Pinterest decides what to show people based on words, not on how good your design is. If your pins, boards, and bio use keywords that nobody is searching for, your content will not get seen, regardless of how much effort you put into making it look beautiful.
Finding the right keywords is the single highest-leverage move you can make for Pinterest growth. The good news is Pinterest itself gives you most of the data you need for free. You just have to know where to look.
Here are the five methods I use to find Pinterest keywords for client accounts, in the order I usually try them.
Method 1: The Pinterest Guided Search Bar
Open Pinterest and type the broadest version of your topic into the search bar (think "home office" or "meal prep" or "client onboarding"). Underneath the main results, Pinterest shows a row of related, more specific phrases as colored tiles. Those tiles are gold.
Each tile represents a search term Pinterest is seeing enough volume for to surface as a suggestion. They are real searches, not made-up keywords. Click any tile to drill down further and Pinterest will give you a new row of even more specific tiles built on top of your refined search.
Work through this two or three levels deep and you will end up with 15 to 30 specific keyword phrases that real people are typing into Pinterest. Keep a running list in a notes doc.
Method 2: Related Keywords In The Search Results
After you do any Pinterest search, scroll past the top results and look at the suggested searches Pinterest lists in the sidebar (on desktop) or below the pins (on mobile). These are searches related to yours that other Pinterest users have run.
These related searches are often more specific or more product-focused than what you originally typed. If you searched "home office" you might see related searches for "small home office for women" or "home office desk setup" or "home office on a budget." Each of those is a separate niche keyword you can target with its own pin or board.
Method 3: The Pinterest Ads Manager Keyword Field
You do not have to run ads to use this. Open the Pinterest Ads Manager, start to create a campaign (you can quit before publishing), and go to the keyword targeting field. Type your topic in.
Pinterest's ads system shows you keyword suggestions along with monthly search volume estimates. That volume data is not visible anywhere else in the platform. You can quickly see which variations of your keyword phrase have hundreds of searches per month versus a handful.
Sort by volume, pull the top 30 to 50 relevant keywords, and you have a list grounded in actual demand. This is the closest thing Pinterest gives you to a free keyword tool.
Method 4: The Pinterest Trends Tool
Pinterest Trends (at trends.pinterest.com) shows you what people are searching for over time, broken out by region, demographic, and category. You can use it two ways.
First, look up keywords you are already considering and see if they are trending up or trending down. A keyword on a downward trend over the last 12 months is probably not where you want to invest content effort. Second, scan the trending categories for your niche and see what topics are surging right now. Those are the seasonal and emerging searches you can ride.
The best move with Pinterest Trends is to pair it with the Ads Manager keyword data from method 3. Volume plus direction equals confidence about where to invest.
Method 5: Hire Someone To Do The Research For You
If the four methods above sound like several hours of work you do not have, you can outsource the whole thing. I offer Pinterest Keyword SEO Research as a one-off service with three tiers starting at $129, and the deliverable is a list of researched keywords with priority rankings, competitor comparisons, and blog ideas built around them.
The reason this exists as a service is that keyword research is the highest-leverage piece of work on Pinterest AND the piece most people skip or rush. Done well, it sets the next 6 to 12 months of your strategy. Done poorly, it sets you up for 12 months of pins nobody finds.
What To Do With Your Keyword List
Once you have 30 to 50 researched keywords, three places need them: your bio, your boards, and your pins.
Your bio: include your top 5 keywords naturally in the 160 characters Pinterest gives you. These are the keywords most central to what you do. "Pinterest manager for entrepreneurs" is a keyword. "Helping women thrive" is not.
Your boards: each board name should match a real keyword (not your brand language). Each board description should include 2-3 keywords related to that board's topic, written in natural sentences.
Your pins: each pin title and description should include 1-2 keywords. Don't stuff them. Use them the way someone would naturally talk about the topic.
For more on how to set this up across a full Pinterest account, see Pinterest Traffic Strategy for Business.
Want the keyword research done for you?
Pick a tier and I will deliver the full keyword list, competitor comparisons, and blog ideas, ready to plug into your account.
See the Three Tiers