The Pinterest Algorithm has thrown Pinterest marketing managers for a loop the past few years because so much has changed. From the introduction to Idea Pins to the change in Pinterest analytical metrics and campaign management, the algorithm that grew your brand’s pins a few years ago won’t be in full effect now. If you’re curious on how the Pinterest algorithm works in 2023 and how to utilize it for your eCommerce brand, keep reading!
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Learn how to finally use Pinterest for your business in 2023 so you can
- Increase qualified website traffic
- Increase conversions (email signups, downloads, client leads, etc.)
- Get more product sales through Pinterest
- Grow your brand's awareness
- Increase your Brand's content and product's visibility
and so much more. This course can be taken in less than 10 hours or at your own pace!
Breaking Down the Algorithm Changes
Many brands have seen an increase in sales with using Pinterest since the update in the algorithm. This is because the changes are in the brand’s AND user’s favor. Which is hard to say about many platforms out there today. Here are the Pinterest algorithm changes that has happened in the last 2 years:
- Continuation of Idea Pins (similar to Instagram story highlights)
- Product tagging in Idea Pins
- New eCommerce Shopping features for Pinterest Verified Merchants
- Idea pins taking over the search feed
- Controllable distribution! This diversifies content shown on pinner’s feed. It used to just show what the pinner was interested in based on interaction of the pinner’s activity on Pinterest. Now, there’s a mix of Pinterest creatives like images, videos, and idea pins. So even if the pinner never interacts with videos on Pinterest, their feed will now show them.
- Fresh Pins! Pinterest is now favoring content on Pinterest that has never been seen before. Meaning, pins with a lot of re-pins are losing traction. Fresh pins are a mix of pins with new images, titles, colors, descriptions and URLs!
- Introduction to shop and explore tabs for pinners who search with a purchase intent
Now that you are aware of the recent changes to the Pinterest algorithm, let’s go through exactly how it works.
Understanding Pinterest's Audience | How the Algorithm works
Did you know that there are a particular set of industries on Pinterest that thrive off the platform? There are actually 20 industries that have a strong audience base on Pinterest. Meaning, if you’re not in the top 20 (preferably top 10) then it will be hard for your brand to see growth from Pinterest. The reason being that your audience is very small or doesn’t exist on the platform.
Watch this YouTube video where I explain how to use Pinterest’s Audience Insight tool to determine if your industry makes the list! This video also explains how to target those users within your particular industry.
The Quality of Your Domain
Did you know that the information of your linked Pinterest pin follows all the way to your domain? Pinterest gives you a tracking code to place on your website to track conversions. With that code, Pinterest can track, to some extent, how users are interacting with the page that the pin was linked to.
So if you’re leading people from Pinterest to a page that makes no sense with the pin and the user bounces off, Pinterest will penalize the reach of that pin. Meaning, it won’t show it to other users if that bounce rate keeps increasing.
You want to pay attention to your website’s analytics as well. You can decipher why people are bouncing off your page from a Pinterest pin by reading in between the lines. Is the page loading too slow? Is the page copy confusing? Does the title of the page make sense with what you promised in the pin? Use your analytics! It’s a blueprint to what’s working and what’s not!
Optimized Pins
Pinterest is the largest visual search engine in the world. This means the platform thrives off keywords. You can watch my YouTube video on how to do keyword research on Pinterest to help you take advantage of the Pinterest algorithm.
The goal is to get your Pinterest content in front of your targeted audience on Pinterest that is already searching for what you’re pinning. This is done by using keywords these pinners are putting in their search query. The keywords they are using should be within your
- pin’s image
- overlay text
- pin title
- pin description
- url of the page you’re sending traffic to! (this is so important)
Keep in mind, information follows the pin. You want to make sure you’re then pinning this pin to a relevant board! This board should have a description already filled out that contains the keyword(s) used in your Pin (or related). To top it off, your Profile title and/or description should also contain similar keywords that relates to your boards and the Pinterest pin content you’re sharing.
However, it means nothing if your pin gets in front of your audience but doesn’t get any clicks.
Pinterest first distributes your claimed pins to your followers to determine if it resonates with your target audience. Then if your pin gets any engagement, the algorithm will share your claimed pins with more people in their own Smart Feeds. These are mostly users who aren’t following you already.
Creating Quality and Unique Pinterest Pins
This is the difference between impressions and engagement. Impressions tells you how many times your content shows up in pinner’s feed. Engagement shows you the pinners who are not only seeing your pin, but taking some type of action once they see it. This could be a combination of
- Saves
- Pin Clicks (close up of a pin. If you see that a pin has a lot of closeups but a small amount of outbound clicks, revaluate your pin image, keywords, description, or title)
- Outbound clicks (these are clicks leading to your claimed domain)
- Long clicks (Outbound clicks with a dwell time of 30 seconds or longer)
- Product tags (users who tagged your product in an idea pin)
- Product tag clicks (clicks your product pin received)
You’ll need to create high quality pins leading to relevant and unique content that Pinterest will WANT to show in user’s feed. So yes, there is a way to make your actual Pinterest pin image convert (this is for static pins). Learn how to design Pinterest pins to go viral using Canva.
