Oh, the good ol’ Pinterest algorithm. The Pinterest algorithm for 2020 has made so many changes that it has caused a lot of stress and confusion to many bloggers and business owners who use the platform to grow their online visibility and gain new followers, clients or customers.
A lot of people have noticed since Pinterest has been making shifts to their algorithm, it has resulted in a lot of drops in monthly viewers, saves, and link clicks.
Because of this, I felt it was important to write a blog post about the new Pinterest algorithm changes for 2021 and what you need to know so your Pinterest account and audience can grow.
1 | Pinterest is Changing Much Like Social Media is Changing
Many people do not realize that as time goes on, Pinterest will start to shift and change much like all other social media platforms do too.
Pinterest has taken on the term “social media” because there really is no separate term or classification for it, it really doesn’t interact in the same way as other social media outlets like Instagram or Facebook. Pinterest is sort of in its own classification.
Although it is good to know that Pinterest is not a social media platform, it actually is a social networking site where people come into contact with another person or business and interact with their brand in the form of saving their content, opting in to their offer, or reaching out to the brand to book their service.
We have to keep in mind that much like other social media channels out, they are all changing and so will Pinterest.
Pinterest has not remained the same that it was 5 years ago because business goals, consumer demands and the ever-changing social media landscape will shift and evolve.
If you are using the platform for your business and have noticed you are seeing a huge shift in your reach, it’s because the times are changing with the Pinterest platform and it’s something you may have to adapt to over time.
Pinterest is not out there “to get you” or “make you work harder”. Pinterest is still very much for the people that use it – a large proportion of the platform are small business owners.
Pinterest is all about making the user experience better, and with that, it requires a lot of shifts and changes with the algorithm to keep up with the demands.
2 | Take a Good Look At Your Analytics & Go Deeper
This step is something I find a lot of business owners overlook, mainly because they really don’t understand what it is they are looking for!
As a creative small business owner, we must analyze our data on a quarterly or monthly basis to get a better understanding of our business environment and efforts.
What I want you to do is go into your Pinterest Analytics tab >> Overview. Select your date range for 30 days or from the first of the last month to the first of the next month & don’t forget to change the selection to the claimed account you wish to analyze (in most cases, this would be your website).
From here, I want you to look deep into your top three boards that are bringing in high impressions and take note of the numbers. You can also use the dropdown toggle to analyze your link clicks & saves as these important indicators are what I use to track my very own analytics and that for my clients.
Once you gather all the important information from this screen, I want you to take a look at why your numbers are the way they are. Do you have your boards well optimized? Are your pin designs eye catching or do they look similar to all the other pins in the search feed? What type of text overlay did you use, or did you not use text overlay?
This is what I mean about “going deeper”. You need to almost be like a super-sleuth and really take a step back from your own account to figure out what & why your numbers are not as high as they used to be.
Another analytic you should be looking at is your Google Analytics.
Now I don’t want you to overanalyze your data until it drives you crazy that you end up checking your analytics daily or weekly (that’s not the point here so please don’t do that!).
I want you to remove your emotions from your account and look at it from the outside in. Use your detective abilities (I know you have some, friend!) and really try to piece together where you could be going wrong with your Pinterest strategy & try to figure out what you could be missing and where you can improve.
As an online marketer and business owner, Google Analytics is one of the best tools for you to get familiar with.
I remember when I was first starting out on my online journey and found out about Google Analytics, I was terrified! I never thought that I would have to know anything about it, but I’m going to break what I know is important for you to keep track of when it comes to your Pinterest account and traffic.
In Google Analytics, I like to keep track of the traffic sources for my clients & for my business.
I also like to look at the top 10 pieces of content that is driving traffic to the website and analyze how much traffic is coming into the website from Pinterest.
What I’m looking for here is a trend. I want to see what type of content is resonating more with my client’s audience and I try to further understand what it is about the content that they are drawn to.
From here, I usually will click further through to check out the pin design and the keywords used in the pin description.
