Pinterest Keywords: How to Find Them and Where to Put Them

Pinterest keywords are the words and phrases people type into Pinterest search. To find them, type a topic into the Pinterest search bar and note the suggestions, check those phrases in Pinterest Trends, and use the keyword search in Pinterest Ads Manager for more ideas. Then put the best phrase in your pin title, description, board name and image text.

Pinterest's own creator guidance is short on this point: add "relevant keywords" to titles and descriptions to help search visibility (Pinterest Create fundamentals). The work is in finding the right phrases and placing them without stuffing.

This guide covers the research. For the wider strategy of boards, pin cadence and measurement, see the Pinterest SEO guide.

Three free tools for Pinterest keyword research

Tool	What it gives you	Limits
Pinterest search bar	Real phrases suggested as you type	No numbers, results vary by account and region
Pinterest Trends	Interest over time, seasonality, related trends	Some features only in certain regions
Ads Manager keyword search	A larger list of related keywords	Built for advertisers, needs a business account

Use them in that order. The search bar gives you phrases, Trends tells you when they matter, and Ads Manager widens the list.

1. The Pinterest search bar

Open Pinterest and start typing a broad topic, such as "meal prep". Pinterest shows a list of suggested searches below the bar. Each one is a phrase other people search for.

How to get the most from it:

1. Type your seed topic and write down every suggestion.
2. Add a space and one letter ("meal prep a", "meal prep b") to see more suggestions.
3. Run a search. If Pinterest shows related terms or filters above the results, note them, because they show how people narrow a topic.
4. Look at the top pins for each phrase. Note the wording in their titles and what kind of content they link to.

Suggestions are personalised to some degree, so results can differ between accounts and countries. Use a business account in the region you are targeting, and do not treat the order of suggestions as a ranking by volume. Pinterest does not publish what the order means.

2. Pinterest Trends

Pinterest Trends shows how interest in a keyword changes over time. According to Pinterest's help page, it gives "a historic view (up to the last two years)" of top search, save and shopping trends, and lets you compare keywords, see seasonal moments and view age and gender breakdowns (Pinterest Trends help).

Use it to answer three questions about each phrase from the search bar:

• Is it seasonal? A phrase that peaks every November needs pins published well before then. Pinterest's fundamentals page suggests planning content 45 to 60 days ahead.
• Is it steady or fading? Prefer phrases with steady interest for evergreen articles.
• Which version is stronger? Compare similar phrases, such as "meal prep ideas" and "meal prep recipes", and pick the stronger one as your main keyword.

Pinterest notes that some Trends features are only available in certain regions and that the tool is used in a desktop or mobile browser. Audience-specific trends appear only once your own audience is large enough.

3. The Ads Manager keyword search

Pinterest Ads Manager has a keyword search inside ad group setup. Under "Interests and keywords", you enable keywords and search for terms to add (keyword targeting help). Typing a seed topic returns related keywords you can copy into your own list.

You need a free business account, and you do not have to launch or pay for an ad. Start a campaign draft, go to the keyword step, collect ideas, and leave without publishing.

Two cautions. Pinterest's help page does not describe search volume figures in this tool. Third-party guides report that it shows a monthly search number next to each term (Cypress North), but the display can change, so treat any numbers as rough estimates for comparing phrases. The tool is also designed for ad targeting, so some suggestions will be broad.

How to choose which keywords to use

A list of 200 phrases is not useful until you sort it. For each piece of content, pick:

• One main keyword. The phrase that best describes the page your pin links to.
• Two or three supporting phrases. Close variations or more specific versions.
• One board keyword. A broader phrase that describes the group this pin belongs to.

Example for a blog post about cheap lunches (an illustration, not real data):

Role	Example phrase
Main keyword	budget meal prep ideas
Supporting	cheap meal prep for the week, meal prep on a budget
Board	Meal prep ideas

Choose specific phrases over broad ones when your account is new. "Meal prep" describes millions of pins. "Budget meal prep ideas for one person" describes far fewer, and the person searching it knows what they want.

Only target a phrase if the linked page delivers on it. A pin that promises one thing and links to another loses the click and the save.

Where to put Pinterest keywords

There are five places, with limits verified from Pinterest's own pages.

