How long does it take to grow a new Pinterest account?
This can be a pretty loaded question mainly because there are 1,000’s of Pinterest Marketers out there who would all answer this VERY differently.
Especially if they are trying to sell you something and promising you Pinterest will bring your website 1,000,000’s of page views overnight. Sadly this is something I see more often than not.
Heck yes, Pinterest can drive you 1,000’s of daily pageviews; Pinterest is my primary source of website traffic (roughly 80% of it comes from the platform). Sending me about 80,000+ views to my website each month, but sorry to break it to you, sis, that doesn’t happen as fast as some make it seem.
Then, when you have someone like me who likes to give logical, honest, and upfront answers to my clients AND students, I tend to get that eye roll and a reply like, “Well, so and so said this.”
It’s hard in this online industry, especially when it comes to marketing and false promises. So I am here today to give you very realistic expectations for getting a brand spanking new Pinterest account off the ground!
Pinterest is a search engine. Plain and simple.
It’s a pretty awesome visual search engine where you come to get inspiration, ideas, recipes, tutorials, and you can even shop.
Pinterest is the 14th largest platform in the WORLD right now. Meaning MILLIONS of users come to Pinterest each day to browse or search for something specific, thus making it a gold mine for driving FREE traffic to your website or online business.
Every search engine has an algorithm. Pinterest’s algorithm is called their “smart feed.” The content that appears in your smart feed on Pinterest appears there for a couple of different reasons.
- Content YOU have been searching for. Pinterest will show you pins based on what you are currently searching for or what you have been searching for recently. Suggestions they think you may also like.
- Content YOU have been engaging with, clicking on, saving, shopping, etc. The more you engage with specific content, the more other content relevant to those keywords will appear in your smart feed.
But, how are those specific pins appearing in your searches?
There are 4 MAIN factors that will determine if a pin appears in a smart feed:
- Domain quality
- Pin quality
- Pinner quality
- Topic relevance
Let’s chat about those super quick.
Domain Quality. Just like Google or any other search engine Pinterest scores your domain quality. Their perception of the quality of your website. To put it in layman’s terms, Pinterest looks to see if people care enough about your content to save pins or images DIRECTLY from your website.
Pin Quality. It is how popular, and current a specific pin is. So the more engagement your pin gets, the higher quality it is and the more searches it will appear in.
Pinner Quality. Is a scoring Pinterest calculates for evaluating you as a blogger, pinner, and content creator? Or what many like to refer to as a “Confidence score” You can read more on that here. How consistent are you as a pinner? Are you pinning PROPERLY? Are you using proper SEO and creating relevant content?
Topic Relevance. Think of topic relevance as telling Pinterest what your pins are about. Use the right KEYWORDS relevant to your blog, business, Pinterest boards, and website.
Pinterest pays attention to the keywords you are using, optimizing them CORRECTLY, and if that relevant pin is also being pinned to a relevant board. Proper SEO is king here.
Now let’s chat about how long (and what it takes) for these four factors to work, and for your content to start appearing in searches.
I mean, that is why you are reading this post, right?
Let me preface this with a quick note: No Pinterest account is made equal. Meaning, TRY your VERY best not to get hung up on bloggers who tell you to pin a specific way to see millions of pageviews. And yes, there are THOUSANDS of pins out there JUST like these, and they MAKE ME CRINGE. A quick search on “how to increase your blog traffic with Pinterest” brought up 100’s of these types of pins. Which shows you how much FALSE info is out there. And sheds a light on the unrealistic expectations many are setting when it comes to Pinterest Marketing.
The age of an account plays a VERY LARGE role in how content ranks. A huge role. So sure, Susan over here can tell you how she got 9 trillion page views from Pinterest, BUT she also has a 7-year-old Pinterest account. And a vastly different niche AND audience than you. And I can PROMISE that growth did not happen overnight. She has pins that are 5+ YEARS OLD, which are probably bringing her 500+ views to her site daily.
This is why I truly feel so many users get discouraged right off the bat from false promises and blog posts like Susans.
Okay, let’s regroup.
Domain quality. Yes, you may have a KILLER website with unique images on it. But, if you are brand new to the Pinterest platform, Pinterest doesn’t know this yet. Your website has not been claimed, and active long enough on Pinterest for user’s to start saving from it.
The longer you are on Pinterest, the more you are sharing pins and bringing new users to your site, the more they will start saving images from your site. Showing Pinterest you have a quality domain!
Pin Quality. Since your account is so new, you aren’t going to have any pins that are trending yet. Sure, they may be getting a click, and a save here and there, but you haven’t been on the platform long enough to have content trend just yet.
Pinner Quality. Your confidence score is low; it always starts out that way. You are new, and yes, you may be pinning fresh new images daily, but with your account being under 6 months old, Pinterest still doesn’t have a good handle on you as a pinner just yet.
Topic Relevance. Yes, you are creating content relevant to your blog or business. You are even pinning to relevant boards. But again, that specific content has not circulated long enough and hasn’t been pinned enough by OTHER users to rank high under specific topics. YET.
The main takeaway is this…
For an account to be considered “established” on Pinterest, it has to be at LEAST 6 months old, probably even closer to 8.
And the length of the time your account is on the platform will not help it become established unless you are pinning correctly and consistently.
Consistency is the KEY factor for steady growth and traffic. Even if your new pins are only getting 10-20 impressions a pin, that does not mean they won’t get engagement. 5-10 outbound clicks would send your pin views into the THOUSANDS back in the day.
That isn’t the case anymore. However, engagement is engagement. And whether it’s an outbound click, a close-up click, a save, a comment, or a reaction, everything adds up.
Here are pin’s from a new client’s account. We started him a BRAND new account after the old account he took over was shadowbanned. This account is less than two months old, and some of his pins are getting 20+ outbound clicks, which is what we want, traffic. So, yes, the pin impressions are lower, and that’s 100% normal. But, it shows what proper pinning and account setup can do for you, even with a new account.
We are consistent; we pin fresh NEW pin images daily, pins that are relevant to his niche and website.
So try not to be too hard on yourself if you are not seeing the millions of overnight page views. That is NOT normal. No matter WHAT you have read.
- Stay consistent
- Create relevant content your desired audience would benefit from
- Do your keyword research.
- User proper SEO
- Be SURE you are up-to-date with current best practices and guidelines. I can NOT stress this enough. Pinning with outdated information will get your account shadowbanned or shut down.
Pinterest can be a traffic powerhouse if you use it properly and have a little patience! I can 100% promise you that! But know, it will take 6+ months of consistency and proper pinning to see steady growth!
But once you get there, it will be worth it!
If you want to learn more about Pinterest marketing and how to use the platform correctly, click HERE!
As always,
Happy Pinning!
Xo Megan