Or, if you rather purchase done for you Pinterest templates that are designed to convert and are 100% customizable, shop our Pinterest templates. We offer designs based on 3 industries (yes, it makes a difference): Service providers, Product sellers, and Lifestyle bloggers.
Creating quality pins and unique long form content, like blogs, that receive engagement will increase your brand’s credibility on Pinterest thus, increasing your profile’s reach.
Here are a few ways you can improve your eCommerce brand's credibility + quality on Pinterest:
- Pin new content weekly based on trends and what your audience is actively searching for. Your pins should be a combination of different pin creatives (idea pins, static pins and video pins)
- Introduce new products
- Create content that gives ideas, spreads positive vibes and promotes action. You can do this regardless of what industry your eCommerce brand is in.
- Stick to pinning mostly your own content. At the end of the day, you want users to click on your pins to go to your website. If your pins and boards are filled with re-pins of other brands, you’re missing out on people visiting your website.
- Categorize and optimize your product pins so they show up in search results organically for shopping intent queries. Your product titles and descriptions will have to be optimized on your actual website!
- Understand your analytics! It will literally tell you which pins and content are resonating the most with your audience
- Use the Pinterest Trends tool to plan out your content in advanced of when pinners are searching for topics. I suggest 3-4 months ahead of the time pinners start to use those keywords the most.
Creating More Idea Pins
Idea pins are here to stay! If your brand isn’t utilizing idea pins in your Pinterest marketing strategy, you aren’t going to do well in the Pinterest Algorithm for 2023 and beyond. Pinterest is trying to keep up with other platforms that are prioritizing video. To be honest, video is the future and more people want to feel a personal connection behind the brand.
eCommerce brands can add links to their idea pins with adding a product tag sticker! So there’s no excuse to not creating idea pins. The trick with Idea pins that convert is that they have to give an idea! Pinterest users come to the platform to be inspired, look for new ideas, plan for an upcoming event, and save for future purchases.
Think of how you can showcase your products in any of these ways to spark action from the viewer. The goal is to sell without actually selling. Pinterest did go on the record to say that they prefer Idea Pins that are at least 8-10 slides. You don’t have to do 8-10 slides all the time. I’d suggest doing A/B testing with your idea pins to see what works.
Investing in Pinterest Ads
I’m always an advocate for organic marketing but, using Pinterest ads is very beneficial within your strategy. If you really want to feel the positive affects of the Pinterest algorithm, try running a few campaigns. If your website traffic is low, try running consideration ads. Consider running conversion campaigns if you want to see more sales from Pinterest.
Make sure you do research on the different types of Pinterest campaigns because some may not be the best choice for your business situation. For example, we all want conversions but, running a conversion ad may not work for some eCommerce brands at certain stages.
If your eCommerce brand is already not receiving at least 25-30 checkouts a day on your site, then running a Pinterest conversion may not be as effective as in running a consideration campaign first.
Ready to finally see sales come from Pinterest but you're stuck on how to make it happen? Take our Pinterest Marketing Course!
Learn how to finally use Pinterest for your business in 2023 so you can
- Increase qualified website traffic
- Increase conversions (email signups, downloads, client leads, etc.)
- Get more product sales through Pinterest
- Grow your brand's awareness
- Increase your Brand's content and product's visibility
and so much more. This course can be taken in less than 10 hours or at your own pace!
How are you hacking the Pinterest Algorithm?
I’d love to know which part of the Pinterest Algorithm blog post are you going to start working towards to grow your eCommerce brand. Let me know below! What other topics would you like to see from Pinterest?
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Pinterest Algorithm 2023 FAQ's
The Pinterest Algorithm has thrown Pinterest marketing managers for a loop the past few years because so much has changed. From the introduction to Idea Pins to the change in Pinterest analytical metrics and campaign management, the algorithm that grew your brand’s pins a few years ago won’t be in full effect now. If you’re curious on how the Pinterest algorithm works in 2023 and how to utilize it for your eCommerce brand, keep reading!
The Pinterest Algorithm has thrown Pinterest marketing managers for a loop the past few years because so much has changed. From the introduction to Idea Pins to the change in Pinterest analytical metrics and campaign management, the algorithm that grew your brand’s pins a few years ago won’t be in full effect now. If you’re curious on how the Pinterest algorithm works in 2023 and how to utilize it for your eCommerce brand, keep reading!
Success on Pinterest is determined by your Pinterest Goals. What is your main goal for using Pinterest? Is it website traffic, sales, increase brand awareness? Whatever your goal is, you want to measure the Pinterest metric (KPI) that correlates with that success factor. Track it for at least 3 months. It can take at least 3 months to see any website traffic from Pinterest because it’s a search engine. Pinterest needs time to understand your profile and the content you produce in order to distribute your content to the right people. A better rule of thumb is 6-12 months to see consistent results with a good Pinterest Marketing strategy in place.
Future
Best content ever!
admin
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed!