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Pinterest just helped me get to Page 1 on Google

By
Home Builder with The Flooring Girl

Close to 4 months ago, I wrote an article on the Best Paint Colors to Sell Your House.  I put a lot of time and effort in creating the article and the graphics to go with it, and it's a very thorough post.

 

After I wrote it, I thought, what the heck am I doing.  I'm never going to rank for a painting article and especially not on this topic that everyone and their brother has written about.  When I did a search, I could see that not only were there tons of articles on this topic (no surprise), but also many written on very high authority sites.  So, I kind of gave up any hope with getting traffic from google.

 

I figured that maybe it would work on Pinterest.  And, indeed it did!

 

Very quickly, my pin (you can see it here) gained traction and get tons of repins and lots of traffic.  In fact, it's now been repinned over 111,000 times.  For the last 2 months or so, it's been delivering around 17,000-18,000 clicks/month to my site and has become my #1 article...basically doubling my #1 flooring article.

 

I was thrilled with that.

 

When I looked at the traffic in January, it looked like 99% of the traffic came from Pinterest.  I think I had around 20 clicks from organic search.

 

Fast forward to Monday of this week.  I was talking to a local customer who wanted to schedule a color consultation.  Based on what she was saying, I could tell she read this article.  In fact, I had 3 people this week that requested this, and 2 the week before and one the week prior.  I thought that was interesting since these people were local and all happening so quickly (and it's February!).

 

So I googled the topic and lo and behold, I found my article on Page 1 of google.  It's much lower on the page - appears to be around the 6th position.  And, it looks like around 10% of the traffic is coming from organic search.  Wow!

 

So how is this happening?  Basically, I write a very high quality article (i.e. and epic post...generally 2,000-3000 words) and make it super helpful for the reader.  I try to optimize it for search.  Then, I create an amazing pin for pinterest (or at least I try to).  Then, I share it a bunch on Pinterest.  Then, others repin it and click on it...and read the article.  Their time on page is long because it's a great article (at least in my opinion...but average time on page is over 5 mins, so that's a good sign). 

 

This in turn sends good signals to google, so it starts to gain some traction on google.  From there, people read the article and stay on page for a while, and some even leave comments and questions, and this in turn sends more good signals to google, and voila, I'm on Page 1.  (looking back through my data, it looks like it happened 3 months after I published it...but I was just too busy to notice it).

 

By the way, this is not the 1st time this has happened.  I've done this several times with new articles, and I'm finding that Pinterest is helping me get more traffic to my site and ACCELERATING my google rankings.  It's truly a double win.  I'm going to try to replicate this some more.

 

My new goal is to get that article ranked #5...or maybe even #4 (I have a hunch that I can't get much higher, but we'll see).

 

Yesterday, Kevin Vitali had a featured article called "Are your Blog Posts PINTERESTING?"  He is right on.  Pinterest is huge, and there are so many here are missing a huge opportunity.

 

I've been getting around 35,000+ pageviews a month from Pinterest.  It is by far, my highest performing social media channel and continues to grow.  Of course, this number understates the true impact as it's also growing and accelerating my search results.

 

If you'd like to learn more about how to do well on Pinterest, check out my article on 11 Hacks to drive insane growth from Pinterest.

 

And, if you want to help me with this article, feel free to do any of the following:

  • Link to my article (this topic is probably related to any article you write about tips for selling your home)
  • Repin my pin (and this will help you...because if your read my pinterest article, you'll see that repinning high performing pins helps your pinterest account).
  • Leave a comment on my article.  These can also help the article rank better.

 

I hope this info is helpful.  Pinterest is fun and easy...and it's a big opportunity.  Importantly, unlike the other social media, it does not require a lot of followers to do well.  And, unlike the other "social media" is is not "social."...so 1. It doesn't take much time, 2.  You pins can live on for years.  Why?  Because pinterest is basically a visual search engine.

 

So, if you haven't taken the plunge yet, I'd encourage you do so.

Comments (63)

Janice Zaltman
United Realty Group - Boca Raton, FL
Energy Efficient And Eco-Friendly Homes in Florida

Debbie: How exciting and thank you so much for sharing your success. Now just need to take a dive and go for it. Pinterest is captivating. 

Feb 22, 2018 06:44 PM
Eileen Begley
Coldwell Banker, DelMonte - Carmel, CA
Monterey Real Estate

Great post Debbie. I use Pinterest and enjoy it on a personal basis. But don't really use it in a biz sense. Guess I better get busy!

Feb 23, 2018 12:49 PM
Margaret Goss
@Properties - Winnetka, IL
Chicago's North Shore & Winnetka Real Estate

Your paint article is awesome - plus it has great graphics. No wonder it's become popular. (I also see my newest hot paint color in there - Revere Pewter!)

