Pinterest SEO: 7 Tips From A Pinterest Engineer [#SMX]

It’s not hard to make the case that Pinterest is a perfect social network for marketers, and Tailwind CEO Daniel Maloney hit upon the crux of the matter during a session this week at SMX East in New York.
Twitter, he said, is mostly about what I’m doing;
Facebook is about who I am;
Pinterest is about who I want to be
.
“When you look at what people are pinning, it’s more about who they want to be in the future,” Maloney said, “which from a marketer’s perspective is a dream come true.”
And the smart marketers are trying to figure out ways to get their product in front of Pinterest users — estimated to number more than 50 million, roughly 70% female.
One of the more neglected tactics is Pinterest search optimization. In April, Pinterest overhauled its search engine, introducing Guided Search. Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann said Guided Search would help users sift through the 30 billion pins (that had been made at the time) to find things they didn’t know they were looking for.
So how does a marketer move to the top of that mix? Anna Majkowska, a software manager on Pinterest’s search team, said it’s not too complicated, easier than optimizing for Google. She shared advice during the panel, which we paraphrased and turned into a list:
For obvious reasons, make sure your business’ name is in the account name and user name. Write a strong description about your business; include a good number of searchable keywords, but make sure it reads well.

Verified Pinterest accounts have more authority in Pinterest search. This page has instructions about how to complete the process.
Encouraging users to pin content from your website primes the Pinterest search pump. The more good pins you get, the better your authority and the higher your posts will rank.

Make sure to fill the descriptions with searchable keywords that describe the product or page. But avoid sounding spammy, because the descriptions serve as captions. They are rarely changed by Pinterest users sharing them, but are less likely to be repinned or clicked upon if they aren’t appealing to humans. Also avoid using hashtags, which serve no Pinterest purpose. Too many, Majkowska said, and your content might be demoted in Pinterest search.
You should also take the same approach with descriptions in the names of Pinterest boards. And when naming boards stick with straightforward, simple names.

Rich Pins, similar to Twitter Cards, are a way to pull structured data from your site and display it on Pinterest. Depending on the type of Rich Pin, they can show price and availability for a product, ingredients for a recipe or address, phone number and a map for a place. Such content, Majkowska said, ranks higher in Pinterest search. It’s also more visible in Pinterest users’ feeds and therefore has a higher click-through rate.
Setting up Rich Pins for your site also should improve your results on Google, and other search engines, said another panelist, Brittany Richter, a paid social expert with digital marketing agency iProspect. The same markup Pinterest uses is used to generate rich snippets that display in off-Pinterest search results.
Make sure Pinterest isn’t sending traffic to deleted or expired pages. 404 errors hurt a site’s search ranking and anger users. If you have a product that’s out of stock, add related items to the page.
Add the follow button to your site, on as many pages as possible. Promote your Pinterest account on other social accounts. “The way it works is the more followers you have, the higher authority of your profile and your boards, and the more likely your Pins will rank highly in Pinterest search,” Majkowska said.
Although Pinterest is dominated by pins about fashion, travel and cooking, there are opportunities to target other topics. BuzzFeed has had great success with spreading its humor content, for instance. “Some people think Pinterest is just fashion cooking and weddings,” Majkowska said, “which actually can be beneficial for people who try to optimize for other categories.”
If your topic is competitive, look for niches that have a high volume of searches, but a lower volume of content, such as mother of the bride dresses in the wedding category.
Pinterest is still testing its Promoted Pin advertising product with a limited number of businesses, but those not in the test can start preparing by testing similar promotion on other social networks, Richter of iProspect suggested.
Richter said retailers are posting roundups of their most popular Pinterest content on Facebook — “Get Pinspired! Shop some of the most-pinned items from our Pinterest page” and promoting those posts. “We’re actually seeing a higher click-through rate on things like this than when we use the multi-product ad unit on Facebook,” Richter said.

Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
Martin Beck is Third Door Media's Social Media Reporter, covering the latest news for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. He spent 24 years with the Los Angeles Times, serving as social media and reader engagement editor from 2010-2014. A graduate of UC Irvine and the University of Missouri journalism school, Beck started started his career at the Times as a sportswriter and copy editor. Follow Martin on Twitter (@MartinBeck), Facebook and/or Google+.
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Unknown 03:10  No comment

SEO Organizations Call For “Search Congress” To Create & Enforce SearchMarketing Code Of Ethics

SEMPO, along with other search marketing organizations, are calling for SEOs to participate in a “Search Congress” to help draft and enforce a search engine marketing code of ethics for North America.

While the initial search congress and creation of the North American Search Engine Marketing Code of Ethics is being organized by SEMPO, the overall goal is for the initiative to be led by a grass-root effort of existing and future search engine marketing organizations.SEMPO

According to the announcement, anyone wanting to participate must be nominated by an eligible search engine marketing organization, including regional associations, virtual communities or other eligible groups.
To clarify which groups would qualify to nominate delegates, SEMPO listed the following requirements:
Groups that self-identify as serving search engine marketers in some capacity.Groups that are at least 1 year old.Groups that have at least 10 dues-paying members.Active SEMPO Local groups that are more than 1 year old.Groups that are primarily active in North America.Groups that have pre-existing by-laws.
“Everyone has different opinions about what a search engine marketing code of ethics should contain,” said SEMPO vice president of communications Tony Wright, “The only way to create a code of ethics that will work is to ensure those people who are interested have buy-in and there is a fair way to enforce the code of ethics once it is ratified.”
An informative meeting to discuss the initiative will be hosted at Pubcon in Las Vegas October 6 – 9. SEMPO said the meeting location and scheduled time will be posted on @SEMPOGlobal and @Pubcon social media feeds.
Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media's General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.
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Measuring PPC Account Efficiency Vs. Volume: A Case Study

As PPC professionals, we are constantly working to optimize accounts. Whether it be improving conversion rate, increasing ROI, or lowering cost per conversion, the job is never done. We want to show our clients the best results and have them feel justified in hiring us.
Another phrase I use in conjunction with the term “optimization” is “account efficiency.”
In other words, are goals consistently being met, or does performance vary month to month? If the former, then chances are the account is efficient, meaning relevancy from search query to conversion is well aligned.
However, therein lies an issue that is constantly on my mind….
In making accounts efficient, I tend to worry that I’m leaving conversions on the table. I struggle with the notion that I’m making my keywords too specific or that I’m limiting ad exposure in other ways.
And I’m not talking about bidding on a root term in a broader match type in order to secure a few more conversions — I’m concerned that overall account decisions are limiting additional qualified traffic.
To try and quantify this notion of efficiency vs. volume, I’ll be presenting data from an e-commerce account that my agency inherited at the beginning of July. The data will look at Google AdWords year-over-year performance for July, August and September.
The reason I am reviewing this particular account is because we essentially started from scratch. The account had been dormant for a couple of months and, along with a new strategy, needed extensive campaign builds.
I want to emphasize that this case study and my associated thoughts should not be considered universal. As with everything PPC, there are so many variables. What works for one account may not work for another. This study is an attempt to quantitatively review the data and provide my analysis. You might do the same for your accounts to measure their efficiency.
Before presenting the data, I want to share exactly how I went about making the account efficient so as to provide context around the numbers. First off, all new campaigns included these parameters:
Ad groups consisted only of exact and modified broad match keywordsEach campaign began with a negative keyword list of 80 terms; these negatives came from historical account performance and proactive researchAll ad groups contained at least four ads — two targeting desktops and two showing on mobile devicesAlong with Search Network text ads, Google Shopping, Remarketing, Dynamic Search Ad (DSA), and Remarketing for Dynamic Search Ad (RDSA), campaigns began running in the first week of account managementSitelinks were used in every campaign; additionally, we were able to participate in the callout extensions beta and started running in early August
Next, bids were aimed at showing ads within the top three positions. Average position for Search Network text ads (not including Brand) during this time period was 2.2.
Finally, there were general Display campaigns (non-remarketing) running in 2013 that aren’t present in 2014. These Display campaigns accounted for less than 10% of overall spend; however, they encompassed about 1/3 of total impressions.
First, let’s take a look at click-through rate (CTR) and average cost-per-click (CPC) for just the Search Network (as the Display campaigns of 2013 would severely skew data).
CTR: 2013 vs. 2014
CTR remains stagnant in July year-over-year, but the big jumps come month-over-month.
From July 2014 to August 2014, CTR rises by 0.19 percentage points. During that same time period in 2013, CTR decreases by 0.01 percentage point. Even though September 2014 CTR decreased by 0.05 percentage points, it still saw a nice jump year-over-year.
CPCs also trended in the right direction, as 2014 monthly figures were lower than their 2013 counterparts. In both years, CPCs increased from month to month, representing a seasonal trend (which is accurate to the demand of this product).
Average CPC: 2013 vs. 2014
Similar to CPC, conversions spiked from July to August during both years. However, conversions nearly doubled in 2014 — whereas in 2013, they only increased by about 17%.
Both September months saw conversion growth from the previous month, as well. September 2014 saw 152 more conversions than August, while, in 2013, August to September conversions increased by 29.
Conversions: 2013 vs. 2014
It’s interesting to note the cost difference in relation to the conversion graph. Both years see increased costs month-over-month with 2014 seeing more dramatic changes.
When we compare this graph with conversions, we see that August 2014 saw 84% the conversions of August 2013 at only 63% of the cost. Based upon all graphs so far, the month of August is when the account had its most efficient month.
Cost: 2013 vs. 2014
Furthermore, cost-per-conversion in August and September 2014 were at least $1.31 less than their 2013 counterparts. Not only was overall cost and cost-per-conversion lower in 2014, but also, conversions nearly hit 2013 figures.
Cost per Conversion: 2013 vs. 2014
Following the conversion trend, each month’s revenue in 2014 was a greater percentage of that same month in 2013.
September 2014 revenue was just under 82% of September 2013 revenue at roughly 72% the cost of the previous year.
Revenue: 2013 vs. 2014
Finally, when reviewing return on ad spend (ROAS), each month in 2014 is above 500%.
Here is where efficiency comes most into play as the account is spending less and showing a better return. Overall, conversion and revenue volume are lower, but show solid increases month-over-month.
ROAS: 2013 vs. 2014
I hope, after presenting this case study, my concern about account efficiency vs. volume is clearer. Based upon all data, account efficiency is much improved over 2013 as ROAS is up, cost-per-conversion down, and CTR increased.
The caveat is that overall conversions are down. The question that must be asked is whether we should be OK with these results. Does better efficiency make up for volume loss?
In this case, I would say yes. Lost in this discussion is that the account has been growing month-to-month, even if volume is lower than last year.
It’s not like maximum efficiency has been hit and everything else is secondary. New campaigns are actively going live while optimizations are constantly being made. Throw in the seasonality factor, and a strong effort is being made to garner more qualified traffic.
Ultimately, the goal of many PPC accounts is to become more efficient. Gaining the most conversion and revenue volume is the main goal in some accounts, but by-and-large, showing high efficiency is necessary.
I would add that there needs to be more of a balance, but more so stacked in the favor of efficiency. In other words, gaining more high quality traffic should complement account efficiency.
Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
Matt Umbro is a Senior Account Manager in charge of Community at Hanapin Marketing. He specializes in eCommerce PPC and client relations, and he also oversees content production for PPC Hero.
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Unknown 02:57  No comment