The best Pinterest Traffic tips for bloggers

Pinterest Best Practices

In the last few weeks, there has been quite some commotion in the blogosphere. Commotion about Pinterest and its new algorithms. Many bloggers watched their monthly impressions and clicks plummet! And no one knew exactly why and what they were doing wrong. Including myself, unfortunately. 😞

After a bit of research, I found out what I was doing wrong and how I was able to fix it. My views and clicks are going up again. Hopefully, I’ll reach the same amount of monthly views back as I received a couple of weeks ago!

Maybe this has happened to you too – stay zen, there is a solution for everything! – and now you would like to know what you can do to fix this. Maybe you’re still new to Pinterest, and you would like to know how to drive more traffic to your blog with Pinterest.

Disclaimer: This blog post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission to fund my coffee-drinking habit if you use these links to make a purchase. You will not be charged extra. So it’s a win for everyone! Please note that I won’t link any products I don’t believe in or don’t resonate with my blog site. Thank you!

Still new to Pinterest? Or you don’t have a business account yet?

Then I’d recommend you to go through the steps in these blog post first:

>> Setup and optimize a Pinterest Business account <<

All set? Ready to drive some real traffic to your blog with Pinterest? Then it’s time to implement these Pinterest traffic tips! 

Pinterest Traffic Tips For Bloggers

Before I start, I would like to briefly explain what Pinterest’s vision is for 2021. When you understand their vision, the advice I’m going to give in this blog post will make sense to you as well. First and foremost, Pinterest is made to serve its users with new inspiration and ideas, and not to make content creators rich. 😉 Makes sense, right? But when you look back on how content creators were able to gain the most views and followers, you would think it was the other way around. 

Why was it the other way around? 

Well, because, for instance, the repinning of content amongst bloggers used to generate a lot of views and traffic! Which was nice, of course, for bloggers. Also, Pinterest allowed content creators to share a Pin up to 10 different boards without getting marked as spam.

Yet, Pinterest users want to see new fresh content when searching for inspiration on the platform. They don’t want to see the same Pins all the time. That’s why Pinterest prefers fresh Pins over old Pins in 2021. 

Fresh Pins that haven’t been shared before are getting priority in the distribution of the Pins over old Pins. But what exactly is a fresh Pin? And are you still allowed to share your old Pins more than once? Is it still wise to use a scheduler, like Tailwind?

What is a fresh Pin?

Fresh Pins are Pins that haven’t been shared on Pinterest before. And by that, I mean the image of the Pin. The blog post you link to can be shared with a new Pin as often as you like, just not with the same image connected to it. You just need to keep on creating new Pins every now and then. As far as I know, Pinterest doesn’t say anything about linking to old evergreen blog posts.

But, the algorithms are smart, and I think it certainly can’t hurt to keep sharing new blog posts on Pinterest to show Pinterest you’re also posting fresh content on your blog. I use Canva to design them. Canva is a (free) design tool that you can use to create really great designs, like Pinterest Pins, logos, infographics, presentations, invitations, Instagram and Facebook posts, and much more. The possibilities are endless!

Free between brackets, because the free version is great for making awesome Pins, but in my opinion, the extras that come with a Pro-subscription are really worth the price. I use Canva Pro myself, and it costs me $ 12,95 per month ($ 9,95 per month if paid annually), and I make a lot of Pins and designs for my blogs. So, in my case, it pays for itself! An additional reason to opt for Canva Pro is that Pinterest’s algorithm also looks at the images that are being used.

Free stock photos are, obviously, used by everyone. Which makes your pins less original and attractive in the eyes of Pinterest. Pro photos are also used regularly, but certainly not as often as the free ones. Plus, new stock photos are added to the Pro collection regularly.

Tip for more Pinterest traffic: Styled stock photos

This is why many bloggers choose to buy stock photos from websites specializing in styled stock photography.

A few examples:

Ivorymix

A free membership grants you access to 550+ free stock photos + 4 free new images per month.

As a VIP member, you pay $ 137 per year with access to more than 4,500 photos, and 100+ photos are added every month. 

As an Elite member, you receive the same benefits as a VIP member, except you pay $ 52 per quarter. So that’s slightly more expensive, but you won’t be tied to it for very long.

Pixistock

When you subscribe here, you also get free stock photos sent to your inbox!

If you want more stock photos, you can become a member. This costs:

• Annually $ 197 –
• Quarterly $ 87
• Monthly $ 37

Is it still ok to pin 1 Pin to multiple boards?

You sure can! Just keep in mind, Pinterest likes your new Pins more than your older ones. So make sure you are also sharing a lot of fresh content. So, Yes, you can still repin your own Pins to other boards, but keep it at a minimum and focus on fresh Pins!

Is it still wise to use a scheduler, like Tailwind?

Tailwind is still an official partner of Pinterest. That means the official answer is yes.

In the past, Pinterest didn’t have any problems when Pins were shared amongst bloggers via Tailwind, but today it’s not entirely clear whether Pinterest is still really ok with that. I personally think that you have to read between the lines, and when they are constantly putting the emphasis on creating fresh Pins, I think it means that a Smartloop feature contradicts what they want to see on their platform. The same goes for Tailwind Tribes.

Pinterest seems to put more value to repins from regular users compared to content creators sharing each other’s content in a group. Which makes sense to me! But these are all recent changes, and many bloggers are still trying to figure out for sure what works and what doesn’t. Until then, my advice is to be at least cautious with third-party schedulers. And when I know more, I’ll keep you updated! For now, I prefer to Pin manually as much as possible. Except for a few Pins I schedule for the nights.

Pinterest Do’s

Idea Pins & Video Pins

Other new trends on Pinterest are Idea Pins and Video Pins. And if you want to stand out from all the other Pinterest Pins, I definitely recommend you to dive into the creation of Idea and Video Pins and use it to your advantage. My Idea Pins get waaay more impressions than my regular Pins!

Pin manually

Pinterest wants you to be an active member on the platform and not only via third-party schedulers. Therefore, you should be active on Pinterest daily. Repin some pins directly on Pinterest, follow people, update your boards, create new boards, and read others’ blogs. Keep the balance between automated and manual pinning.

I hope this post was helpful to you, and that your impressions and clicks will skyrocket any day soon! Got comments or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!