Jump to Frequently-Asked Questions
If you had a nickel for every time you’ve heard that “Content is King,” you would probably be sitting on a beach right now sipping on a drink with an umbrella in it. 🍹 I get it.
And while the real story of success in marketing (and even what constitutes success) is obviously much more complicated than an overused 3-word statement, nowhere is the King of marketing (Queen of Marketing?) more powerful than on Pinterest.
Yes, your content has the power to bring in meaningful, targeted traffic from Pinterest, where over 300 million people search and discover new ideas and products every month.
Create more fresh, high-quality content.
That’s it.
No tricks, no gimmicks. Just create new blog posts, new pages, new products listings, and especially, create new images for existing relevant and new posts that will inspire Pinners to engage with, save, and click on your Pins.
Fresh content works on @pinterest ! Users respond to new Pins and the algorithm loves them, so get ahead of the rest by adapting to these changes now. @tailwindapp can help. Introducing – SmartGuide! #pinterestmarketing – – Tweet this!
And while fresh content is already favored in the Pinterest algorithm, you’ll see it becoming more and more important as the year progresses. Start adapting your strategy with the advice below and we’ll be with you all the way with new resources, webinars, tools, and more!
Ideally, you’ll create at least a few new pieces of content to save to Pinterest every single week. Pinterest wants to keep the platform fresh and exciting for users, and to that end, they’re favoring content Creators who regularly contribute great, fresh content.
Over the course of developing updated recommendations, we’ve had the pleasure of working with several key players at Pinterest, including Lucy Matthews, Programs Partnership Manager. She joined me and Tailwind CEO Daniel Maloney to talk about the official Pinterest recommendations for optimal content distribution on Pinterest. Have a watch, or keep reading for the highlights
The easiest way to think about it is that new images count as fresh Pins. The Pin can link to a blog post, product listing, or a page on your website that already has Pins linking to that url; as long as it’s a new image it will count as fresh content.
It’s ok to test new approaches to copywriting this way, but that alone would not qualify as “fresh.”
Is a filter or different text overlay sufficient? What about just moving the background image a few pixels?
The threshold will change over time, but making minor tweaks (i.e. moving a background image a few pixels) is NOT the spirit of this. A/B testing different background images or text overlays seems like a valid strategy.
Focus on creating unique images that are helpful and inspiring to Pinners. Give them a new focus, a new angle, or a new story. The better you are at that, the more future-proof your process and strategy will be.
One great way to generate several Fresh Pins would be by trying to create many versions of a Pin for your content by recreating it in meaningful ways. For example, if you had written a blog post about how to “create a DIY Towel Ladder in 4 steps”, each of the images below would be great alternatives to create more Fresh Pins. Notice the different angles, text on image, and focus on the items in the room:
Remember: the key is that the image must be new and fresh to Pinners! So use your best judgment and don’t try to make minor imperceptible changes to try to “fool” Pinterest into thinking that it’s a Fresh Pin. If you have to look really hard to see what’s different about one Image from another, that’s probably a good sign that you need to make some more meaningful changes.
What is FRESH content on @pinterest? Simple: An image that’s new! A new angle, a different zoom, meaningful changes will drive more distribution and traffic. Get the official scoop and see how @tailwindapp SmartGuide can help you Pin smarter. #pinterestmarketing – Tweet this!
No time to blog every day? Create a new image (or two) for a still-relevant post and share it to Pinterest to give your content new life! Try our free Pinterest templates now.
The Pinterest algorithm values recency (freshness) and relevance as key factors.
That means that more recent, more relevant content will be distributed more (and reach larger audiences) in places like the Home Feed and Search results in comparison to less relevant or stale content.
Duplicate content will be distributed less or be seen by smaller audiences compared to fresher content, assuming equal relevance. However, there are legitimate and natural cases where it makes sense to reshare a Pin – for example, relevant seasonal content or periodic evergreen content.
Accounts that share far too much duplicate content could see suspension or penalties, although many factors impact those spam fighting algorithms.
Pinterest hasn’t and likely will not publish exact guidelines.
That said, Pinterest works with Partners like us to help make sure that the products you rely on guide you toward best practices and away from outdated or poor practices. SmartGuide is a good example of how we’ll be able to help you stay in line with good practices
SmartGuide was developed using the latest recommendations from Pinterest. As an approved partner tool, we have been working on communicating these new best practices directly with Pinterest and are baking them into a new free feature called SmartGuide.
SmartGuide (in your dashboard now!) has already begun monitoring your Pinning volume, alerting you where action is needed, and helping you adjust your Pinterest marketing for optimal distribution. Over time, you’ll start to notice more and more guidance in your Tailwind dashboard, including additional best practices and recommendations to increase your reach.
