What to do when you see a drop in Pinterest Stats
First, don’t panic!
If you’re seeing a drop in Pinterest stats: impressions, saves, clicks and more there are many things that you can try.
Sometimes it’s just the platform but sometimes it can be our Pinterest strategy that is actually causing harm.
Let’s look at some of the main reasons for a drop in Pinterest stats and what we can do to stop it.
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WHAT PINTEREST STATS TO TRACK?
There are a lots of stats to track on Pinterest You will find them under ‘analytics’ on the desktop and app. I recommend looking at analytics on your desktop as this has much more detail than the app.
Some of the main analytics to focus on Pinterest are:
Impressions– this will give you an idea if your pins are being widely distributed across Pinterest.
Saves– this will give you an insight into how useful your pins are. Saves are important to Pinterest’s algorithms.
Outbound clicks– this is what we really want! Traffic to our website.
Let’s have a deeper look at these different stats on Pinterest
PINTEREST IMPRESSIONS
If pins are getting low impressions, here are some things to look at:
Does Pinterest understand the pin?
Use the ‘more like this’ function to see if Pinterest is categorising your pin with similar pins:
Things to do when Pinterest doesn’t understand a pin’s content
In the above example, Pinterest is bringing other pins up to do with ‘home office’. You can also do this in the app too. It’s a great way to see if Pinterest understands the pin. So in this case Pinterest understand what the pin is about and has it indexed correctly.
But what to do when Pinterest is showing other pins that have nothing to do with the original pin’s content? Let’s see.
If Pinterest is having trouble understanding the pin you can add more keywords to the main board(s) it is in.
Another good way to give Pinterest a nudge in the right direction is by adding high ranking pins for the main keyword to the board(s) the pin is in. This often quickly sorts the misunderstanding out.
Textual overlay can help clarify what the pin is about too. Or create a new pin with a clearer image/video. Don’t delete the old pin though.
Sometimes, though, it just takes time for Pinterest to gather information, especially if you are new to Pinterest or haven’t used it for a while.
TIPS FOR INCREASING SAVES ON PINTEREST
If your pins are getting low saves, here are some things to look at:
- Is the pin showing how it can help or inspire your audience?
- Does the pin show how it can fit into someone’s lifestyle? Can it make it better, solve a problem?
- Does it have a call to action (CTA) to save for later or similar?
Saves are an important element of Pinterest’s algorithms. Increasing saves is an important part of a good Pinterest strategy.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that people using Pinterest are typically planners. So they will save pins long before they act.
A good example of this is planning for an event like Christmas. Christmas searches begin very early on Pinterest, and using a tool like Trends can help you plan your strategy.
Saves are now even more important on Pinterest, read on to find out a very important update below.
TIPS FOR INCREASING OUTBOUND CLICKS
In the above example, Pinterest is bringing other pins up to do with ‘home office’. You can also do this in the app too. It’s a great way to see if Pinterest understands the pin. So in this case Pinterest understand what the pin is about and has it indexed correctly.
But what to do when Pinterest is showing other pins that have nothing to do with the original pin’s content? Let’s see.
If Pinterest is having trouble understanding the pin you can add more keywords to the main board(s) it is in.
Another good way to give Pinterest a nudge in the right direction is by adding high ranking pins for the main keyword to the board(s) the pin is in. This often quickly sorts the misunderstanding out.
Textual overlay can help clarify what the pin is about too. Or create a new pin with a clearer image/video. Don’t delete the old pin though.
Sometimes, though, it just takes time for Pinterest to gather information, especially if you are new to Pinterest or haven’t used it for a while.
USING SEASONALITY & TRENDS ON PINTEREST
Using trends and seasonal events are great ways to keep your pins relevant. If your business might have natural low seasons on Pinterest- typically summer can be low for many as we’re outside enjoying the weather.
But if you run a niche site about BBQ recipes this is your time to shine!
