Listen Again: How to Write Great Pin Descriptions

Summary

Simple Pin Podcast: Simple Ways to Boost Your Business Using Pinterest
Episode: Listen Again: How to Write Great Pin Descriptions
Host: Kate Ahl | Guest Host: Sam
Date: July 22, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this concise, practical episode, Kate Ahl and guest host Sam revisit one of the most commonly asked questions in Pinterest marketing: How to Write Great Pinterest Pin Descriptions. Drawing on more than a decade of Pinterest strategy experience, Sam breaks down the elements of effective descriptions, debunks outdated tactics, and provides actionable, up-to-date advice for maximizing the impact of your pins. This episode serves as the first in a three-part series covering essential but often-overlooked Pinterest features.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Role and Importance of Pin Descriptions

• Pin Descriptions = Core SEO Tool:
  • The pin description is critical for Pinterest SEO—it tells both the Pinterest algorithm and Google what your pin is about.
  • "It's that little section of text that tells the algorithm and sometimes Google exactly what your PIN is about." (Sam, 01:58)
• Why Write Descriptions Even Though Most Users Don’t Read Them:
  • Pinterest is first and foremost a visual discovery platform—users react to images, but the algorithm relies on text.
  • Descriptions help Pinterest accurately place your pin in search results for relevant queries.

How to Write a Great Pinterest Description

Core Guidelines (04:39–10:30)

• Character Limit:
  • You have up to 500 characters, but you don’t need to use them all.
• Write for the Algorithm—But Sound Natural:
  • No keyword stuffing. Write as if you’re texting a friend about your pin.
  • Include keywords naturally within 2-3 informative sentences about the content.

"Just want to be thinking about what are the words that you need to use in there that you know people are going to be searching? And how can you write that in a way that sounds really, really natural?"
— Sam (06:07)

• Highlight Unique Features:

  • Give context—what makes your post, product, or recipe special? E.g., “Vegan,” “X ingredients,” “Quick to make.”

• Include a Subtle Call to Action:

  • Gently prompt the user to click through, save, or act, which can also reinforce your keywords.

• Example (Pumpkin Cinnamon Bread Pin):

  • “This amazing pumpkin cinnamon bread is so easy to make. You only need nine ingredients and one hour…You should make this pumpkin cinnamon bread.”
  • Layer in keywords: type of recipe, unique selling points, audience.

What Not to Do

Outdated & Ineffective Strategies:

• No Keyword Stuffing:

  • Avoid lists of keywords separated by pipes ("|")—this is old advice and can harm your SEO.
  • "Throw that out. So when you write your Pinterest description, one of the best...ways to think about it is like you're sending a text to a friend." (Sam, 05:40)

• Absolutely No Hashtags:

  • Pinterest’s official stance has fluctuated, but the consensus now: do not use hashtags in descriptions.
  • Hashtags can break the keyword for Pinterest’s algorithm and confuse your categorization.
  • "I don't know if I need to be any clearer on that. But just, like, don't use them." (Sam, 09:43)
  • "We’ve never used them for our clients..." (Sam, 09:57)
  • "Whenever you make a marketing decision, you need to ask yourself, does the user use this particular tool?...No, they don't. So I'm not going to." (Sam & Kate, 10:27–10:31)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Pinterest descriptions are the most powerful tool in your keyword game. And here's why." (Sam, 04:44)
• "You just want to be thinking about what are the words that you need to use...that people are going to be searching?" (Sam, 06:07)
• "For the love of all things holy, do not use a hashtag." (Sam, 10:24)
• "Write natural, don't keyword stuff, and for the love of all things holy, do not use a hashtag. And that's it." (Sam, 10:24)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–01:55 — Intro, Episode Context & Updates from Kate
• 01:55–04:39 — The Importance of Pin Descriptions, Upcoming Series Preview
• 04:39–09:42 — Writing Effective Descriptions: How-To and Best Practices
• 09:42–10:30 — Hashtags: Why Not to Use Them & User Perspective
• 10:31–11:51 — Call to Action, Summary, and Tease for Next Episode

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Episode Flow & Tone

• Friendly, conversational, and direct. Sam draws from extensive hands-on Pinterest strategy experience to deliver advice in a straightforward, jargon-free manner.
• Relatable—uses tangible examples (like text-to-friend and recipe pins) that listeners can apply immediately.
• Calmly but firmly debunks persistent myths, especially around keyword stuffing and hashtags.

