How to Do Pinterest Keyword Research With No Keyword Tool For Free

If you’re looking to get more traffic from Pinterest and boost your online earnings, learning how to do Pinterest keyword research is critical. Pinterest is more than a social media platform—it’s also a search engine that people use to make buying decisions.
In this article I’ll show you exactly how to do Pinterest keyword research for free, without needing a keyword tool. You’ll learn how to use Pinterest itself as a relevant keyword generator so your content strategy aligns with what users are actively searching for on the platform.
If that sounds good, keep reading this article – and if you know someone else it could be helpful for, please share it with them!
This article contains affiliate links. If you follow them and then make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no additional expense to you. Thanks for reading!
Table of Contents
Finding the Best Pinterest Keywords: Free Pinterest Keyword Research Method
A lot of marketers don’t realize that you can use Pinterest search and a Pinterest Ad Account to identify valuable keywords for different niches.
Note: “Keyword” means a common search term which can be targeted via the content you publish. A keyword can include one or more words, and may also be referred to as a topic, entity, or keyphrase.
My method uses Pinterest itself and is completely free. For the parts that involve Pinterest’s Ad Manager, you need to set up an ad account, but you don’t need to add a payment method. You also won’t need to run any ads to use the built-in keyword research tool.
You can use similar methods to get keyword ideas with platforms like Google Ads, Bing, YouTube, and Quora.
If you prefer watching/listening to reading, you can watch the video tutorial version of this article on YouTube.
The Pinterest Business Hub and Content Analytics
Pinterest’s Business Hub gives you a behind-the-scenes look at pin performance. It’s my top source of social media traffic on this blog, and I get 10,000+ impressions a month just by regularly sharing my articles using an automated software called Socialbee.

While Pinterest is a visual platform, it’s easy to create high-quality images using a free design tool like VistaCreate. Fancy designs can be effective, but some of my best performing pins are simple templates that I tweaked slightly to suit my brand.
Pinning for Traffic: Organic vs. Paid
When it comes to organic traffic, consistency is key. Studies suggest that publishing 10 to 30 pins a day can significantly increase your traffic and visibility within the Pinterest algorithm and search engine results.
Pinterest SEO is also critical for organic traffic. It’s much simpler than website SEO, with the main considerations being to include your seed keyword in the title and description, and sometimes in the image text as well.
Why Pinterest Traffic is Different Than Other Social Media
One thing that sets Pinterest apart is that users aren’t just there to be entertained. Most visitors come to Pinterest to do research, get ideas, and make buying decisions. This makes it an excellent platform for both organic and paid marketing strategies.
Key insight: The most efficient way to create 10+ pins daily is with AI software such as ChatGPT and image generating tools like Artspace.ai. You can get ahead of the crowd by copying my list of powerful AI writing prompts. Tap the button below to download it now.
How to Find Keywords For Pinterest Without a Keyword Research Tool
The first method is called autocomplete research. You can do this directly from your dashboard, but my preferred method is to use a private browsing window (incognito mode). This ensures that the results aren’t influenced by your past searches or anything Pinterest already knows about you.

Once in incognito mode, you can browse Pinterest’s Today, Watch, and Explore pages, which feature trending and popular content. If you’re running a business or promoting a product, staying on top of Pinterest trends can help you capture spikes in traffic from new trends.

For instance, while my business focuses on digital marketing, which is an evergreen topic, if you’re in a niche that benefits from timely trends, keeping an eye on what’s trending can be a huge advantage.
Using Pinterest Trends for Seasonal and Evergreen Marketing

