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THE PINTEREST ALGORITHM update
Pinterest is changing their algorithm again but thankfully this time they’ve put together a list of best practices so we know exactly what we should be doing and what we shouldn’t be doing.
As a Pinterest Manager you’re in charge of your client’s accounts and these changes will affect the performance and traffic growth of your client’s accounts.
If you’re one of my students you know that the strategies I recommend in my programs are timeless and designed for sustainable long term results year after year.
Whenever the algorithm changed, those strategies remained true because they were created with the foundation of the Pinterest search engine in mind.
This year, that search engine is updating how it distributes and prioritizes pins on Pinterest. This means best practices are changing and it’s time for everyone to listen if they want to grow their client’s traffic and engagement on Pinterest.
THE PINTEREST algorithm BEST PRACTICES
relevancy & recency run the show
Pinterest is increasingly prioritizing recent content that is relevant to a pinner or a search query for distribution in the home feed, search results and across Pinterest.
Pinterest has discovered that users are engaging more with fresh new pins than older pins that have been added to Pinterest before.
Their goal is to create a place where pinners can discover new ideas and take action on those ideas. If the pinners are engaging with fresher pins more than older pins they see it as a signal to prioritize that content.
What does recency mean?
When you think of recency think of – FRESH NEW PIN IMAGES
Pinterest wants business owners to share fresh new pin images more often because that is what the pinners want!
The way they encourage this is to prioritize FRESH PINS in the search results, home feed and across Pinterest.
If you want to ensure that your client’s content is getting the best distribution across Pinterest you need to begin prioritizing creating fresh new pin images in your Pinterest strategy.
What counts as a fresh “recent” pin?
A fresh pin is an image or video that Pinterest hasn’t seen before.
Meaning that unique image and website URL combo hasn’t ever been added to Pinterest before.
This doesn’t mean the content that you’re sending pinners to has to be new. YAY! Although if it is, it would also be considered fresh.
What they mean by fresh is the image/ video leading to that piece of content must be new.
That means you can create LOADS of fresh new pin images that lead to the SAME blog post. Each of those pin images would be considered FRESH and NEW!
A fresh pin could be:
– Brand new content never shared on Pinterest before. A new blog post, a new podcast episode – basically anything brand new that you’d have to create a new pin image for.
Has your client added a new product to their store that you haven’t shared on Pinterest yet? Any new pin image you create and share will be considered FRESH the FIRST time it’s added to Pinterest.
– Several NEW images or NEW videos leading to the same piece of content (new or old content). Each of these new pins would be FRESH when saved to Pinterest because they are NEW DESIGNS.
Has your client got 20 products in their store and you’ve already shared at least ONE image for each to Pinterest? If you create brand new pin images for those 20 products, each new image would be considered FRESH the FIRST time it’s added to Pinterest.
What is not considered a fresh pin?
– When you share the same image but you just change the Pin title or Pin Description (it’s still the same URL and image combo)
– When you make really small changes to an image that would be hard to notice like moving the background a little to the left (and by little Tailwind says a few pixels) or moving your logo to a different spot on the pin.
Remember, you’re not trying to game the system. You’re creating content for your client’s ideal customer. Change up the images significantly to create new fresh images they WANT to engage with and you will be rewarded.
ACTION STEPS:
– Create multiple pin image variations for each piece of content you client creates
– Create 10 or more Pinterest templates to make it easy to quickly create 10 new pin images for every new piece of content created
– Make sure that the changes are significant enough for a person to notice. You’re not trying to game the algorithm by moving your logo a few pixels to the left.
– Adjust your current workflow to include the creation of new fresh images for each piece of content
– You can create as many pin images as you’d like for each piece of content so if your client is struggling with creating new content like blog posts, focus on creating new pin images for their existing content.
What does relevancy mean?
When you think of relevancy think of – PINTEREST KEYWORDS & AUDIENCE
Relevancy means the content shared appeals to a Pinterest user’s interests or is related to a search query. When a pinner searches for something on Pinterest, they want to deliver only the most relevant content for that search query.
