (CTA) alongside your description is important.
Tell them to go to the website for the full recipe. Or to grab this free download. Or to click to purchase!
There are a few ways you can add a pin description and title.
Let’s look at the basics.
If you use a Pinterest pin extension and have an image to pin, the description and title are pulled from your site.
There are a few places this information comes from.
The easiest way is from using a social sharing plugin like Grow by Mediavine, or Tasty Pins. You would set the pin description in the tool’s popup while creating your web page.
Below you can see how this works in Tasty Pins .
Or, it could be that you attached the description to the image with a little bit of code.
You put data-pin-description=”Put your description here” inside the img src code brackets as shown below.
Some people have used the ALT description for their Pinterest description, but this is a bad idea.
The image alt tag should be a description of the image to aid the visually impaired. So don’t follow incorrect advice to place your pin description there.
If you manually upload a pin to Pinterest, then you’ll add the title and description at that time. You’ll add the link too.
Nothing is automatically pulled from your site here, so you’ll need to copy and paste in anything you’ve already set on the site.
And, you can’t pin an image without these three fields being completed.
If you use Tailwind’s extension, it will pull your title and description from your web page.
However, you can edit these if you want to. You can’t edit them with Pinterest’s extension, but you can with Tailwind’s.
Here’s how it looks when you use the Pinterest browser extension. You don’t see any title or description at all!
If you manually upload the image to Tailwind, it’ll be sent to the Drafts page, and you can add the description and title there.
Below you can see where you add or edit the Pinterest title and description on Tailwind’s Drafts page.
You can try Tailwind and schedule 100 pins for free!
Rich Pins is the Pinterest feature that automatically creates that second description. It comes from the meta description that you set on your web page.
So it’s good practice to make this and your Pinterest description a bit different.
There have been some problems with Rich Pins, but it’s still worth applying for them.
If they work, they add more keywords!
Now we know why pin descriptions and titles are so important – but what should you put in them?
There are two things you need, and some others to try.
One thing every title and description has to have is keywords.
But these don’t need to match in both places.
For example, if your keyword ‘start a food blog’ was in your title, the exact same phrase doesn’t have to be in the description.
You could use variations such as ‘starting a blog’ or ‘creating a food blog’.
Use the guided search and colored keyword blocks on Pinterest to find long-tail keyword variations to use in your descriptions and titles – as long as they make sense.
Plus, here’s a great FREE resource from Simple Pin Media: the Keyword Planning Guide !
It always pays to have a call to action in every pin description that prompts people to take action.
There are loads of variations, from ‘read more’ to ‘grab the free download’ or even ‘buy the product’.
Some experts say to avoid the word ‘click’. But you can always test the odd pin description with this in.
Pinterest has said to avoid using ‘click’ in your pin titles, though.
But in descriptions, it’s good to go. I use it all the time!
If the pin is for a product or service, it doesn’t hurt to include this.
If you have Rich Pins and they work, this information might already show.
But in case it doesn’t, it’s a good idea to include it in the description.
Or you could even add it on the pin image!
By default, you should include your brand name on your pins.
But like lots of things with Pinterest, it never hurts to try adding it into the description.
You don’t need to do it every time, but test and see.
The aim is to increase brand recognition, or to capitalize on it for the people who already know you.
Pinterest has an on-off relationship with hashtags .
Sometimes it likes them, they are clickable, and useful to add.
Other times, they aren’t clickable and are a waste of space!
So test having hashtags in your descriptions and see if it helps the pin. Use 2-4 including general and specific ones.
But if you feel they look spammy, or need the space for your description, don’t worry about leaving them out.
Some people say that adding your URL in the pin description can help.
Personally, I’ve not seen this happen.
That’s mainly because the link won’t be clickable, so someone would have to copy and paste.
However, it can work for things like Story pins where there’s nowhere to add your URL.
You can tell people to check out more, or read the rest of the post, and add the URL as part of the description.
Pinterest pulls information from your website for the description and title.
But once a pin is on Pinterest, you can change that description and title if you want to. Here’s how:
Just remember, this won’t change any repins. And you can’t do it on other people’s pins (although there’s no reason you should want to).
Lastly, let’s dive into clever ways to use those pin descriptions and titles.
Because while you will have a great description and title in your post, that’s not the end of it.
The first thing is that your description and title don’t need to be an exact match to your blog post.
They should always be relevant and reflect what it’s about.
But if your post is about ‘10 of the Best WordPress Themes’ you could also talk about ‘The Best WordPress Themes for New Bloggers’ or ‘Why a Good Quality WordPress Theme is Important’ – as long as you use these points in the article.
The same goes for the description.
You can use different descriptions on a few different pins, where each will focus on a different subheading in your blog post.
Another example is to use headers from your post as titles for your pins.
Then write a description that focuses on that particular point.
Because it’s a good idea to make multiple pins for each URL , experimenting with different titles and descriptions is important.
Each pin should look different, and you can use the header as the text on the pin as well as the title if you like.
We often talk about using different pin designs to catch different people’s attention. You can use the keywords in your description in a similar way!
By creating different pin descriptions focusing on different keywords from your post, you can expand the reach.
You can also experiment with the CTA you use, changing it to fit different audiences’ needs.
You can also vary the words on the pin with the title.
Using the example of the WordPress themes above, you could put one on the pin, then use the other as the title.
Mention both keyword phrases in the description.
Pinterest is clever enough to read the words on the pin, so that means you are getting more keywords in there.
If your content has a potentially seasonal slant, make pins that focus on this.
Let’s say you have a collection of gin cocktail recipes. Four of them are summer cocktails and four are more for Christmas.
You could make a summer pin talking about four great summery cocktails.
Then later, you could make a ’4 Best Winter Cocktails with Gin’ pin.
Both are relevant because those cocktail recipes are in the post.
And they capture the user’s interest in seasonal content!
Finally, don’t get stuck trying to full the whole 500 characters in the description.
It’s good to try different lengths.
Experiment with short, 2-sentence pin descriptions.
Then go for something longer. Even use the first paragraph of your blog post, if it fits and works.
Variations are always a good idea!
When you start writing multiple pin descriptions, sometimes the words dry up. You find you are using the same phrases over and over.
That’s when you want to swap out and banish boring words for something a bit different.
You’ll find some great ideas on how to mix up common phrases in your pins on thentriguing infographic from Custom Writing at the end of this article!
There are lots of ways to use pin descriptions in clever ways.
Each description is a chance to get your pin in front of more people. So a little thought and planning need to go into it.
The title is also worth experimenting with – as long as you avoid clickbait styles.
In fact, tweaking your titles is the fastest route to improving your Pinterest game! Check out my favorite low-cost resource:
Pinterest Title Traffic Hacks eBook & video training
Then you’ll be getting the most from every pin description and title!