SmartGuide will be rolling out in waves in the coming weeks. The vast majority of Tailwind members who have SmartGuide enabled and are publishing a healthy volume of Pins will see our SmartGuide “All Clear” badge, like this:
Get a free trial of Tailwind for Pinterest.
Isn’t any incremental traffic better than nothing?
Some duplication is natural, but in the long run, you’ll best maximize reach by focusing your time and energy on generating more relevant and fresh content for Pinners.
I’ve gotten used to my content living longer on Pinterest than anywhere else!
Not to fear! Pins are still evergreen on Pinterest. Invest in fresh content and be thoughtful about their creation strategy, only repinning content that is truly valuable and relevant to users. Pins will still live on as evergreen content on the platform, nothing is changing there. As we work to ensure the best Pinner experience, you and your followers will ALSO notice a variety of fresh content to engage with.
Try different titles and descriptions to see what works best and then use analytics to verify this. Look into trends and think more carefully about how you want to position your content to capitalize on search behaviors or seasonal moments.
As you are making new images, it’s likely that you’ll emphasize certain aspects of your product or service more in some images than in others, so naturally you’ll want to change the title and description. However the “fresh” part of the content is the new image itself.
Keep in mind that titles and descriptions that don’t accurately reflect an image or landing page experience are less valuable to Pinners and will not perform as well on the platform.
Here’s how you could use SEO and a different image with different title, description and Board to get the most out of your content:
First Pin:
Title: 4-Step Copper Towel Ladder – Easy Decorating Project
Description: A swoon-worthy copper ladder in 4 easy steps? Yes, please! Beautiful and functional for displaying towels and blankets, you’ll save a bundle by making it yourself. We’ll walk you through the whole thing and even tell you where to get the best deals on the simple supplies needed. Decorating is way more fun (and affordable) when you can do it yourself! #towelladder #easydecoratingproject
Board: Easy Decorating Projects
Second Pin:
Title: Make a Copper Towel Ladder! DIY Decor
Description: If you’ve had your eye on a pricey copper towel and blanket ladder (THE home decor trend of the season), but couldn’t justify the spend, why not just DIY!? It’s easier than you thought – and we’ll walk you through it step by step. We made this one for under $40! #diyblanketladder #diyhomedecor
Board: DIY Home Decor
While Pinterest does not necessarily give preference to newer links; newer Pins likely feature content that is more timely and relevant and hence more likely to be useful for users.
Smartguide is now available for all Tailwind Plus members! It helps members evolve their own marketing to take advantage of the latest Pinning practices for best results – not only now, but in the future as well. 🎉
Best practices will continue to evolve and change, but SmartGuide will be there to clearly and proactively bring awareness and actionable insights to you as things change.
We’re already monitoring all accounts and you might notice in-app messages to alert you to possible risky behavior and easy fixes to maintain a healthy queue. SmartLoop, which has from the start incorporated best practices from Pinterest to make sure Pins aren’t repeated too frequently, also now includes updated guidelines.
Over time, SmartGuide will continue to keep you up to date with the latest best practices on Pinterest (we’ll continue working closely with them as Partners!). We’ll keep on providing updated, easy, actionable recommendations on how to improve your strategy, maintain healthy Pinning habits, and make the most out of your Pinterest activity.
We’re working on ways to help people to create more fresh and relevant content. Early changes there will begin rolling out as soon as next month, but it’s a significant area of investment for us that will be continuing throughout 2020 and beyond. Stay tuned! 👀
A new image makes a fresh Pin. Period.
When you create a new image, the focus of the image may change, so you may WANT to change the title and description, but it is not a requirement.
New URLs (posts, pages, and products) are great, but are not prioritized over new images on the platform. So, go ahead and make new images for older, still-relevant content!
No. There is definitely a natural rate of duplication of Pins and some very legitimate cases for resharing. For example, you can share timely, seasonal Pins once or twice a year, surfacing content when it’s most relevant, meaning more engagement and traffic for you! SmartLoop always has been and always will be built to enable this kind of healthy resharing, with recommendations being updated as needed.
As often as possible, and for best distribution and traffic generation, create new images to support resharing a link.
Saving a Pin to the most relevant Boards (usually no more than 10) is more important today than ever. Doing so gives Pinterest a lot of helpful signals to let us know what the Pin is about and who it might be most relevant to.
If saving to many Boards, it would be most impactful to use as many unique images as possible across those Boards. Try our free Pinterest templates now.
Tailwind SmartLoop is an effective tool for resharing your content without relying on tedious spreadsheets or randomly resharing when it comes to mind – both of which methods could have you resharing too often. When might you benefit from resharing content to Pinterest?
The best use cases for resharing the same Pin to the same Board are:
If you’ve altered the overall duration in the Advanced Loop Settings, we encourage you to revert to the recommended settings which are designed to reshare at healthy intervals and update with best practices as they change. Here’s how to edit those settings.