Feb 24, 2018 08:30 AM
Debbie Gartner

Margaret  - Thx and Revere Pewter is awesome.

Mar 02, 2018 08:04 AM
Corey Martin
Martin Presence Group - Ruston, LA
Real Estate and Management Solutions

Great information. Congratulations on your achievement. Thank you for sharing. 

Feb 26, 2018 02:49 PM
Dorie Dillard Austin TX
Coldwell Banker Realty ~ 512.750.6899 - Austin, TX
NW Austin ~ Canyon Creek and Spicewood/Balcones

Good evening Debbie Gartner ,

You really make it happen! Congratulaions on your achievement and well deserved featured post!

Mar 01, 2018 04:56 PM
Maria Gerlinger
Reno, NV

Very interesting. I'm glad your hard work paid off. Thank you for sharing, it is a great idea!

Mar 01, 2018 05:19 PM
Andrew Mooers | 207.532.6573
MOOERS REALTY - Houlton, ME
Northern Maine Real Estate-Aroostook County Broker

Way to go Debbie Gartner ! Pinterest is not just look at the pictures for entertainment or for ideas. It's the below the image link to the blog post anchored to it, that the photo was harvested from!

 

Mar 01, 2018 06:33 PM
Debbie Gartner

Exactly.

Mar 02, 2018 08:05 AM
PeterMark SEO
PeterMarkSEO - Holiday, FL
Real Estate Technology, SEO Web Development

Finally, the post got featured 

Mar 01, 2018 06:44 PM
Debbie Gartner

Yes, LOL.  Thx.

Mar 02, 2018 08:05 AM
Tammy Lankford,
Lane Realty Eatonton, GA Lake Sinclair, Milledgeville, 706-485-9668 - Eatonton, GA
Broker GA Lake Sinclair/Eatonton/Milledgeville

I've had some stuff rank via pinterest.  Problem is I get busy and am not consistant with pinning posts.

Mar 01, 2018 08:08 PM
Carla Freund
Keller Williams Preferred Realty - Raleigh, NC
NC Real Estate Transition & Relocation 919-602-848

Congratulations! I hope you get business from your post!

Mar 02, 2018 05:26 AM
Debbie Gartner

Yes, I have!

Mar 02, 2018 08:05 AM
Bruce Kunz
C21 Solid Gold Realty, Brick, NJ, 732-920-2100 - Howell, NJ
REALTOR®, Brick & Howell NJ Homes for Sale

Congratulations Debbie Gartner and thank you for sharing. Your articles/ posts are always informative and well written. I've not worked with/ in Pinterest, but may try to look at it again.
Bruce

 

Mar 02, 2018 03:35 PM
Bud Hovell
SyndaFeed LLC - Gresham, OR
Savvy Syndication

Excellent article and a super-nice graphic. Nice work!

Mar 02, 2018 03:38 PM
Olga Simoncelli
Veritas Prime, LLC dba Veritas Prime Real Estate - New Fairfield, CT
CONSULTANT, Real Estate Services & Risk Management

Congrats and thanks for the thorough write-up Debbie!

Mar 02, 2018 05:38 PM
Elyse Berman, PA
LoKation Real Estate - Boca Raton, FL
Boca Raton FL (561) 716-7824

Great article on Pinterest Debbie Gartner .  Going to read more about it.

Mar 05, 2018 10:36 AM
Anonymous
jean

Do you have a business pintress page....I see things on your page that I don't have

Mar 06, 2018 01:57 PM
#58
Anonymous
jean

you have text above the read it button....I don't see that

Mar 06, 2018 02:39 PM
#59
Debbie Gartner
The Flooring Girl - White Plains, NY
The Flooring Girl & Blog Stylist -Dynamo Marketers

Jean - Yes, you should convert to a business page (and that's on the attached article.  That allows you to see you analytics so you can improve.

Mar 07, 2018 04:11 AM
Debbie Gartner
The Flooring Girl - White Plains, NY
The Flooring Girl & Blog Stylist -Dynamo Marketers

Jean - Also, you need to enable rich pins.

Mar 07, 2018 04:11 AM
Eva B. Liland Century 21 Doug Anderson
Century 21 Doug Anderson - Lancaster, CA
Glad to be of Service 661-714-1643

I LOVE Pinterest but had no idea I could use it in my real estate business! Way to go Debbie Gartner , you are truly an inspiration.

Mar 11, 2018 12:56 AM
Erika Rogers
Red Rock Real Estate ~ Southern Utah's Largest Independent Brokerage - Saint George, UT
St George Utah Real Estate & Relocation Specialist

Hi Debbie,  I'm trying to figure out if I should share my AR post on Pinterest via AR or if I should write the blog on my website and share from there?  Found your post and thought I'd ask since you're having good luck with Pinterest.  Does AR drive traffic to my website or and I just driving traffic to AR?

Jun 29, 2018 02:45 PM