Pinterest can do this by looking at how other Pinterest users (similar to the pinner doing the search) engaged with your client’s pin AND by looking at the keywords associated with your client’s pin. They are able to identify how relevant the pin is to the search query and to the pinner’s interests.
When selecting the keywords to associated a pin with, you need to be using only the most relevant keywords that will receive a high confidence score from Pinterest. When Pinterest is confident that the pin is relevant to the search term (the keyword a pinner typed into the search bar) they will distribute the pin in those search results.
You also want to think about the cohesion between the pin and the landing page you’re sending a pinner to. Pinterest can see the content on the landing page and they will be looking for cohesion between the two. They’re looking for cohesion in the text and image style. Does the pin design fit the brand style on the landing page? Can Pinterest see the same keywords (or similar keywords) on the landing page as the keywords in the Pin description and Pin Title (we cover all of this in Simplifying Pinterest Keywords)?
In order to improve your client’s performance on Pinterest, Tailwind has suggested sharing your client’s pins to the MOST RELEVANT boards only and to no more than 10 boards in total.
ACTION STEPS:
– Save pins to the most relevant board first
– Save pins to the other relevant boards (but keep this total number under 10)
– When saving a pin to multiple boards use Tailwind’s interval feature to separate the pin going out to each board by at least a day but preferably more.
– Don’t save the SAME PIN to the SAME BOARD more than once a year. You only want to repin/ resurface it at the right time during the year when your audience is interested in seeing it again and when it is RELEVANT to them.
– Focus on search engine optimization to succeed on Pinterest. If you need help with Pinterest keywords, confidence scores and Pinterest SEO, I’ve created a deep dive course to help you master Pinterest Keywords. Take a look at Simplifying Pinterest Keywords here!
Do Fresh Pins outperform duplicate content?
Fresh Pins will begin outperforming duplicate content on Pinterest, because the algorithm is focused on showcasing the freshest content. Relevancy still plays an important role in distribution but when mixed with recency – you have a winning combo!
If Pinterest sees that an older pin is more relevant than the fresh new pin they will still be prioritizing that pin’s distribution – because it’s relevant to the search query and pinner.
Duplicate pins are not prioritized in their algorithm so pinning the same duplicate pin over and over again won’t give you a greater reach or distribution across Pinterest. It could actually reduce your client’s distribution and your account could be marked as spammy.
What counts as a duplicate Pin?
A duplicate Pin is a pin with an exact same image and website URL combs that you’ve already added to Pinterest before.
Basically, saving the SAME PIN (pin image with URL) to Pinterest again, whether that is to another board or the same board.
This also includes sharing other people’s content to your client’s profile.
SHOULD YOU BE SHARING DUPLICATE PINS?
Yes, but in moderation.
What does that mean?
Well, Pinterest is prioritizing fresh new pin images which means those pins will receive more distribution than a duplicate pin (a pin you repinned). Your focus should be on new fresh pins but it’s still good to share your new pin image to relevant boards on your profile.
If you’re going to save a pin to more than one board on Pinterest, keep that number to under 10 boards and remember they need to be EXTREMELY relevant to the pin.
When it comes to saving the SAME pin to your boards again in future stick with sharing it once a year when it is most relevant.
What about saving other people’s content?
It’s still good to be a quality content curator.
Sharing content that your client’s audience would love and that is relevant to their interests is still considered a good idea. However it comes down to how often you’re curating content vs creating and sharing new content from your client.
If your focus has been on sharing a lot of content from other people, you’ll want to adjust your strategy this year to focus on sharing more of your client’s content and creating new fresh images for their older content. This will help maximize your client’s results on Pinterest.
It’s OKAY to save some duplicate pins on Pinterest. When you are strategic about how you save your client’s pins and how you curate content, Tailwind says it won’t hurt your distribution but may actually help create a better experience for pinners.
