The new Pinterest update is causing quite a stir in the blogging world. Not only has the preferred image size changed, but so has almost everything you thought you new about gaming the platform. The Pinterest update 2021 is the most controversial so far.
Luckily for you I’ve spent a lot of time analysing how to use the new Pinterest update to my advantage, and I’m going to share my findings with you. Buckle in, this might be a long one!
Pinterest marketing has long been lauded the golden goose when it comes to free traffic. The trouble with Pinterest is, you’ve either got it or you haven’t. It took me ages to try and fathom the platform and in the past I’d written it off so many times.
Pinterest Updates Have Changed Everything
Just as I had the knack, everything changed. So much had changed in Pinterest already over the past few years. The way videos were introduced, idea pins being pushed, and everything else about what made Pinterest Pinterest seemed to switch up.
The earlier days of Pinterest seemed to yield good results for those with huge outputs. This meant even spammers could do well on the Platform. It was something that needed to change and it absolutely did. As a result, a lot of people noticed a huge drop in traffic – even those who weren’t spammers.
I was hit too. I’d gone from the glory days of 3 million Pinterest views a month, to scraping 400k views which translated to a small trickle of traffic to my site, leaving Google as my biggest (and main) referrer.
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Anyone well-versed in business knows you should always diversify, so relying heavily on traffic from one source really doesn’t sit well with me. This is a general warning to everyone – any traffic source can go kaput at any point, so always make sure traffic is coming from as many places as you can pull it from. Even if your Pinterest traffic skyrockets (it’s likely to with these tips), you can’t rest on your laurels and forget to promote across other platforms.
That’s enough of the lecturing for today, I’ll get on with what you came for – the 2024 Pinterest Update!
Pinterest Update 2024 (and How to Make The Most of it)
Pinterest traffic is a wonderful thing, but people can get disheartened easily as it doesn’t garner instant results. Be prepared to do these things for about three months before you see a regular increase in clicks to your site. The biggest thing with operating Pinterest successfully is being consistent in doing all the right things. If you follow these guidelines and keep it up, you will see results!
About Pinterest
I’m going to assume that if you’re here Googling updates, you probably have the basics of Pinterest down pat. Just in case you need a whistle stop brush up though, I’ll give you a very quick rundown.
Pinterest is a search engine and social network hybrid. It has a feed of things you’re interested in, informed by who you follow and your usual activity (just like a social network). But the difference is, it’s designed to search for the info you’re looking for (like a search engine).
The Pinterest algorithm has been updated to be even more sophisticated (that’s why you’re here, right?), but it isn’t anywhere near as intricate as Google. This means, if you’re cracked SEO, then Pinterest should be a doddle.
The big thing that holds pinners back is the visual element. You can be as fantastic as you like with Pinterest SEO and hooky titles and descriptions, but if your pin doesn’t look inviting, you won’t get clicks and Pinterest will consider your pin to be less relevant.
What’s changed in the new Pinterest update?
The new Pinterest update for 2024 has changed pretty much everything. It still works the same way, but it’s harder to get traffic using the old ways of pinning. It still works on the same principal, with a feed of interests and a search function, but the way to get seen is nowhere near how it used to be.
Pinterest wants less pinning!
I know right? That sounds like madness! Why would a platform designed to pin content to boards want less of it?
Well, the answer is simple – Pinterest values quality over quantity. Previously, you could pin fifty pins per day and you’d receive a surge of traffic as a reward. Now the best practice is 1-5 pins per days. If you’ve been a dormant pinner like I was, I’d start pinning once a day and work your way up, you don’t want them thinking you’re a spammer.
New pins are preferred and repins are out
There was a time where if something had been repinned a lot, the Pinterest algorithm favoured it. Sadly, not any more. Repins don’t count for much, so I wouldn’t waste your time.
Pinterest wants brand new pins every time. The new Pinterest update needs a pin that looks different with different words on it every time you pin that article. It’s also not advised to pin the same links too close together. The Pinterest update 2021 doesn’t like content that’s added and re-added constantly. In my opinion, the optimum time to wait between pinning the same URL again is 7 days. You might find your own sweet spot, but I wouldn’t anything less than three days apart.
The new Pinterest update might seem daunting when you’re essentially being asked for new content all the time. The good news is that you don’t need to be taking loads of pictures to create new images. You can zoom in you picture, rotate it and put in a frame, play with different elements and alter how you overlay text.
When you’re making your pin (I use Canva Pro), it might be helpful to make 5 or six variations of that pin to save time in the future. I like to bulk schedule with Tailwind, but more on that below.
