If you've ever published a pin around a keyword like "home decor" or "healthy recipes" and watched it disappear into the void, the problem probably isn't your design or your description — it's the keyword itself. Broad, one- or two-word phrases on Pinterest are dominated by accounts with years of history, huge save counts, and enormous topical authority. A new or growing account rarely wins that fight.
The fix isn't to give up on SEO — it's to target low competition keywords: specific, longer phrases with real search demand but far fewer pins actively competing for them. This guide walks through exactly how to find them, step by step, using mostly free tools.
Why Broad Keywords Are a Trap for Growing Accounts
Broad keywords look appealing because they have the highest search volume. But volume isn't the same as opportunity. A keyword like "recipes" might get searched millions of times, but the top of that search is occupied by accounts with tens of thousands of saves per pin, built up over years. Ranking against that with a new pin is a long, uphill climb.
Low competition keywords flip the math: slightly lower search volume, but a real, achievable path to ranking on page one within weeks rather than years — because far fewer pins are optimized specifically for that exact phrase.
What "Low Competition" Actually Means on Pinterest
Unlike Google, Pinterest doesn't publish a keyword difficulty score. So "low competition" has to be assessed a different way — by looking at signals rather than a single number:
How many pins appear to be deliberately optimized for that exact phrase (versus just tangentially related)
How established the accounts ranking for it are — brand-new or small accounts ranking near the top is a good sign the field is open
Whether the phrase is a specific long-tail variation rather than a broad category term
How consistently the phrase appears in autocomplete and related searches, which suggests real, steady demand rather than a fluke
Step 1: Start With a Broad Seed Term
Every keyword research process starts with a seed — your general topic. This should be broad on purpose; you're not going to target it directly, you're going to mine it for better options.
Example seed: "meal prep"
Step 2: Mine Pinterest's Own Autocomplete
Type your seed term into Pinterest's search bar and don't press enter yet. Pinterest shows a dropdown of autocomplete suggestions pulled from real user search behavior. These are gold — they're not guesses, they're actual phrases people type.
For "meal prep," autocomplete might surface things like:
meal prep ideas for beginners
meal prep for weight loss
meal prep on a budget
meal prep containers organization
Each of these is already more specific — and therefore lower competition — than "meal prep" alone.
Step 3: Use the Related Search Bubbles
After you search your seed term, look at the row of clickable "bubbles" that appears above the pin results grid. These represent related searches Pinterest associates with your term, and clicking through them reveals even more specific long-tail variations — often three or four levels deep if you keep clicking.
This bubble-drilling technique is one of the most underused Pinterest research methods, because it surfaces phrases you wouldn't think to type yourself, straight from Pinterest's own topic-clustering data.
Step 4: Check Pinterest Trends for Demand Confirmation
Once you have a shortlist of candidate phrases, cross-check them in Pinterest Trends (trends.pinterest.com), Pinterest's free native tool. It shows:
Whether a term is rising, flat, or declining
Seasonal patterns (critical for planning 45–60 days ahead of a season)
Related terms you might not have found through autocomplete alone
A phrase that looks promising in autocomplete but shows a flat or declining trend line may not be worth prioritizing — you want rising or stable demand, not just the appearance of a specific-sounding phrase.
Step 5: Manually Scan the Actual Search Results
Search your candidate phrase directly and scroll through the first 20–30 results. Ask:
Are most of these pins actually about this exact phrase, or just loosely related?
Are the accounts publishing these pins large, established accounts — or a mix of smaller ones too?
Does the phrase feel "owned" by a few dominant pins, or is the field genuinely open?
If you see a mix of account sizes and the top results don't look overwhelmingly optimized for your exact phrase, that's a strong low-competition signal worth acting on.