This also causes me to start brainstorming other ideas of content that can branch off the highest traffic driver for their website as I want to help my client continue to bring in more visitors to their site from Pinterest.
Is your content more educational? Or Inspirational?
If you look at this, keep in mind what is working for you and determine what else you can create that will be in alignment with the audience’s interest.
I truly love analogies and because I love them so much, I’m going to share one with you.
Say you are a world-renowned athlete and you compete at your best every day.
You strive to make a difference in the world through your amazing message of leadership, athleticism, self-development and discipline.
You know the Olympics is coming up in the next year and you want to be outstanding. So what do you do to prepare for the Olympics? You practice your craft all day, everyday until it becomes second nature. You even go as far as recording your performance and analyzing your stats, performance structure, and how that connects you to your goals.
If you see where you need to make adjustments (whether it be minor or major), you know you have the data right in front of you to make the difference.
This my friends, is exactly how it is when you analyze your Pinterest account. You have to take a stand back and figure out where you need to make your improvements so you can grow your account, gain new email subscribers, and book out your services.
If you find you’re not sure how to assess your Pinterest account, I encourage you to download my Pinterest Account Audit Roadmap or, reach out to me so we can collaborate together and I can provide you with an audit of your account to give you the in-depth analysis you’re seeking from a Pinterest expert.
3 | Fresh Pins and New Content Are Of Importance!
Once you’ve taken a critical look at your Pinterest account and gathered your baseline information that’s detailed in the Pinterest Account Audit Roadmap, I want you to look further at your Pin designs.
Pinterest defines a fresh Pin as a new image or video that has not been uploaded and seen by Pinterest’s AI (artificial intelligence). For example, Pinterest would see a new blog post or product page with a new URL as “fresh”, hence, the more new or “fresh” your content is, Pinterest will prioritize that content for distribution.
In addition to that, Pinterest also sees new Pin images count as “fresh” content even if it’s from an older blog post you’ve previously posted – hence, you providing newer fresh Pins for your pre existing blog posts that your new followers would be interested in.
I should also mention Duplicate Pins, as this practice of pinning the same pins to multiple boards over and over again is being seen as a no-no in with Pinterest & could actually hurt your Pinterest account.
This old practice can be seen as spammy and risk you losing followers or having your Pins reported. The point is to provide a great user experience for your audience and Pinning the same image multiple times every day does not account for that.
So for example, if you notice that a particular Pin design is getting a lot of impressions, saves or link clicks due to a particular style of pin design, of a particular color choice or due to a certain text, then create your Pins to highlight more of that! This is one way you can get to know what resonates with your audience and customers better than your other designs.
I also like to look into what boards my audience is saving my pins to. This provides me with a basic understanding about how my pins are resonating with them and most importantly, what keywords they are using to find my content.
What this all means is that the importance of newer, fresh content is crucial to your Pinterest strategy.
If you’re serious about improving your Pinterest growth & reach and are looking for new Pinterest templates for your content, I highly recommend my 10 Free Lifestyle Pinterest Templates for Canva that you can download and start using right away! These templates were created with you in mind if:
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You love a clean aesthetic.
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You want a Pinterest template that showcases your work beautifully.
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You want something that is uniquely catered to your creative individual needs.
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You want to customize your Pinterest graphics in a quick, efficient manner.
If you want to grab the attention of your audience, start using these 10 Free Lifestyle Pinterest Templates for Canva, just sign up below and you’ll get the link sent straight to your inbox.
In closing, it’s important to continually look at what’s working with your Pinterest marketing strategy if you really want to grow, go viral, sell your products or book our your services. If you are committed to your Pinterest marketing growth, remember to focus on:
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Creating fresh pins for our new blog posts, pages, or products
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Looking at our Pinterest & Google analytics
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Assessing what’s working and where improvements can be made
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Recognizing that social media changes are inevitable but the changes will provide our audience with the best user experience to increase engagement and growth of our brand and business.
