If you’ve been using Pinterest for a while, your boards might need a bit of a tune-up.

Chances are, you created your initial set of boards when you first joined Pinterest. That might have been years ago at this point, and so much has changed in the Pinterest landscape.

Here’s a quick checklist to help you make sure your Pinterest boards get you the most bang for your buck as a blogger.

  1. Show off your stuff first. Your first board in the top left should feature your content. The board title should include the name of your blog or publication (e.g., “Top Pins from Blog Name” or “Popular Posts on Blog Name”). That way, you’re clearly indicating to followers and browsers where they can easily find pins linking to your content.
  2. Highlight your four strongest boards. If you don’t already know which Pinterest boards get the most engagement, dig into your Pinterest analytics to find out. Click and drag those with the top impressions, repins and clicks up to the top row of your Pinterest profile. After all, people who are thinking about following you will judge you by their first impression—so make it a good one!
  3. The rest of your boards can be organized however makes the most sense for you. You might prefer arranging your boards by alphabetical order, seasons, topic, your own boards vs. collaborative boards, etc.
  4. Remove yourself from any collaborative boards that don’t perform well for you or seem spammy.In either of those cases, they’re not doing you any good—and may be hurting your pins in thePinterest Smart Feed.
  5. Don’t delete any of your own boards. If you permanently remove a board, you’ll lose any followers who only followed that specific board from your overall count. And that would make you sad. Instead, feel free to rename and even recategorize that board to be more relevant to your current pinning strategy.
  6. Apply savvy SEO techniques to your board titles and descriptions. Search matters more than ever on Pinterest. Let your boards help you get noticed by utilizing the right keywords. Check your Pinterest analytics to see what your audience is most interested in. Make sure your board titles and descriptions accurately reflect those interest. For example, if you have a board currently titled “Our Favorite Recipes,” you could change that title to “Our Favorite Clean Eating Recipes.”
  7. Make sure every board is assigned to a Pinterest category. You might not have bothered to pick a category when you first created a board, but this simple step counts. Many Pinterest searchers browse by category, and you want your pins to show up in those search results, right? Categorizing your boards will give you a leg up.

In just an hour or so, you can significantly optimize your Pinterest presence with this board “makeover.” Let me know how it improves your performance!

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