The impact of social media on SEO is loud and clear. While everyone is clamoring after the 3 big ones – Facebook, Twitter and Google+, take your chance now and maximize the immense SEO potential of Pinterest.

Pinterest has grown significantly in recent times and an April 2012 Experian report states that it is the third most popular social networking site in terms of the number of unique visitors. Another report shows that Pinterest is one of the leading referral sources for organic traffic, which is a good sign for high search rankings. Get on Pinterest now to take advantage.

4 Simple Strategies to Maximize the SEO Benefits of Pinterest

1. Get ‘Pinteractive’

Merely having a Pinterest account and pining randomly will not magically bump up your search rankings. Get ‘pinteractive’ and pin the best images about your brand, product, organization etc to maximize the benefits of Pinterest.

Don’t be lost, because you are not in a creative profession (read interior decorator, florist, jewelry designer etc). So long as you have a product (even if it is a semi conductor), you have an image that can be optimized for Pinterest to impact search rankings.

Think out of the box to create images that represent you. For example, if you are in manufacturing, images of your ISO certified premises make good pins that will generate interest when displayed in search results and bring back traffic to your website.

Link Back to your Website

Always link back to your website from your pins. Pinterest pins properly optimized (more in point 3) are showing up increasingly in the search results. You don’t want people to just view your pins, you want them to come to your website via the pins to enhance chances of conversion. Also the traffic surge to your website will help you rank higher in the search results.

Use Keywords at the Right Places

There are various areas in Pinterest where prudent use of keyword can deliver big results, SEO wise.

Firstly, make sure your profile is keyword rich.

The different pin boards you create represent categories that are searchable on Pinterest. Incorporate keywords into board names and create keyword rich board descriptions for maximum SEO benefits.

When you upload images on Pinterest, be sure to change the image file name to include keywords. An image titled DSC0012.jpg will be of no help SEO wise, but one which says your-product-name.jpg, definitely will help in the search rankings.

Finally, don’t miss optimizing pin descriptions with keywords, as these are indexable by Google and will help in the pins occupying higher position on the SERP when relevant terms are searched.

Include the ‘Pin it’ Button on Your Website

Pins are social signals (just like Facebook likes and Google +1s) and content (images) with higher numbers of pins and repins are associated with higher search rankings. SEO consultants agree that social signals alone do not lead to higher rankings, but definitely they (social signals) are an important part of the overall SEO strategy.

What strategies have you used for maximizing SEO benefits of Pinterest?

This post has been written by Yasir Khan, leading SEO consultant and post Penguin link builder. For comprehensive SEO services, click here to visit Quantum SEO Labs, founded by Yasir Khan.