How to Post on Pinterest: The Ultimate Guide by a Pinterest Expert [2025]

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Are your Pinterest pins struggling to gain traction?

Wondering if you’re posting at the right times, using the correct tools, or making other mistakes?

You’re not alone!

In this guide, we’ll uncover the common pitfalls of posting on Pinterest, how to fix them, and even share a bonus hack to improve your account performance.

Finally, at the end you will find a handy cheat sheet you can use as a reminder when you’re setting up your posting schedule.

Whether you’re new to Pinterest or aiming to level up your strategy, this guide has everything you need to know.

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How to Post on Pinterest in 2025

An effective Pinterest strategy that complies with the algorithm’s requirements includes nailing these three things:

  1. What to post.
  2. How to post it.
  3. When to post it.

We’ll cover each element in detail so you can maximize your efforts and achieve the best results.

Part 1: What to Post on Pinterest

Pinterest isn’t just another social media platform; it’s a visual search engine. 

Think of it like Google but for images, ideas, and inspiration.

Users come here to discover, save, and take action—whether it’s planning their dream wedding, remodeling their kitchen, or finding a new dinner recipe. 

The key is understanding that Pinterest users are looking for ideas, inspiration and solutions.

The audience on Pinterest often doesn’t know what exactly they’re looking for – they could be just gathering ideas for home renovation.

On the other hand, on traditional search engines, the queries tend to be much more specific and precise.

But let me show you what I mean, which will highlight the fact that Pinterest keywords are not the same thing as Google keywords, and people use the platform differently.

Let’s assume you have a travel blog about Italy, and you wrote an article on How to get from Rome to Tivoli, which is a nearby city.

I can guarantee you won’t find this keyword in Pinterest, as you can see, but what you will find is for example Rome day trip keyword, where people are looking for ideas on what to explore near Rome.

You can also see the very different intent just by looking at keyword suggestions.

In organic search, the keywords are much more precise and actionable, while on Pinterest they are more broad and inspirational type of keywords, as you can see below.

What if you can’t find your keyword on Pinterest?

I generally don’t recommend sharing topics that nobody searches for, unless you can fit it under a broader topic that exists on the platform.

In our case, we could optimize our pin for Rome Day Trips and share that specific day trip article.

It’s also perfectly fine to mix a few different topics on your account as long as you do your SEO optimization correctly. I’ve seen lots of accounts ranking well for both home decor topics and also hairstyle ideas.

I do recommend focusing on one or two topic clusters at the beginning to teach the algorithm what your niche is and establish topical authority

Here’s what your content should look like:

  • Correct size and format: 1000 x 1500 px img
  • Visually appealing – pretty images
  • SEO optimized – optimize text, image & landing page

I will dive deeper into each of these below, and after that we will return to part 2 of this tutorial.

1.1. Correct Size and Format

Pinterest prefers pins in the standard size of 1000 x 1500 pxs, or 2:3 ratio dimensions, so portrait format.

You can make pins even longer, which I do, as long as they follow the aspect ratio.

In terms of formats, you can currently create static pins (images), carousels, video pins, and idea pins.

If you’re starting out, I recommend starting with just static pins.

Idea pins and video pins don’t tend to perform as well, but that really depends on your niche and specific keyword.

For example, for hairstyles, you will see the top-ranking pins are all videos, so you would need to create videos if you want to rank for this topic.

Check out the top ranking posts for this keyword, as you can see they are all mostly videos:

The screenshot is from a tool called Pin Clicks – I use it on a daily basis to check what content performs the best for different keywords, and check how the top pins are optimized for keywords and Pinterest.

If you want to test it out, you can get it below.

Get PinClicks

Optimize your pins to get more traffic

I don’t recommend creating idea pins at all – they used to be big a few years ago when Pinterest was pushing it with their PID controller, but they do not get as good distribution as they used to.

In terms of image format, you can use both JPG and PNG, but PNG files slow down your website quite a lot.