As I’m writing this it’s early October and Halloween trends are popular, so I’ll use that as an example. Then, I’ll cover an example relevant to my business so you can see how this works in a B2B context.
Pinterest Research Example 1: Healthier Alternative Candy Brand
Let’s imagine we’re working for a business that sells healthier alternatives to popular candy. Halloween is a crucial time for this kind of brand, so we’ll focus on capitalizing on Halloween and autumn trends to promote our healthy candy options.
Pinterest Auto-Suggest Keyword Research
When I click on the Pinterest search bar, I immediately see popular seasonal suggestions like Thanksgiving and Halloween. Using these as inspiration, I type in “Halloween candy.” Here’s what comes up:
- Halloween candy ideas: Idea posts are very popular on Pinterest.
- Halloween candy bag ideas: This could be a great product addition for a healthy candy brand.
- Halloween candy bowl
- Halloween candy apples: A potential healthier alternative to traditional candy.
You can use this method on almost any search engine that has an auto-suggest feature, including Google, YouTube, and Pinterest. This technique is often called auto-suggest research because it relies on the platform’s suggestions based on current user searches.
Expanding Auto-Suggest Pinterest Keywords with Suffixes and Prefixes
One easy way to expand a topic is by adding a suffix—a word that follows the main topic. For example, typing “Halloween candy for” yields:
- Halloween candy for school
- Halloween candy for kids
- Halloween candy for toddlers
- Halloween candy for trick-or-treaters
- Halloween candy for coworkers
- Halloween candy for parties
Each of these long-tail keywords can serve as the basis for individual pins. The more long-tail keywords you target, the more likely it is that your content will appear in both browsing and search results.
You can also experiment with prefixes, which are words that come before the keyword. For example, adding “sugar” results in:
- Halloween candy sugar cookies
- Halloween candy sugar content
The latter could be particularly useful for a healthier candy brand. You could create a pin that compares the sugar content of popular candies with your brand’s healthier options. This type of visual content is highly shareable on Pinterest.
While this process can be time consuming, it’s actually the best way to know what people are searching for in real time, because any software you might use can only provide estimations based on historical data.
Discovering More Keyword Variations
Don’t limit yourself to just one angle. You can explore other common allergens or preferences like gluten. For example, searching “gluten-free Halloween candy” brings up:
- Gluten-free Halloween candy list: A great pin idea for your audience.
- Dairy-free Halloween candy
You can also try general prefixes like “best” and “how” to uncover additional topics:
- How to store Halloween candy
- How to make Halloween candy
- How to leave candy out
You could even create a guide for kids on how to maximize their Halloween candy haul, which could be fun and engaging for your ideal audience. Within half an hour of simple research, I was able to create an extensive keyword list for this niche.
Key insight: You can also generate keyword lists and content ideas with AI writing tools like ChatGPT. Get started FAST by copying my list of proven AI writing prompts. Tap the button below to get it now.
Pinterest Research Example 2: B2B Marketing For Master Resale Rights Products
Now let’s look at a B2B-focused example relevant to my business. A recent post on my blog is about MRR (Master Resale Rights) products, which are digital products that you can buy and resell. This is a niche topic, so the approach will be slightly different.
Because the target audience for MRR products is smaller than it is for Halloween candy, I’m going to need to focus on popular core topics as well as other popular searches that potential customers are likely to use.
Keyword Research for MRR Products
I start by typing “MRR products” into the Pinterest search bar, and I see:
- MRR products to sell
- Digital products with MRR
- Free MRR products
To expand this, I try using “master resell” as the keyword and get:
- Master resell rights
- Master resell rights course
- Master resell rights products
Each of these could inspire content or articles that promote MRR products or educate my audience about how to use them.
Another thing I make a note of is the types of pictures and visuals people are using. I often take screenshots of high-performing pins. Because Pinterest is a visual search engine, paying attention to which pins get clicked is critical.
Experimenting with Other Keywords
To further explore this niche, I try variations like “digital products to resell” and see results like:
- Digital products to resell
- Resellable digital products
- How to resell digital products
Suffixes can also be useful here. For example, “digital products for” gives me:
- Digital products for kids: A popular niche for MRR products, such as children’s stories, coloring books, and activities.
- Digital products for moms
- Digital products for beginners
- Digital products for Etsy: Etsy is a huge market for selling digital products, and this could lead to more pin ideas.
By using a combination of suffixes, prefixes, and different variations of your main keyword, you can uncover numerous ideas to drive traffic and sales, whether you’re selling physical products like candy or digital products like MRR content.
Using Pinterest’s Ad Manager for Broad Keyword Research
Now, let’s dive into Pinterest’s Ad Manager to explore its keyword selector tool. This tool is essential for anyone looking to optimize their Pinterest marketing strategy, whether you’re running ads or just doing organic content research.
Step 1: Accessing the Ad Campaign Keyword Planner
From your logged-in Pinterest dashboard, head over to the menu on the left and click Create Campaign.
If you haven’t already, you may need to set up an ad account and possibly add a payment method, but don’t worry—you don’t have to actually buy ads to use the keyword tool. Just enter the campaign tool without publishing anything.

- Choose Manual Campaign and select Get Started.
- On the left-hand side, click on Ad Group to begin.
- Select a targeting strategy (I usually go with Find New Customers for my ads).
- Scroll down to the Interests and Keywords section and click on Add Keywords.
Step 2: Finding Relevant Keywords to Target
Let’s revisit the example of promoting healthy candy for Halloween. Start by typing candy into the keyword search, and you’ll see related results such as:
- Candy recipes
- Candy bars
- Candy desserts
Adding Halloween to the beginning narrows it down to more seasonal options.
Remember, the search volumes shown here represent average searches over the entire year. This includes off-seasons like January, so the numbers might be lower than you’d expect around September and October when Halloween interest spikes.
Step 3: Estimating Audience Size
To see your estimated audience size, you need to set a daily budget. I usually put in $1 per day as a placeholder. After setting this, you can go back to the ad group and view your keyword ideas with estimates. For the Halloween candy keywords, I saw an audience size of over 85 million people in the United States, and an estimate of 10 to 26 clicks per week for a $1 daily spend.
Step 4: Expanding Your Audience with Keywords
To further refine the audience, you can try keywords like healthy candy, sugar-free candy, and gluten-free candy. Some keyword suggestions I found include:
- Healthy sweet snacks
- Sugar-free candy recipes
- Gluten-free candies
These keywords expand the audience while still keeping the ads relevant to those interested in healthier candy options.
B2B Keyword Research with Master Resale Rights
Now let’s look at an example relevant to my business: Master Resale Rights (MRR) products. Unfortunately, Pinterest’s keyword tool doesn’t provide much data for niche terms like MRR or master resale, so I had to go broader. By using terms like resell products and PLR (Private Label Rights) products, I found relevant results:
- Resellable products
- PLR products
- Private label digital products

Using these broader terms, I built an audience of around 50 to 80 million people in the U.S., a great starting point for my ads. I can further refine the audience by narrowing the demographic settings (e.g., targeting users 21+).
Building Retargeting Audiences
Once I’ve run an initial campaign, I can create retargeting audiences based on people who interact with my pins or click through to my website. This helps ensure that future ads reach users who are already interested in my content.

That’s how you can use Pinterest’s Ad Manager for keyword research. Whether you’re posting organic content or running ads, this tool gives you insight into what people are searching for, helping you target the right audience effectively.
Want to learn more about Pinterest marketing? Follow that link to see my complete guide.
If you’re ready to scale your content marketing, the most powerful tool at your disposal is AI software. Get started NOW by copying my list of proven ChatGPT prompts. Tap the button below to get access.