PINTEREST TRENDS TOOL
Pinterest have a great Trends tool:
You can use this to plan content for your website and even other platforms too. An example I regularly use to help you understand how to apply seasons or trends to your content/products is imagine that you’re a baker and you have an amazing vanilla sponge cake recipe, everyone loves it. That can be a great ‘evergreen’ search but if you add trends or seasons to it you can make it even more relevant, for example:
- Turn it into a Christmas cake by adding cute Christmas forest scene on it
- Make a baking tutorial to keep kids busy during the summer holidays
- Make it a Galentine’s cake
- And so on
This isn’t going to work with all niches, but with a bit of imagination you can apply it to pretty much anything.
A CHANGE IN THE PINTEREST ALGORITHM (2024)
A recent comment from Pinterest has confirmed that there has been a change in their algorithm(s).
Saves have always been an important factor in a successful Pinterest strategy and it seems Pinterest are now leaning even more into saves.
Pinterest say:
“We made updates to how we recommend Pins to ensure users see content that they may find most engaging and useful. Some of these changes, while anticipated to drive growth in your long-term engagement and metrics, may result in a decrease in impressions for Pins in the short term and thus want to give you visibility into these changes:
- Inspirational engagement. The best way to build an audience on Pinterest is by publishing ideas worth saving. To underscore Pinterest’s longstanding value as a visual platform with saveable, inspiring ideas, we will be increasingly prioritizing content that generates saves and engagement that inspires Pinners.
- Mix your content. Now, we want to open up the lens of creation and invite you to consider Pins as part of your broader content mix on Pinterest, inclusive of standard image Pins, Pins with links and Pins of all aspect ratios. We believe that this shift will in the longer term help you grow your unique audience on Pinterest and result in a more inspiring, positive platform for all.” (read the full comment from Pinterest about the drop in impressions from Pinterest here).
OTHER THINGS THAT IMPACT PINTEREST STATS
Sometimes though, even with the best strategy, things are just out of our control. Glitches happen, a spam filter going haywire and deactivating 1000s of accounts happens (this happened a couple of years ago) and then there are other things I bet you never even considered, I certainly didn’t until I found out!
Some other things that impact Pinterest are (we know this because Pinterest mention them in their updates to stockholders):
- Google updates (of which there have been many lately!). Google sends a lot of traffic to Pinterest. Your pins/boards can rank on Pinterest for search terms. Algorithm updates, and other reasons, impact traffic and your stats.
- Facebook login changes– using Facebook to login to Pinterest is a quick and easy way that many people use and changes to this impacts Pinterest activity. Pinterest said changes Facebook made a couple of years ago had a big impact on users (I don’t know if anything like this has happened recently but it’s still worth bearing in mind).
- Changes to the platform including algorithm changes, new features and backend updates etc. These always have ripple effects, some big, some small.
There are probably many many more reasons that we have no idea about. Same with Instagram, Facebook and so on. This is why it’s a great idea to have your own space online (a website) and diversify your traffic sources and places to be visible and connect with your people.
What I really want you to take away from this is that sometimes things are out of our control. It doesn’t mean your products aren’t good, or that your services aren’t wanted (although it could be!) or the numerous other negative things that run through your mind.
We cannot control other platforms, but we can adhere to best practices, create a strategy bespoke to you and your business, and have a strong understanding of your audience/customers.
I have said it before but it’s always worth repeating: put your audience first. This will always keep you right, always. Platforms change, tactics change but understanding how your products, content, and services help your audience are the backbone of your business.
TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL PINTEREST STRATEGY- a quick overview
There are a lot of moving parts for success on Pinterest. The strategy will change depending on the type of business too.
There are, however, some key things to include in your winning Pinterest strategy, they are:
- Pinterest SEO– knowing how people search on Pinterest is one of the fundamentals of a strong Pinterest strategy. Finding keywords and knowing how to use them will greatly boost your pins, read this post on Pinterest SEO to get your started.
- Create relevant, eye-catching pins– this can take a lot of testing! But creating pin imagery that attracts your audience is one of the basics of a good strategy. Pinterest allows for a lot of play and testing, try different photo styles (lifestyle typically converts well), use your branding, add textual overlay. Read more about Pinterest pin best practices here. (I will also do more in depth post about it soon too)
- Share to Pinterest regularly– consistency will help Pinterest get to know your content and help build your visibility and traffic. How often you should pin is entirely down to you, they key thing is to make your pin count. Make sure it is optimised with keywords, good imagery and so on. Read more about pinning to Pinterest here.