Video pins and story pins are on trend
The new update for Pinterest wants you to stay on the platform longer. With the popularity of TikTok and Instagram reels rising, Pinterest want a slice of the pie. Video pins get shown in more feeds, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to clicks. Interestingly (and anecdotally), if your video leads to a website, the site owners aren’t finding an increase in traffic inline with how much the video is watched.
Conversely, if it leads to more video content (Youtube, Instagram or a TikTok account), people are more likely to click through. It’s definitely something to consider before putting heaps of effort into video content that might not benefit you. On the other hand, if you’re trying to grown your other social media accounts, it might be helpful there.
Preferred pin size has changed
The pin size ratio for static pins is still the same (2:3), but where best practice once was 600x900px, Pinterest themselves say they prefer 1000×1500, which is closer to the preferred size back in 2016.
If your pin is longer than that, it might get cut off and if it’s shorter, it might not perform as well in feeds.
For video pins, Pinterest recommends that you stick to 1:1 (square) or 2:3 ratio with a max file size of 2GB. Always stick to what Pinterest recommends as they will always favour the pins that are obeying their rules. You can find out the full list of pin specs here.
Create Rich Pins
All the info around rich pins has previously been that you absolutely need them and you have to get them switched on for your account. The link you used to follow to do this no longer works. This doesn’t meant rich pins are dead, however, just that they’ve changed the way they work.
To get rich pins, you can use the free Yoast SEO plugin and that allows you to activate the right type of meta data. The rich pin validator doesn’t seem to exist any more and it looks like they appear automatically once you have enabled them.
Write Pinterest pin title and descriptions that perform
It’s really important that you utilise the text that’s on show. The title allows for 100 characters but the pin will only show 40. The description often only shows when you click the pin, so use the 500 characters it allows to really hook your audience. For a description to be successful, it needs to contain good mix of keywords and engaging copy.
Related: How to use your blog to help sell creative products
Pinterest has a really clear box for adding alt text now, so you should use it for every pin. This doesn’t meant that you should cram it with keywords to game the system, instead write a good, clear description of what the pin looks like and any text that is overlayed.
Doing this will make your Pinterest account user-friendly to any visually impaired followers. If a keyword can be used naturally, then it’s always worth slotting it in, but the most important thing is that you use alt text for what is intended.
Finding Pinterest trends is easier than ever (in my opinion)
Pinterest now lets you know what has been trending on the platform. It keeps a close eye on topics that are steadily becoming more popular and gives you the stats on those topics after sorting them into sections.
If you have a family account, you can click on the family content to see what the big trend is and whether you can cash in. Likewise, if you have a beauty account, it often enables you to spot cult products and beauty trends as they’re on the rise. Visit Pinterest trends to check on your niche.
Another useful tool is Pinterest Predicts which also lets you know search terms that are currently experiencing a high search volume. I think it’s worth checking both of these regularly to see if your content could do well if grouped under any of these trends.
Automated pinning is no different to organic manual pinning?
There has always been an argument about whether manual pinning is superior to using a scheduler. Pinterest have finally come out and announced that as long as the automated pinning is a Pinterest partner, it makes no difference. I keep seeing bloggers claiming that automation has killed their account but I’m not so sure. It’s more likely that those blogger have continued to automate pins while also not making any other changes to their strategy as the algorithm has changed.
A lot of people who automate use Tailwind, and I used to too. I do think it’s and excellent tool to speed up pin creation and planning, but Pinterest lets you schedule 30 posts in their own scheduler.
Now that it’s best not to pin as much, I would try just to pin live or in the integrated scheduler. I personally don’t like to pin more than 10 per day, and ideally I would aim for 5.
You can pin 100% of your own content
The advice used to be that you should repin other people’s content and only pin a few of your own pins. Then Pinterest started favouring new content and the advice shifted to pinning 80% of your own content and 20% other people’s.
Now you can only pin your own stuff. This won’t harm your account, you won’t get marked as spam (as long as you don’t actually spam – remember what I said above about leaving a gap between pinning the same URL).
If your account is new, you should try to attract new followers
All the Pinterest big dogs say that a large follower number doesn’t matter. I would say that is true to an extent. It used to be much easier to get your pins seen even if no one followed you. Now, the new Pinterest update seems to make it harder, especially after introducing a home feed that tells you what others are pinning.
Most of the people on Pinterest aren’t creators, meaning they’re not making content for the platform and will be pinning other people’s stuff to their boards. These are the people you want to attract to your account. If they’re pinning your content, their friends will be more likely to see it because their feeds will show it to them. For this to work, you need followers. Even a few hundred followers relevant to your niche will help boost your visibility.
So while having millions of followers isn’t essential for success, having some followers is necessary to get your stuff out there.