ACTION STEPS:
– You should share your client’s new pin images to the most relevant board first
– Then share the pins to the remaining relevant boards but keep it to under 10 boards and focus on RELEVANCY
– Limit your content curation to only the most relevant pins from other people and share more of your client’s content instead
– If you repin the SAME pin to the SAME BOARDS only do so once a year – when it is relevant for the season or when your audience is most likely to engage with it.
HOW WILL YOU KEEP UP WITH PINNING DAILY?
Tailwind has indicated that the most successful accounts publish around 15 -25 pins per day on average.
If you’re sharing more content than this per day and you’re sharing a lot of duplicate pins that could impact your client’s distribution.
If you’re not repinning content how do you keep up with this?
– Create multiple images for each piece of content. There is no limit here but you should always ensure that is fits your client’s brand and style. If your client has very little content then this is the route you’ll take to create a lot of fresh content.
– Include 1-2 pins from other people per day that your client’s audience would LOVE and is highly relevant to the topic they’re searching for. Quality over quantity.
– When sharing a new pin to multiple relevant boards (less than 10 remember), you’ll want to space them out in your client’s Tailwind queue. Tailwind is limiting the interval to a minimum of 2 days.
hOW MANY FRESH PINS EXACTLY?
There is no exact number that we’ve been given but here are some guidelines you could use based on the information we have.
How many pins should you share to Pinterest per day?
Minimum: 5
Maximum: 25
Find your sweet spot between those 2 numbers. I’ve found 10-15 to be perfect for some clients and 15-20 perfect for others. It’s about a RANGE of numbers not an exact number. One day your schedule may reflect 15 pins shared, while the next day it says 17 pins shared – that’s normal.
Out of those 5-25 pins per day we’ve been given what are those pins made up of?
– Other people’s content (1-3 max)
– Brand new content you’ve never shared on Pinterest before (new blog post)
– Fresh new pin images (new image designs for a blog post already on Pinterest)
– Duplicate pin images (the fresh new pin image that you uploaded to Pinterset and now you’re sharing it to other relevant boards – less than 10)
– Old Duplicate pin images (seasonal pins from a year ago that you’re resurfacing because it’s their time to shine)
How many slots should each of those take up on average:
You likely won’t have each of these showing up every single day in your schedule but here is a potential example of what it could look like.
EXAMPLE 1.
You’ve chosen 10 pins per day as your target number of pins to share to Pinterest. This could be an example of a day in your Tailwind schedule:
– 2 from other people
– 3 fresh pin images
– 1 brand new blog post never shared to Pinterest before
– 4 duplicates (they were new pins that are scheduled to go to the other relevant boards)
That is an outline of what your one day could look like.
Remember not every day is the same. Your goal is to slowly increase the amount of fresh pin images shared over time.
EXAMPLE 2.
As you increase your number of pins per day to 20 pins per day it may look like this:
– 3 pins from others
– 1 brand new blog post never shared to Pinterest before
– 8 fresh new pin images
– 8 duplicates (they were new pins that are scheduled to go to the other relevant boards)
EXAMPLE 3.
Your target is 25 pins per day.
This is what one day in your schedule may look like:
– 3 pins from others
– 1 brand new blog post never shared to Pinterest before
– 13 fresh new pin images
– 6 duplicates (they were new pins that are scheduled to go to the other relevant boards)
– 2 Old duplicate pin images (seasonal pins from a year ago that you’re resurfacing because it’s their time to shine)
Each of these examples only gives you insight into one day. Each day could be different because you may not have new content or old duplicate content that is applicable for that day.
The key is to start where you are with the amount of fresh new pin images you can create. If that means pinning 10 pins per day which includes your fresh images, other people’s content and duplicates (the fresh pins being shared to other relevant boards) then that is perfect.
HOW IS TAILWIND HELPING?
Tailwind has release a new feature called – SmartGuide. It is designed to help stick with the best practices Pinterest releases over time. Want to learn more about the SmartGuide and how it’ll help you? Read more about it here!
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