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Practical Takeaways

• Write pin descriptions like short, information-packed notes to a friend. Use relevant keywords naturally.
• Avoid keyword lists and hashtags; focus on genuine, helpful context.
• Add a soft call to action if it flows.
• This approach helps your content appear in front of new audiences—Pinterest’s “cold leads”—which is the platform’s real strength.

Next episode in the series: How to Name Your Pinterest Boards.

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For more resources or to get help from the Simple Pin team, visit simplepinmedia.com.
To share your best pin descriptions, tag @simplepinmedia on Instagram.

Transcript

[Kate]

Hey there and welcome back to another episode of the Simple Pin Podcast.

[Sam]

I just want to let you know

[Kate]

that this is a replay of a podcast that has previously aired. We wanted to take time this summer to share with you three specific podcasts that we feel answer a lot of the questions that we get on the Repeat. Now, after 12 years of doing Pinterest marketing, we start to see that there are some similar themes and questions that come up. Whether it's 2018, 2022 or 2026, the questions are still there. And for these episodes they are some more recent ones and some go a little bit back into the archives. But it's just going to be three episodes this summer and this is one of them. We hope that you'll listen again if you have listened before or if you're a new listener to the Simple Pen podcast, that you will take time to listen to this one and hopefully learn something new. As always, our door is always open to questions that you have. You can simply email us. Hello simplepinmedia.com Also in these previous episodes we did not have our SPM Insiders group. If you'd like to join that, it's just $9 a month and we'd love to have you. There are monthly calls. In fact this month our design director did a one hour call reviewing people's pin designs and they loved it. As well as community forum where you can ask us any questions or troubleshoot or just say am I doing this right? And we want to help support you in your Pinterest marketing journey. So you can go to simplepin media.com and click on Resources and you will find SPM insiders. Alrighty with that, enjoy listening again to a previous episode of the Simple Pin podcast.

[Sam]

Hey there and welcome back to the Simple Pin Podcast. Today we are going to be talking about how to write a great Pinterest Description. Description this is by far one of the most powerful SEO tools you have for Pinterest. It's that little section of text that tells the algorithm and sometimes Google exactly what your PIN is about. Just a note before we dive in is that the next three episodes are going to be shorter as we cover some small but really important features of Pinterest that we've never talked about here on the podcast. So instead of lumping them all together, this will allow people to find each element in a really simple way way. So just know this is part one and then we're going to do 355 and 356 are going to be relatively small. Also wanted to say is that Pinterest in Q4 is going to crush it. So if you are really wanting to get out ahead of your competition, if you are wanting to leverage a new platform for growth, now is the time to do it. I know there's a lot of times when I say that Pinterest is a slow burn. It takes time. It. It really does. And if you don't get started, you push back that investment. And I know it's really easy to go to Instagram or another platform because it has all these dopamine hits that make us feel really, really good. I get it. But focusing on something like Pinterest, America's shopping mall, the best visual search and discovery tool there is out there, will help you get discovered by cold leads, by new people who don't know anything about you. Pinterest has some great things coming down the pike. They have great leadership. They are growing tremendously. So now is the time to get on Pinterest. If you are short on time and you want to hand this off to professionals who know how to make that snowball on Pinterest grow for you, I want you to hop on a call with our team to see if your business qualifies for management that is both ads and organic. So we're here to help you determine the best fit. So get on a call with us@simplepin media.com services. The link is below in your podcast app. We would love to help make Pinterest a really powerful arm in your business to bring in cold leads.

[Kate]

You're listening to the Simple Pen podcast, Pinterest for business advice that goes down smooth and easy. Here's your host, Kate. All.