What if you don’t have portrait images on your website?

I’ve seen this most often in travel blogs that only use landscape images.

In that case, I recommend creating at least two custom pin images with text overlays and sharing those with multiple boards.

1.2. Visually Appealing Content – Pretty Pins

Pretty images perform the best on Pinterest, and based on studies and my own tests, these are the things to keep in mind:

  • Warm colors work much better than cold color tones
  • Moody dark images don’t work as well as bright, vibrant images
  • Do not use script fonts in overlays; it is hard to read
  • Make sure your image matches your topic and landing page

Pinterest uses optical recognition, so it will read the text on the image and the content of the image to help rank it.

I am a big fan of testing, and I always test new layouts and font combinations to see what works well. Here are some of the tests with results that I did for my own content:

If you’re starting from scratch, or your current designs don’t perform well, here is what I suggest:

  • Check the top-ranking pins for your main keyword
  • See what they have in common – colors, fonts, headline styles etc
  • Create a similar design and test it for 3 months to see how it performs (do not copy it exactly)

When I say check what ranks, you can do that in two ways;

  • Do it logged out of your account so the results are not tailored to your interests and history
  • Use PinClicks, which will allow you to do this much faster

Get PinClicks

Optimize your pins to get more traffic

What about stock images?

Do those work?

Yes, you can also use stock image or AI image, as long as they are good quality. Pinterest will not penalize you for using them, but with stock images, you need to be careful, as the same image might already be on the platform.

I recommend adding at least a text overlay on any stock image.

If you’re starting, you can get a free version of Canva and start creating your designs there, using the existing templates. 

Instead of buying ready-made templates from influencers, it’s a much better investment to pay for premium Canva subscriptions as that will give you access to a huge library of readymade pin designs, stock photos, premium fonts, and even stock videos and other graphics.

1.3. SEO Optimized Content

I cover the Pinterest algorithm and SEO optimization in detail in other blog posts here and on the youtube channel, but here is just a quick recap.

Pinterest algorithm extracts keywords from these places:

  • Pin title
  • Pin description
  • Url of the page
  • Meta description of the landing page
  • Text in the image

Make sure all of these are optimized for your keyword. You can also add the keyword into a text overlay, just make sure its an easy to read big bold font. 

Pinterest also scans the landing page to which you’re linking, which should be your verified domain, so make sure your URL and the meta description also contain the keyword.

To get help with your SEO optimization, check out these articles:

Fresh Pins = The Holy Grail

And finally, it’s super important to focus on sharing fresh pins over repins.

Pinterest likes fresh content, and right now, that fresh content posted in the last 3 months or so will outrank even older well, well-performing content, which you can see from the PincClicks, too.

Here is one example for a broad keyword – as you can see the top pins have been posted less than three months ago and they’re already in the top 3 positions (this article is posted on 23rd January and the pins ranking on positions 3 and 4 were created on 6th and 3rd January 2025).

Part 2: How to Post on Pinterest

Now that we have established what we are going to post, let’s have a look at how to do it. 

There are two ways: a native Pinterest publisher or a partner publisher tool like Tailwind.

I know there are a lot of misleading claims online that native publishing works better and helps to rank the content faster.

Unfortunately, there are no scientific studies to prove this, and claims that it is a secret manual pinning method that delivers impressive results are only linked to sales of expensive courses.

READ MORE: Manual Pinning or Tailwind: Which One is Better in 2025?

So you can use either of the methods, as long as you stick to these rules, which are more important than the platform you use:

Pin your content to the most relevant board first, and then ideally to another 2 – 3.

Always use a time interval between sharing the same URL and do not post it on the same day.

Do not repin your own content, at least not all the time, repins are not great for engagement and account growth.

Keep track of when you pin the last content in case you want to add more later. I like to do that in my content tracker, but you can set up one easily in a google sheet.