Comparison: Broad vs. Low Competition Keywords
Factor | Broad Keyword (e.g. "recipes") | Low Competition Keyword (e.g. "high-protein lunch meal prep") |
|---|---|---|
Search volume | Very high | Moderate, but consistent |
Ranking difficulty | Very high — dominated by established accounts | Low to moderate — realistic for newer accounts |
Time to see results | Months to years, if ever | Often weeks |
Click-through intent | Mixed, less specific | Higher — searcher knows exactly what they want |
Content required | Must be exceptional to compete | Solid, well-targeted content is often enough |
Best for | Large, established accounts | Growing or newer accounts |
Where to Use Your Low Competition Keywords
Once you've identified strong candidates, they need to show up consistently across every layer of your Pinterest presence, not just buried in one spot:
Board titles — build or rename a board around the specific phrase if none of your existing boards fit well
Board descriptions — weave the phrase naturally into the opening sentence
Pin titles — lead with the phrase where it reads naturally
Pin descriptions — include the primary phrase plus 1–2 natural variations
Text overlay on the pin image itself — Pinterest can read on-image text, so this reinforces the same signal visually
Your blog post title and headers, if the pin links back to your own content, so the relevance signal stays consistent from pin to landing page
A Few Real Long-Tail Examples
To make this concrete, here's how a broad seed term can branch into several low competition variations, using the mining process above:
Seed: "budget travel"
budget travel tips for solo female travelers
budget travel packing list for Europe
budget travel destinations under $500
Seed: "home workouts"
home workouts for beginners no equipment
20 minute home workout for busy moms
home workout schedule for weight loss
Seed: "small business"
small business social media ideas for beginners
small business branding on a budget
small business tax deductions checklist
Notice the pattern: each variation adds a qualifier — an audience ("for beginners," "for busy moms"), a constraint ("on a budget," "under $500"), or a specific outcome ("for weight loss," "tax deductions"). That added specificity is exactly what separates a low competition keyword from the broad seed it came from.
How Often to Repeat This Process
Keyword research isn't a one-time task. Search behavior shifts with seasons, trends, and platform changes. Set a recurring habit:
Monthly: Quick autocomplete and bubble-mining check for your core 3–5 topics
Quarterly: Full review using Pinterest Trends to catch rising phrases before competition increases
Seasonally: Dedicated research pass 60–90 days ahead of any major seasonal content push
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Stopping at the first specific-looking phrase without checking Pinterest Trends — some long-tail phrases look great but have genuinely low or declining demand.
Targeting a phrase that's technically low competition but has almost no search volume, wasting effort on something nobody is actually searching for.
Using the keyword in the pin description but not the board it lives on, missing the compounding relevance boost of aligning both.
Assuming a low competition keyword stays low competition forever. Popular long-tail phrases can become saturated over time as more creators discover them — periodic re-checking matters.
Copying keyword lists from Google-focused tools without adjusting phrasing for Pinterest's more descriptive, planning-oriented search behavior.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if a Pinterest keyword has "enough" search volume to be worth targeting? If it consistently appears in Pinterest's autocomplete suggestions and shows a stable or rising trend line in Pinterest Trends, that's a reasonable signal of real, ongoing demand — even without an exact volume number.
Is there a free way to check Pinterest keyword competition, or do I need a paid tool? Yes — autocomplete, related search bubbles, and Pinterest Trends are all free and cover most of what a beginner or growing account needs. Paid, Pinterest-specific keyword tools can add convenience and rank-tracking over time, but they aren't required to start.
How specific should a Pinterest keyword be? Generally, longer and more descriptive than you'd use on Google — three to six words that include a clear qualifier (audience, constraint, or outcome) tend to perform best for newer or growing accounts.
Can a low competition keyword become high competition later? Yes. As more creators discover and target the same phrase, competition can increase over time. This is why periodic re-research, not a one-time keyword list, is part of a sustainable Pinterest strategy.
Should every pin target a different keyword, or can I reuse the same one? It's fine — and often beneficial — to target the same core keyword across several pins with different designs and angles, since Pinterest rewards fresh, varied content around a topic rather than a single pin doing all the work.
The Bottom Line
Finding low competition Pinterest keywords isn't about avoiding popular topics — it's about finding the more specific, achievable entry points within those topics. Mine autocomplete and related search bubbles for real long-tail phrases, confirm demand with Pinterest Trends, and manually check whether the field is genuinely open before committing content to a phrase.
Turning a list of keywords into a real, consistent publishing calendar is the hard part. PinMentor helps you plan, generate, and schedule pins around the keywords you've researched, so the strategy actually gets executed instead of sitting in a spreadsheet. Start your free 30-day trial →
