The best way to increase the number of repins, likes and comments your Pinterest pins generate is to optimize each one.

Since a big part of this is to maximize their visibility within Pinterest’s search feature, a good starting point for optimizing your pins is giving them rich filenames. If you’re uploading a picture you took with your camera, change the filename to something descriptive instead of leaving the random letter and number combination that most cameras use. And if you’re pinning from another website, take a second to fill out the alt attribute with a descriptive phrase.

The next tip for optimizing pins is to link every single one to a URL. Even if you upload your own pictures from your computer, all you have to do is click edit and then you’ll be able to add a linked URL. The reason this step is important is that it will increase the amount of traffic that your pins are able to drive to the site or page of your choice.

Another thing to keep in mind is even though Pinterest descriptions can be significantly longer than tweets, brevity is usually still a good thing. So instead of feeling the need to use almost all of the 500 characters that Pinterest makes available, you should be able to write a catchy description in the 200 character range.

Speaking of Twitter, Pinterest also supports the use of hashtags. So even though they’re not something you want to overuse, don’t be afraid to add relevant keyword hashtags to your pins. Finally, as you’re getting in the swing of writing really good descriptions, one thing to remember is that you can include a clickable link within them. While image links are good, multiple studies have found that description links actually have a higher click-through rate.

Complete the steps we covered for fully optimizing your Pinterest page.

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day. 

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location and more. Just let her know how she can help!