How to Write Pin Descriptions That Actually Help You Rank

Pinterest descriptions are one of those things that people write super fast and forget about. A few words, maybe a few hashtags, maybe a sentence if you're feeling ambitious. And then you move on.

But here's the thing. On a visual search engine, your description is doing a lot of the heavy lifting your image can't do by itself. It's telling Pinterest exactly who to put your content in front of. And it's the difference between a pin that circulates for three years or longer and one that quietly disappears.

The Fundamental Difference

People aren't scrolling past your content on Pinterest. They're actually searching for it. They're typing in exactly what they need, and Pinterest is deciding whether your stuff is going to be the answer.

In this episode, I sat down with Angela Agranoff, who helps women over 40 travel confidently. She built her audience through her podcast and blog, and she's using Pinterest to grow that reach and drive traffic.

We walked through her account in real time, and what came up is what I see with so many creators: solid content, beautiful designs, and descriptions that might be leaving money on the table.

Or listen here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1MQkk9LAabUSd2fcGoplNM?si=837389ab5ecf4bc1

Using AI for Pin Descriptions

Angela uses AI to help create multiple titles and descriptions for each post or episode. And I'm a huge proponent of AI for brainstorming. It saves time. It gets you unstuck.

But here's where it breaks down: AI pulls from old Pinterest practices.

The biggest thing people miss when merging AI and Pinterest is getting very clear with the tool about what you actually need. I use something called CRIT: Context, Role, Interview, and Task.

Context is your brain dump. The content, the topic, what you're trying to accomplish.

Role is who you want the AI to sound like. A copywriter you admire. Your own voice.

Interview is the part most people skip. You want the AI to ask you questions before it generates anything. That's how it understands the full context.

Task is the specific output you need. Ten pin titles and descriptions. No hashtags. Use one to two of my keywords in conversational format.

And this is critical: Hashtags are dead on Pinterest. They are not searchable. They are not helping you rank. If AI gives you hashtags, remove them. That's old strategy taking up real estate where your keywords should live.

How Visual Search Actually Works

When you create a pin, Pinterest doesn't just read the text. It reads the image.

There's a tool called "search image" that you can use on any pin to see what Pinterest visually associates with your design. Angela had a pin that was supposed to rank for solo travel tips. When we ran the visual search, it pulled up flowers and tattoos.

That tells you the layout or the image needs adjusting. Maybe it's the stock photo. Maybe it's what's highlighted on the pin.

Visual search and your description need to work together. If your pin visually looks like flowers but your description says solo travel, Pinterest gets confused. And content it can't cleanly file, it can't surface.

Send Traffic to What's Already Converting

One of the biggest shifts we talked about was where to send Pinterest traffic.

Angela had been sending traffic to her podcast episodes. The episodes were great. The content was valuable. But the podcast page wasn't converting to leads yet.

So here's what I told her: if your podcast isn't converting right now, your main focus on Pinterest needs to be on what is converting. And for her, that's her landing page for her free solo travel kit.

Create five to ten different pins with different titles focusing on two to three of the same keywords for that landing page. Build the lead gen foundation first. Then layer in visibility with podcast content.

You can even create pins that say "Get your solo travel kit while also listening to how this person found a travel expert." You're connecting the two together. Lead gen first, visibility second.

The Willow Tree Method

Angela asked: how many pins should I create per piece of content?

There's not a hard and fast rule, but here's what I recommend: do no less than four to six pins per URL. Whether that URL is a landing page, a sales page, or a podcast episode.

And it's not done after you create those four to six. You can resurface content in four months, six months, a year. We do that all the time with management clients. We look at what worked well last year. We create fresh templates for old titles that ranked really well. And we do it all over again.

The content you create and optimize doesn't evaporate after two days. It stacks. A pin you create today can surface in six months, 18 months, and still send someone to your page.

But only if you've set it up correctly.

Final Pin Drop

Your pin descriptions are doing more work than you think. They're telling Pinterest who to show your content to. They're helping you rank for the keywords that matter. And when you pair them with visual search and strategic traffic routing, they become the foundation of a Pinterest presence that compounds instead of resets.

📌 Book a PinChat → laurarike.com/pinchat