Monitor your loops regularly and create fresh content for your best performing Pins.
SmartLoop is designed to help you get the most from the content you’ve worked hard to create as well as identify the best opportunities to refresh your Pins.
Instead of resurfacing the exact same pins, it would be even better to update the Pins in some way to make them more seasonally relevant, or try a slightly different spin. This will lead to better distribution and more engagement!
SmartLoop makes it easy to spot these opportunities to improve your account:
Using SmartLoop as intended will not cause you to be suspended. We are constantly updating the Loop recommendations in partnership with Pinterest. To update your existing Loops to incorporate the newest best practices, edit a Loop, and when you get to the set schedule step, select either YOUR CORE CONTENT or NICHE TOPIC. If you had previously selected one of these options, you’ll be able to refresh your settings here.
The focus of upcoming SmartLoop enhancements will be to enable Creators to make the most of their content library with new insights into content opportunities.
When in doubt, think about and emulate the way a regular Pinterest user Pins. They may incidentally Pin the same content to the same Board more than once, but it’s not usually in quick succession – and there are usually other Pins saved in between. Though you’re marketing a business on Pinterest, make it a matter of personal policy to always Pin like a Pinterest user.
Not at all! We’ve stated in various places that many of our successful members Pin around 15-25 times per day. However, the optimal number is different for everyone and you should adjust your schedule as is appropriate for YOU.
For some Pinners, scheduling 15 times per day might be more than needed and for others with a large volume of content or many images to share, 40 might not be enough! What works best is as unique as you are.
If you still want to Pin at substantially higher levels than recommended, and you’re comfortable with the risks and potential for decreased distribution, you’ll be able to relax SmartGuide’s Spam Safeguard when it makes sense to Pin more than 50 times per day, and continue to have full control of your Pinning strategy.
Yes! Communities remains a great way to connect with peers who share your interests! Just remember to use it judiciously by authentically sharing content you’d want to save.
Like your own audience, Community Members will most appreciate when you share your latest, fresh content rather than Pins they’ve seen in the past.
Many people enjoy sharing other people’s content because:
Just keep your sharing natural – Pin like a regular Pinner would!
Pinterest is directly calling out that this is a change from the past. We understand their skepticism based on what has worked historically, but Pinterest is giving us all a heads up that what works has changed and is changing.
Example: I have 5 images for one article, can I share them out (to the same Board even) on the same day, or should I spread them out?
As long as the images are distinct (meaning they look noticeably different), it’s fine to share them out the same day, but be mindful of how this might look to your followers in the following tab.
No. That Pin would no longer be considered fresh. If this was part of your workflow previously, you might want to instead upload all your images to Drafts in Tailwind.
You would need to upload an entirely new video. A new cover image would not make it fresh. Remember that video content is harder for most creators to make than static images, so there is less competition amongst quality video Pins.
Didn’t find your question answered here? Please contact us through the dashboard or email help(at)tailwindapp.com. We’re happy to help.
Give your audience on Pinterest plenty of fresh, inspiring content. Whether that means creating a new page, post, or product – or just making a new image (or two!) to give your existing content new life – when paired with a keyword-rich title and description and saved to a relevant Board gives Pinterest a reason to reward you with more and more traffic to your site.
It’s not often we get a heads up on upcoming algorithm changes. Getting ahead of upcoming changes gives us all an early-adopter advantage. Let’s not squander this one! 🙂
Schedule something new today – get a free trial of Tailwind for Pinterest.
Questions? Comments? We want to hear from you! You can also check out our Pinterest best practices FAQ.
Was this Helpful? Please Pin me for later!
No matter what you do for your customers, getting the word out about your products…
One of the most powerful outreach tools for businesses is marketing automation. This allows businesses…
For all businesses, especially small to medium-sized ones, marketing takes a toll on your schedule.…
There are many ways to market your jewelry business and stand out from the competition.…
The fashion industry is an evolving and high-value market. According to Research and Markets, the…
Learn Newsletter Tips and Best Practices for Your Small Business With so many working from…
View Comments
Thanks for the great blog post! I want to believe, I seriously do, But I have doubts. When I view boars doing extremely well in Pinterest - to me, they appear spammy. They're certainly re-pinning and pinning the same pin over and over and not just the same pin but maybe 1-2 variations of it. How do boards like this do so well when it seems that everyone I hear from says "not to do that"? Some of these are boards about makeup or food or work from home - I'm sure all very competitive markets but if they're getting 4million views a month and have a 1-2% conversion rate they're getting 40-100k visitors a month from Pinterest alone doing everything I read people should not do. Is Pinterest changing the game and this is kind of a heads-up?