Place	Limit	How to use it
Profile bio	Up to 500 characters (edit your profile)	One or two sentences naming your topic and who you help
Board name and description	Pinterest advises a short title to avoid truncation	Name the board with a plain search phrase, describe it in a sentence or two
Pin title	Up to 100 characters, first 40 most likely to show (creative best practices)	Main keyword near the start
Pin description	Keep under 500 characters (same source; the product specs page says 800)	Main keyword once, one or two supporting phrases, written as sentences
Text on the image	No set limit	A short headline that repeats the main idea

Profile

Your bio allows up to 500 characters and your username must be between three and 30 characters. Say what you post about in plain words: "Budget meal prep ideas and simple weeknight recipes for busy families." That is enough. A string of keywords separated by bars reads badly and tells a visitor nothing.

Boards

Pinterest's guidance is a "short and concise title to avoid truncation, with relevant keywords" and a specific theme. Its example is "vegan breakfast recipes" rather than a broad label. Name each board after a phrase from your research, and write a board description that uses keywords which accurately describe it.

Pinterest also suggests 20 to 100 pins per board or board section, so plan boards you can fill (fundamentals).

Pin title

You have 100 characters, and the first 40 are the most likely to be seen. Put the main keyword in those first 40.

• Weak: "You have to try these!"
• Better: "Budget meal prep ideas: 7 lunches under $3"

Pin description

Keep it under 500 characters. Write two or three sentences that say who the pin is for and what they get, using the main keyword once and a supporting phrase where it fits. Copy-paste structures are in the Pinterest description templates.

Image text and alt text

Add a short headline to the pin image that matches the title. Pinterest's creative guidance says to place key messaging at the top of the image and to design for mobile. Keep it large enough to read on a phone.

Alt text is a separate field of up to 500 characters. Pinterest describes it as a way to explain the image to people using screen readers (alt text help). Write an accurate description of what the image shows. If your keyword fits naturally, fine. Do not use the field as a keyword dump.

An AI prompt to cluster your Pinterest keywords

Sorting a raw list by hand is slow. An AI assistant can group it in a minute. Paste your list into this prompt:

I am doing Pinterest keyword research for a [niche] account aimed at [reader].

Here are phrases I collected from the Pinterest search bar, Pinterest Trends
and the Ads Manager keyword search:

[paste your list, one phrase per line]

Do the following:
1. Group the phrases into 5 to 8 clusters by what the searcher wants.
2. Give each cluster a short, plain board name that uses one of the phrases.
3. For each cluster, pick one main keyword and up to three supporting phrases.
4. Suggest one article or resource idea per cluster that would answer the search.
5. List any phrases that do not fit, or that look seasonal, separately.

Use only the phrases I gave you. Do not invent new keywords or search volumes.
Output a table: cluster, board name, main keyword, supporting phrases, content idea.

The last instruction matters. AI tools can produce keywords and numbers that look convincing and have no data behind them. The assistant should organise what you collected from Pinterest. It cannot tell you what people search for. Check any phrase it adds by typing it into the search bar yourself.

Once you have the clusters, turn them into a publishing plan with an AI content calendar.

Common mistakes with Pinterest keywords

• Stuffing. A description that lists ten phrases in a row is hard to read and gives a person no reason to click.
• Using Google keywords without checking. Confirm every phrase on Pinterest itself.
• Mismatched boards. Saving a pin to an unrelated board sends mixed signals about its topic.
• Hashtags as a strategy. Pinterest's current best practice pages do not mention them.
• Researching once. Trends change through the year. Recheck your main phrases every few months.
• Expecting fast results. Good keywords help pins get found. They do not guarantee traffic, and new pins take time to show up in search.

Pinterest keyword checklist

• 20 or more phrases collected from the search bar for each seed topic
• Each phrase checked in Pinterest Trends for seasonality
• Phrases grouped into clusters, one board per cluster
• One main keyword and two or three supporting phrases chosen per pin
• Main keyword in the first 40 characters of the pin title
• Main keyword used once in the description, in a normal sentence
• Image headline matches the title
• Linked page delivers what the keyword promises

Next step

Pick one topic you already have content for. Spend 20 minutes collecting search bar suggestions, check the top five in Pinterest Trends, and rewrite the title and description of one existing pin using the limits above.

If your goal is income and not only traffic, read how to make money on Pinterest next. The ebook Your First $100 Online System With AI shows how to connect that traffic to a first small offer.