Part 3: When to Post on Pinterest

A few years back, the Pinterest algorithm was based on chronological order, so your followers would see your content first, and it was essential to post at the right time when your audience was engaged.

That has changed, and the algorithm is now based on quality and engagement, so posting times are less important, and it’s more important to optimize your content for quality and the right interests.

Posting times are still relevant because a large portion of your followers will see your content, and you get a chance to get the initial boost in engagement from them, which is super important.

Luckily, in Tailwind, you can generate automated time slots, which are based on your audience engagement times, so they are perfectly aligned with your audience preferences.

If you’re starting with a new tailwind account, they will automatically suggest these time slots based on historical data of similar accounts, so you stand the best chance of getting your content in front of the right audience without overthinking it.

How to Post on Pinterest: Mistakes to Avoid

Going Viral

Please do not fall for the clickbait headlines showing you how to go viral on Pinterest.

With Pinterest, your goal is to grow your saves, so you increase engagement on your account and help all of your content do well. What you don’t want to have is a one hit wonder and then your stats dying with it.

Going viral on Pinterest is no longer a thing either, as the platform now favors fresh content, so any pin that might be getting a lot of traction can be easily replaced by fresh optimized content.

Not Pinning Enough

Adding one fresh pin per day is not going to get you far and fast either.

You can should aim for at least 5 pins per day, and slowly scale your way to 5 to 10 pins per day.

If you’re wondering how many pins you need to add before you see an increase in your traffic, that totally depends on your niche and the keywords you’re targeting.

Remember your goal is quality over quantity.

Linking to Instagram and Youtube

Your pins should only link to your claimed domain on pinterest, and pinterest will always give those pins higher distribution than any content you link to other social profiles, for obvious reason – they want to keep yoru audience on their plafortm.

What if you have some video content you would like to link?

I recommend creating a post for it with an embedded video and then using that URL to link to the video on Pinterest. 

What if you don’t have a website but only an Instagram account or YouTube profile?

You can give it a try, but I haven’t seen these profiles getting any traction on the platform for a very simple reason – you are sending the traffic to the direct competitor of Pinterest, which is something they don’t want. 

Breaking the Rules on Pinterest

Remember that nothing will work right if you get your account banned.

Here are the most common mistakes you should avoid:

  • Do not mass message people on the platform
  • Do not steal others’ pins and republish them with your URL
  • Do not join comment threads or repost threads
  • Do not mass join multiple group boards
  • Do not follow too many accounts at once

How to Post on Pinterest: Bonus Hack

As you know, or maybe you don’t, the most important metric on Pinterest is saved – that’s because it’s the most important engagement signal on the platform, so that’s the number one metric you should follow.

If your pins are not engaging enough, Pinterest won’t distribute them to a broader audience,e, and you won’t be growing your traffic anytime soon.

What I do on my own blogs is to create a mix of content based on different interests to increase my saves. 

So, while I have the majority of pins that direct people to my website, I have a small percentage of those that give out the whole story in the graphic, and people can simply save it, and don’t need to read the blog post.

I know you’ve heard the advice that you shouldnt give away everything in the graphic, and that’s true for most content, but you should have a small selection ofthis pins as they have huge save rates.

Right below you will find my own example – for lots of topics I created free cheat sheets, templates or guides that can be freely shared, and most important saved.

How to Post on Pinterest: Cheat Sheet

Feel free to save this and use it as your reference guide:

Final Thoughts

I hope this article answered all the questions you might have about posting on Pinterest.

If there is something else you would like to know, leave a comment below this post and I will be happy to help.

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Save these for later so you can find this article when you need to refer back to it. You will also find lots of practical tips and guides on my Pinterest profile, so don’t forget to stalk me there.

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Author
Lucia is a senior marketing professional with over a decade of experience in digital marketing. She is dedicated to helping bloggers and business owners grow their revenue through strategic and data based marketing strategies. Her areas of expertise include SEO, Pinterest marketing, branding, social media marketing, and e-commerce.

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