Hi Byron. Most welcome. From what we understand, this has been going on a while - it's just likely to become more standardized over time. Keep in mind that "views" also includes Promoted Pins, so it's hard to get a true picture of where their "success" is coming from. Pinterest really does want to help Creators succeed, so when they publish new guidelines, it's a good idea to follow them and see how it impacts your results. You could be pleasantly surprised. :)
Hi Alisa, thanks for sharing this news, as unwelcome as it is.
Unfortunately as Pinterest sends me less traffic Google sends me more, and Pinterest becomes a tinier slice of the pie. Not worth much time or money any more – to me at least.
I'm really sorry for those who are heavily invested in it, but I guess they'll adapt.
Hi Louise. I understand - it's a big shift from the way some people have been doing things for a long time. Still, it's nice to know what works today. I'm glad you were able to diversify and find success with Google, too. It's always nice to have traffic coming in from multiple sources.
Wondering if there's a guideline for how many boards it's ok to pin to when I schedule a new pin. Right now some of my board lists include more than 30 boards! I schedule with about 2 days between pins. Is this no longer a good idea? Do I need to pin to only a subset of my boards and then use an alternate pin for the others? Thanks!
Hi Susannah, that's a great question! The current guidelines (subject to change) are that you share to up to 10 relevant Boards, but if you want to share to many Boards, it's better to make more images. That's all included with SmartGuide. Hope that helps! Scheduling with 2 days in between is also within SmartGuide. The default is 7 days but you can choose to override to 2.
This is really helpful information and I actually think a good move. It may take a bit more effort but I think it will make a better experience for users. I'm finding the ALL CLEAR sign very helpful.
Yes, I agree with you about the improved experience!!
Hello Alisa,
Thanks for all the great work you've been doing here. If duplicate posts are getting seen less and worse some accounts are being suspended because of over sharing how does that affect content creators who are using the same templates or stock images? Thanks for your time.
Hi Anna,
You're welcome! If you use templates or stock images, you'll need to make sure you change them enough to be visibly different. With templates you'll usually change the background image which should do it. For stock images, you'll want to customize those so they don't look like someone else's.
Thanks Alisa. How does one change stock images? The only thing you can change is maybe by using a filter with some sort of color and add a text overlay but it's still the same image. Wouldn't Pinterest algorithm detect that it's the same image? It seems rather risky. In addition have you heard Google doesn't like duplicate images? Thanks for your time and expertise.
There are lots of things you can do with stock images :) You can add text overlay, graphical elements, shapes, borders/backgrounds, crop, rotate. The key is to make it LOOK different to a regular user. Google is out of my scope, I'm afraid, but it wouldn't surprise me!
If it's the same photo, but sent to a different URL (ie- sent to a shop section vs. an individual listing), would that count as a fresh pin?
Hi Megan, no, it's the image that needs to be new. ~ Alisa
Thank you for the detailed article on the pinterest best practices. Yeah creating new content is the way to go. Its not easy but definitely worth it to keep creating new fresh content and images for existing and new articles.
You're welcome, Bhawna! So true.
Thank you for so much detail on this! One question about the fresh content. Can it be new images directly uploaded to Pinterest and point to an existing URL/blog post, or do the new images have to be uploaded to that existing URL/blog post, and then pinned?
Hi, Amanda! You are very welcome. :) . You can do either. Whatever you prefer. ~ Alisa
Thank you so much for this article! I do have some questions though especially when it comes to the pinning schedule. Are we expected to have multiple fresh pins going out every single day or is multiple throughout the week enough? I'm a little lost since it would make a huge difference in the pinning strategy and the time investment but sharing too much of duplicate/other people's pins can get us in trouble... Thank you!!
Hi, Domitille. Yes, that would make a big difference!! Multiple throughout the week should be enough. I'm sure you'll get a feel for what amount works best for you. :)
Hi Alisa and Thank you for trying to keep us abreast of Pinterest. I still find that changing photos (zoom, location, position in a multiple etc) will not evade the spam warning. And even your good answers above leave room for uncertainty: Q1:can you please lay out the Pinterest definition of "image"? Is it the whole pin, or the graphic elements, or the photographs, or their position in the pin, or what is it? I have found that no change averts the warning besides changing the template (Canva, Adobe Spark or Easil?)
Q2: Is it therefore wiser to avoid templates and build custom pin designs? Thanks so much for your invaluable help.
Hello! Are you talking about the warning inside Tailwind? The definition of image would be what you said - all of it combined - background, logo, text, other elements inside the image. I'm wondering if we are just not able to detect the difference for you. It's good, but it's not 100% accurate. You can certainly use templates to make new images. If you think that the images really do look different, go ahead and save them. If you are in doubt, ask a friend. :)
Yes thanks the Tailwind warning.
I also asked if, when it's showing, the simultaneous 'All Clear' icon can be trusted.
Thanks again.