[Sam]

Right, how to write a great Pinterest description. So on Pinterest, when you add a pin, you can create a pin often is what they say. You can create an image pin, a video pin, and then a product pin. We're going to take image pin in this example. This is the flagship pin of Pinterest. So when you upload them, there's this section of text where it says, write a Pinterest description. So Pinterest descriptions are the most powerful tool in your keyword game. And here's why. So everybody on Pinterest looks at the images first. It's how they quantify if they want to click on it, if they want to save it, if it matches what they're interested in. That's like the first thing. That's why we call it the most powerful visual search engine, because people only look at images. They don't read. So then you might ask yourself, well, then why would I put in a Pinterest description if people don't read? You're playing the game, and the game is the keyword game that appeals to the algorithm. So, because Pinterest has this goal to be this amazing search engine, right? They rely on keywords to help them understand where to put the particular pins. So if Susie is searching for Fall Fashion 2023, and your Pinterest description has Fall Fashion 2023, they're going to show Susie that particular pin. And then as that pin gets more popular, it climbs in search. And then lots of people get shown that if they simply search Fall Fashion 2023. Okay, so the description is like the magical place that the computer algorithms go to to read from. So how do you write one? First, you have up to 500 characters. Doesn't mean you have to use them all, but you can. And Pinterest will allow you to write in full sentences. You don't have to keyword stuff. Now, a long time ago, there was a course that taught this idea that you just needed to fill all 500 characters with keywords and those little pipes in between. Don't do that. That is old news. So throw that out. So when you write your Pinterest description, one of the best place, one of the best ways to think about it is like you're sending a text to a friend. You're going to simply write out a couple sentences about this particular pin. So let's walk through an example. Let's say it is this amazing pumpkin cinnamon bread. So what you would say is, this amazing pumpkin cinnamon bread is so easy to make. You only need nine ingredients and one hour. I'm sure it's going to take longer, but go with me here. Only need nine ingredients in one hour. I made this so quickly, without even using a kitchen mixer. You should make this pumpkin cinnamon bread. So it's like me telling you, this is so awesome. You should make this right. But I'm going to add more keywords into it. That's it. It's not rocket science. It's not crazy. You just want to be thinking about what are the words that you need to use in there that you know people are going to be searching? And how can you write that in a way that sounds really, really natural? And also, you're giving context about your pin. You're essentially saying to the algorithm, hey, I know this is an image of a beautiful pumpkin cinnamon bread, but here's what else is really awesome about it. It has this many ingredients. It takes this amount of time to make. And let's say it's vegan and it's vegan. So now we have a whole bunch of context. So now you can stand out amongst the regular pumpkin cinnamon bread because yours is X number of ingredients takes X number of time, and. And it's vegan. That's it. Now a lot of people ask about hashtags. Pinterest has had a dicey relationship with hashtags over the years. They don't love them, then they love them, then they don't love them, then they love them. Here's the deal. They said they wanted you to use them, and then they pulled back on it. Don't use them. Do not use hashtags. We do know, I think there used to be this thing that when somebody would sign up for a new Pinterest account, there was something in their literature about using a hashtag, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, don't use it. You will come across old pin descriptions that do have hashtags that highlight sometimes, like, you can click on them. That is not an indicator that that works. It does not. It breaks the keyword.

[Kate]

Right?

[Sam]

So what I mean by that is, on Instagram, hashtags really are not as much anymore, but they allow you to put that pin, that Instagram image in like a bucket, like a category. Right? Your keyword in your PIN descript description allows your pin to go in a category. Don't add a hashtag. I don't. I don't know if I need to be any clearer on that. But just like, don't use them. And if somebody tells you or you read something older, don't use them. I. We've never used them for our clients, with the exception of a short period of time when Pinterest came out and they were like, hashtags are amazing. You should use them. Here's the most important part. The user doesn't use them. And whenever you make a marketing decision, you need to ask yourself, does the user use this particular tool?

[Kate]

No.

[Sam]

No, they don't. So I'm not going to. The last part of your Pinterest description can end with a call to action. It can be for them to read more, find the product on your site, make the pumpkin cinnamon bread, whatever it is going to be, kind of call them to action. Again, they're not going to be reading it. But this call to action can be a subtle way to add in another. Another keyword. So that's it. The Pinterest description is the utmost important SEO tool that you have on Pinterest. Write up to 500 characters, write natural, don't keyword stuff, and for the love of all things holy, do not use a hashtag. And that's it. Alrighty. We would love to see your amazing Pinterest descriptions. We don't do this very often, but take a screenshot of your awesome Pinterest description and tag us on Instagram. We are implepin media. We would love to show off your stuff and we would love to see what you're doing with Pinterest descriptions. I hope this answers all the questions that you have about Pinterest descriptions. And next up in part two of our three part is the discussion around what should you name your Pinterest boards? Alrighty, that's it. Thanks so much for listening.

[Kate]

Sam.