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To use Pinterest for business, set up a business account, publish Pins that lead to useful destination pages, claim your website, and use Analytics to distinguish organic activity from paid results. If you sell products, choose between catalog-based product Pins and product rich Pins; only catalog product Pins can be promoted as shopping ads.

Set up a Pinterest business account

Pinterest offers a free business account with access to Business Hub, Pinterest Analytics, advertising, and merchant features. Pinterest’s setup guidance says a new business account can currently be created only from a desktop computer. That restriction applies to creating the account, not necessarily to later Pinterest activity.

You can create a separate business account or convert an existing personal account. Pinterest describes the benefit directly: “Set up a free Pinterest business account to get access to analytics on your Pins and the ability to run ads.” See Pinterest’s business account setup guide for the current options and steps.

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Create Pins with a clear destination

A Pin can link to a blog post, product page, or other relevant destination. Before publishing, check that the Pin’s title, description, board, and destination URL accurately match the page a visitor will reach. Pinterest says business account holders can see how often people view their Pins and visit shared links.

Review the visual before posting: Pinterest says the image, video, or audio content cannot be changed after publication. If you spot an error in the creative, you will need to publish a corrected Pin rather than edit that media on the existing one. See Pinterest’s Pin creation instructions.

Make the creative and landing page work together

Pinterest recommends publishing original Pins with high-quality images or video, and matching the Pin’s imagery, text, and keywords to its landing page. Its guidance recommends a 2:3 aspect ratio for images and videos, and video lengths of 15 to 60 seconds. These are platform recommendations, not guarantees of distribution or performance. Review Pinterest’s performance guidance when planning creative.

Claim your website and measure performance

Claiming and verifying your website helps you see analytics for Pins published from your site and Pins other people create from it. For a business that wants Pinterest visitors to reach its own website, this connects content performance with the site it is meant to support. Follow the current steps in Pinterest’s website-claiming guide.

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Pinterest Analytics includes views of organic activity and paid-and-earned activity, with filters for Pin format and ad format. If you have an active feed or catalog, you can also filter by product group. Compare content types and product groups over time, but keep organic and paid results separate so that advertising activity does not obscure how unpaid Pins are performing. Details are in Pinterest Analytics documentation.

Treat case-study figures as examples, not forecasts

Pinterest reports that Ruggable’s click-through rate increased 37% when automatically created formats were compared with shopping ads alone. Pinterest attributes the result to internal data from more than 200 global advertisers beta-testing creative optimizations during June–August 2024. It is one reported advertiser case under those test conditions, not a typical result or a forecast for another business; the context appears in Pinterest’s Path to Performance guide.

Choose a product Pin setup if you sell products

Pinterest describes two ways to make product Pins. A catalog lets you add products at scale and organize them into product groups. Product rich Pins instead use website metadata, such as Open Graph or Schema.org markup, to populate product information. Both can support organic discovery, but their shopping-ad eligibility differs.

Setup route How product information is added Shopping-ad eligibility
Catalog product Pins Upload a catalog; organize products into groups Can be promoted as shopping ads
Product rich Pins Use website metadata such as Open Graph or Schema.org markup Cannot be promoted as shopping ads

Keep product details current whichever route you use. For setup and feature details, consult Pinterest’s catalog guidance and Pinterest’s rich Pins documentation.

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Understand shopping ads and promoted Pins

Shopping ads require a business account, an uploaded catalog, and product groups. Pinterest lists standard shopping, video shopping, personalized collections, and carousel shopping formats. Shopping ads are not available in every market, so check Pinterest’s shopping ads guidance and the current country availability before building a campaign around them.

For general Pin promotion, Pinterest says promoted Pins must be saved to the business profile and public boards, include destination URLs, avoid link shorteners in the destination URL or description, and comply with its ad standards. Ads are reviewed before they run. Check local availability and current campaign requirements in Pinterest’s promoted Pins guidance before spending.

A simple workflow for a small business

  1. Set up the account: create a business account on desktop or convert an existing personal account.
  2. Claim your website: verify the site you want to connect to Pinterest analytics.
  3. Prepare a destination page: make sure the landing page delivers what the Pin promises.
  4. Create and inspect the Pin: write a relevant title and description, choose a board, add the matching destination URL, and check the media before publishing.
  5. Choose a product route if applicable: use a catalog when you need product groups and shopping-ad eligibility, or website metadata for product rich Pins intended for organic discovery.
  6. Review results: use Analytics filters to compare formats and product groups, keeping organic and paid activity distinct.
  7. Promote only when suitable: confirm that the ad format is available in your market and that the Pin meets Pinterest’s current requirements.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.