{"id":1195,"date":"2016-02-09T16:30:11","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T22:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twprod.wpengine.com\/pinterest-smart-feed-pin-visibility\/"},"modified":"2024-09-09T19:28:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-10T01:28:00","slug":"pinterest-smart-feed-pin-visibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tailwindapp.com\/blog\/pinterest-smart-feed-pin-visibility","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhy Aren\u2019t My Pins Being Seen?\u201d Diving Into The Pinterest Smart Feed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Have you been frustrated with your Pins\u2019 recent visibility? Or perhaps overjoyed by a sudden growth in Pinterest repins<\/a> and referral traffic from Pinterest? Either way, you are not alone. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past year and a half, many Pinners have noticed seemingly unexplained changes in their engagement and referral traffic. And in most cases, the reason behind these changes is the Smart Feed (or Pinterest Algorithm)<\/a><\/span>. The Smart Feed has taken over the prime real estate on Pinterest that users see immediately after logging in. In so doing, it has changed how most Pinners use Pinterest. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The details of the Smart Feed can get complex, but at a high level:<\/strong> <\/span>Pinterest got a makeover. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike typical makeovers that touch only the surface, the Pinterest Smart Feed makeover changed what you see from the inside out. The Smart Feed was designed to increase the relevance of the Pins a user sees for their personal<\/em> interests. Instead of a simple chronological home feed made entirely of new Pins from Boards a user follows, with the Smart Feed users now see a mix of Pins that are relevant to their Likes, Interests, and<\/em> the Boards they follow. This has massive implications for which content is surfaced to users and when.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the Pinterest Smart Feed Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Pinterest engineering blog<\/a> did a great job of breaking down how the Smart Feed works:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than being listed chronologically in a user\u2019s feed, Pins are processed through a service layer called the Smart Feed Worker. This (software, not human) “worker” scores Pins based on how valuable its algorithms estimate the Pins are for a specific user. Then, Pins are sorted and stored into Pools of content available for later use. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At launch, there were three core Pools of Pins: the Following Pool, Related Pool, or Interest Pool. The Pools are named as such based on the reason the Pins may be shown to you. For example, the “Following Pool” would contain pins from Boards that you follow. Today, it may well be the case that other Pools exist, e.g. a Promoted Pool for Promoted Pins and a Picked For You Pool (if separate from the Related Pool). <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Within the Pools, Pins are ranked in order of estimated quality. So, within the Following Pool Pinterest is determining that of all Pins pinned to Boards you follow, some specific Pin is the single highest quality, most relevant Pin for you right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These Pools of Pins will later be combined to create the Smart Feed content you see when logging into Pinterest. This is done by a second service called the Smart Feed Content Generator.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Smart Feed Content Generator mixes highly ranked Pins from the various pools into “Chunks”, or groups of Pins based on relevance of the Pins to you. When you view your Smart Feed, Chunks are assembled into a static view of the Smart Feed- or, in other words, the Pins that you actually see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suspect that Pinterest is frequently testing different Chunk “recipes” to see what works best. Often, as I scroll down my own Smart Feed I notice Chunks of Pins that are all from the same user, or all related to a given topic, or perhaps all “Picked For You,” amidst an otherwise varied feed. This could be coincidental, but it’s likely more intentional than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like every good makeover, there are certain airs of mystery behind the Smart Feed. It\u2019s what keeps things intriguing and interesting. For Pinterest, the key question is which specific factors are taken into consideration when scoring Pins- and how those factors are weighted against each other.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From various blog posts, publications and presentations over time by folks at Pinterest, we’ve learned of some key factors that may influence the ranking of Pins for the Smart Feed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n