Pinterest Hashtags — What You Need To Know NOW! (in 2020)
Let’s dive into the brave new world of Pinterest hashtag research, shall we? We have a lot to cover when it comes to using hashtags on Pinterest — and even though it SEEMS overwhelming, I promise to make it simple for you.
Let’s explore 3 big ideas around Pinterest hashtags:
1. Why we should be using hashtags along with keyword rich descriptions,
2. How to find the right hashtags for your pin, and
3. How to actually use them.
Why We Should Be Using Hashtags on Pinterest
First, what are hashtags and why should we use them?
You’ve probably heard about hashtags, but aren’t quite sure what they are or how they work. They have something to do with SEO, right? And they’re like keywords? Let’s break it down, shall we?
The Absolute Basics:
Hashtags are a word or phrase starting with a hash (formerly the pound key if you are * ahem older * like me). They can be just one word, or multiple words strung together, but you can’t use spaces or punctuation in hashtags: #hashtaglikethis not # hash tag like this!
Consider hashtags search terms that are used to identify specific topics on the various platforms (Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, etc).
By adding hashtags to the description of your pins, Pinners can click on it to see all the pins that share that hashtag, with the newest pins on top.
Hashtags are a great way to promote and categorize your content, which is why you should be using them — in addition to keywords — to help people find your content.
Wait, they’re different from keywords? Yup, and it’s important to use both in order to maximize your potential reach with your pins.
Hashtags allow us to get very specific with our niche identification, which helps people find exactly what they are looking for. For example, in the Pinterest search bar, your ideal clients can either search for “healthy recipes”, which might pull up a lot of other related content and rank it by popularity, or they can search for “#healthyrecipes”, which would pull up only pins with that specific hashtag, and would rank them by date, newest to oldest.
This means that if someone is doing a specific search looking for a specific answer or solution, they can find it more quickly, without clicking all over the place. Because you gave them the answer easily and quickly, they’re more likely to follow you.
Hashtags also allow you a fantastic branding opportunity. Using a branded hashtag allows your fans to easily find all of your content with just one click — pretty amazing, right?
There are several different types of hashtags:
- Location-based hashtags: #londonbaby #bigapple #NYC
- Industry hashtags: #fashionista #fashionblogger
- Holiday hashtags: #fourthofjuly #christmaseve
- Calls to action: #pinitforlater #clicktoread #pintowin
Finding Pinterest Hashtags
So, now that you know what hashtags are, and why they’re important, let’s talk about how to find them!
My recommendation is to use between 3 and 5 hashtags, and to make sure your brand is one of them.
But don’t just throw hashtags in there because you think they are what your audience is searching for, even if they have nothing to do with the thing you are talking about. That won’t work and will make Pinterest rank your pins lower in the algorithm (or get you banned altogether).
Instead, use words or phrases that describe the actual content in the Pin.
Successful hashtags are:
- On the shorter side so they are easy to read and remember
- Consistent with your brand so they make sense
- Focused on one message so your audience knows what the content is
- Very specific and relevant rather than generic so that you reach the right people
Brand hashtags are a fantastic way for people to find you.
Your brand hashtag should be:
- Exclusive to your brand (your company name is perfect here),
- Consistent with your brand, and
- (Hopefully) unique enough that a search will bring your company up.
Once you have a brand hashtag, you should be using it across all platforms, so that people can find you easily.
Always place your brand hashtag first in your hashtag list so it’s more likely to be the one clicked.
How do you find the rest of your hashtags for each pin?
Try searching for your topic on pinterest, and using the autocomplete suggestions as guidance.
You can also search hashtags that you’re considering using. Enter “#yourkeywordphrase” in the Pinterest search bar and check out the search results to make sure it’s relevant to your content.
Take note of how often that hashtag has been used. If the page is filled with Pins posted in the last 10 minutes, that tag feed moves too fast to be of much use to you.
If you want to see a drop-down list of suggestions, insert a space before the #.
During the ‘Create Pin’ process, if you insert a # into the description, a list of hashtags will appear, along with the number of Pins that contain them. Start typing a word after the # to see related suggestions.
You should also look at the hashtags other people are using, especially in the descriptions of Pins that pop up on your home page. These are popular Pins, and you can use what has made them popular — including any keywords or hashtags used in the description — to increase the reach of your pins.
Remember — it’s very easy for your Pin to get lost in a sea of Pins when using popular hashtags. Mix up popular and less popular hashtags to ensure that your Pins are seen!
How To Use Pinterest Hashtags
Now that you’ve spent a few minutes deciding on your list of suitable hashtags, where do you put them? Well, the short answer is: they go into the Pin description.
The Pin description is just 500 characters, so you’ll need to do some planning. The description should include an actual description of what the Pin is pointing towards, a call-to action, keywords, and hashtags.
Hashtags are clickable, so give Pinners a chance to read through to your call-to-action before getting distracted by a cool hashtag. It’s best to keep them either right at the end of the text or on a separate line at the bottom.
The hashtag location doesn’t have any bearing on how successful the Pin will be, but adding them to the end makes the user experience a more pleasant one.
While you can go back and edit Pins that don’t have hashtags, you don’t need to. You can, especially if you have a brand hashtag that you’d like to link to everything. However, it won’t help with your content showing up at the top of the search feed — newer pins with the hashtag will appear first. If you want to change or add a hashtag, just edit the Pin description.
A few things to note about hashtags:
- Use them sparingly — they’re still a fairly new concept and not everyone is using them yet
- Don’t replace keywords with hashtags; use them in conjunction with each other
- Change up your hashtags for each Pin, to gain more reach and learn which ones work best
- Use a combination of niche-specific, evergreen, and seasonal or event-specific hashtags for maximum reach
- Keep your eyes on your Pins to see which hashtags seem to be working out well for you
- Always place your branded hashtag before other hashtags so it’s more likely to be the one clicked
If you add or change the hashtags when doing a new “Save” of a previous Pin, you’ve got a fresh Pin, and Pinterest likes fresh Pins!
Don’t bother using hashtags in your Pinterest bio, board descriptions, board names, or profile name. They won’t be clickable, don’t offer value, and just use up space. Just work on incorporating keywords naturally into these spaces instead.
While Pinterest doesn’t offer hashtag analytics or insights (yet!), you can track whether your most popular pins are the ones with hashtags or not, and you can then re-use those hashtags!
In Summary
So, in summary, hashtags are a brilliant way to get more unique viewers, followers and click-throughs to your website. And, they are easier to use than you probably expected.
Are You Ready To Start Using Hashtags?
Now that I’ve shared a fire hose of information with you, are you feeling inspired to create your very own Pinterest hashtag strategy? I’d love to hear about your Pinterest successes.
Are you ready to hire someone to create a winning strategy for your Pinterest account?
Let’s chat and see if we’d be a good fit to work together!
Whichever way you decide to go, I hope this post was helpful. If you found this information useful, would you mind sharing it on Pinterest?
If you’re wondering whether you should hire a specialist to look after your Pinterest marketing, check out my post WHY HIRE A PINTEREST STRATEGIST.
Pinterest By The Numbers
Pinterest has 70 million users
There are over 1/2 million verified business accounts on Pinterest
Pinterest has over 2.5 billion average monthly pageviews
Pinterest users spend an average of 98 minutes per month on Pinterest
The average amount per order that derives from Pinterest traffic is between $140 and $180
Pinterest drives more traffic to publishers than Twitter, LinkedIn, and Reddit combined