3 Effective Pinterest Marketing Hacks To Maximize Your Traffic

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If you’re here you’re probably looking for a quick fix for your Pinterest account, right?

If your Pinterest traffic doesn’t grow as much as you need, or whatever you tried doesn’t work, I have some bad news for you: no hack or trick will fix your account overnight.

Change requires a commitment of time and following marketing advice that’s based on data and facts, not personal opinions.

So why should you read this guide and not the other dozens that are already out there?

In this guide, I will present three little-known concepts that have a huge impact on account performance.

I’ve been doing this for nearly 10 years, and my tips are based on how the algorithm works (and what it wants). I use these myself every day as a Pinterest Manager, both for my client’s sites and my own.

Let’s dive in and check three simple changes you can start executing on your account today!

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The ‘Secret’ Sauce to Success on Pinterest

Before we dive into the hacks, I need to emphasize that nothing new you try on Pinterest will work overnight.

Pinterest needs a lot of time, and data (pins), to understand what your content is about, so it can serve it to the right audience.

On average, it can take anywhere between three to six months to get your content ranking at the top of Pinterest search results.

These hacks should be part of your overall strategy for success on Pinterest, and not just standalone tricks you try for a few weeks.

For a more full understanding of how Pinterest algorithm works, and what delivers results in 2024, you can take my free mini course if you sing up to my newsletter below.

It’s just 5 simple emails that explain everything you need to know about driving traffic to your site with Pinterest!

3 Tried and Tested Pinterest Marketing Hacks

I call these hacks, but they are actually proven methods based on how the algorithm works.

And how do I know how the algorithm works?

Because Pinterest explains it in very technical terms, in their own engineering blog pages.

Here are three most important things you should be executing in 2024, if you want to drive traffic to your site or blog with Pinterest.

1. Interest Targeting + Keyword Targeting

In 2024, it’s not enough just to stuff keywords into your pin description and hope for the best.

Yes, you will see some pins with stuffed keywords and hashtags doing well, but that doesn’t mean you should repeat the outdated strategy from years ago.

You also need to optimize for’ interests’ to give yourself the best chance to compete for the top-ranking spots for your keywords.

What are interests?

Interests are a categorization system that Pinterest uses to understand content, so it can serve the right content to the right audience much faster and more effectively.

Well, what are you supposed to do with that?

Why not give the algorithm a little helping hand and also optimize for interests?

All you need to do is research which interest is associated with your content, and make sure it’s part of your SEO optimization strategy for Pinterest (I expand on this a bit more in my free mini course).

Below is an example of what an interest page (or topic page) looks like for our example of Broccoli Soup Recipe, with the interest categorization highlighted.

On the same page, Pinterest also shows you other interests connected with this topic, which you can use to optimize your account.

2. Use a Variety of Boards

In the same way you use interests to optimize your account, you should be very selective about what boards you use to pin your content, as it’s part of the algorithm optimization.

The algorithm looks at the relationships between the topic of the pin, and the boards to which it has been added, to form an understanding of what the content is about.

Therefore, the boards you choose should be topically very relevant to your pin and match the interest classification by Pinterest.

While group boards were a huge hit a few years ago, and a guaranteed way to get a ton of traffic from Pinterest, today they are not as effective.

In fact, they might do more harm than good, especially if they are not relevant to your niche.

So what’s this hack all about?

Let’s say you have a pin about Broccoli soup recipes.

You want to make sure to pin this image to at least 5 to 6 different boards, which are optimized for the interest of soups – as we already established in step 1.

I recommend having a broader selection of boards, and then more narrow and laser focused boards, as long as you have enough content to keep adding there.

On top of that, it’s good to mix and match the boards to which you add the content to, to test which works better with the content.

In case of the Broccoli soup recipe, I would pin this one to:

  • Broccoli Recipes
  • Cream Soup Recipes
  • Winter Soup Recipes
  • Vegetarian Soup Recipes

3. Use Ranking Colors

How does Pinterest know what content works the best and what the audience likes the most?

Well, they look for a number of things (as they explain in their engineering blogs), and among one of them is a term called ‘dominant color‘.

The main idea is that if your pin looks similar to the content that’s already ranking at the top, they’re more likely to serve it to the audience.

This is also related to the concept of optical recognition – if your pin is about Brocolli soup recipes, and your image doesn’t show broccoli or green soup, you are decreasing your chances of your content being served in the search results.

Here are two ways you can use this concept:

  • use same style image in your pin (showing same food variety etc)
  • use overlay color with the top ranking dominant color

How do you find dominant color for your search term? Check the source code of the page and search for ‘dominant_color’.

Key Takeaways

  • in 2024, it’s not enough just to research and optimize for keywords, you also need to understand interest categorization
  • carefully research the boards to which you pin the content as it has a direct impact on their chance to rank
  • familiarize yourself with the concept of dominant colors and use it in your pin design
  • as with any Pinterest related, don’t expect to see miracles overnight – changes take time!

What’s Next?

Check out my free mini course to learn even more about using Pinterest effectively in 2025 and beyond!

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Save these pins to your Pinterest board so you can find them later! While you’re there, don’t by shy and say hi to my own profile too!

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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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