The 2025 Pinterest Marketing Best Practices Benchmark Report - Part 2

Research: How to Get Popular on Pinterest in 2025 — 17 key findings about how to create viral Pins on Pinterest

Published December 9, 2024

Red circle with a white stylized "P" in the center, representing the Pinterest logo. The design is simple and bold, conveying a sense of creativity and sharing.

We just studied over 1 million Pins on Pinterest to refresh our understanding of what’s working in Pinterest marketing today. Part 1 of the study revealed the fundamentals of Pinterest best practices as a foundational understanding of the mechanics of successful Pinterest marketing — and also shares the methodology for this research. 

A key finding to carry forward from Part 1 is that viral Pins on Pinterest drive the majority of traffic and engagement across the site. 

More specifically: the top 1% most viral Pins account for over 50% of total Impressions and clicks alone — while the top 10% most viral Pins account for over 80% of all Impressions and clicks.

Chart showing that new, unique ("fresh") Pins get the majority of impressions and click engagement.

In Part 2 of the study we look into how to go viral on Pinterest by analyzing the characteristics of fresh viral Pins:

This is an incredibly juicy section of this research. It leads us toward understanding how to create fresh new Pins today to maximize marketing success on Pinterest going forward. Part 3 will build on these findings to demonstrate how Fresh Pins grow — and set a framework to benchmark success of newer content.

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#9 - Pinterest descriptions, titles, and alt text — the primary text fields of Pins

Over time, Pinterest has generally moved away from visibly featuring text-based elements on Pins such as Pin titles, descriptions, alt text, and even which Boards they were pinned to. If you’ve been using Pinterest a long time, this may be something you’ve felt intuitively but have never given much thought.

So, if Pinterest is generally not showing much of this text to Pinners, is it even important?

The answer is yes — but not necessarily in obvious ways.

Let’s dig into each key type of text field related to individual Pins (we’ll discuss Boards and profiles in part 4 of the research):

#10 - Pin titles

Pin titles are still partially visible in users’ feeds — or at least the first 35-45 characters of them. From a copywriting perspective, Pin titles are the main opportunity you have, outside of the image itself, to convince a Pinner to click into your Pin to learn more. That said, some UI treatments being tested by Pinterest recently remove Pin titles from feeds entirely, so stay tuned for potential changes.

The image shows a mobile phone displaying a keyword search list for Pinterest SEO, with phrases like "summer jewelry" and "engagement rings." The background is blue with the Tailwind logo and the text "How to rank on Pinterest with free keyword lists." A "Learn More" button is visible in the first view. The second view highlights "Unlock Pinterest SEO with Tailwind's Keyword Finder." The tone is informative and promotional.

Depending on your strategy, you may use the Pin title to surface key value propositions or benefits of your product or content, or to reinforce search keywords you’re targeting in order to maximize click through rates on search results.

Analyzing the Pin titles of the most viral Pins:

  • ~90% of the most viral Pins had Pin titles
  • ~80% of the most viral Pins included one or more target keywords in the title
    • Many also used “qualifying” keywords to accompany the target keyword; for example, if you’re targeting “chicken dinner”, qualifying keywords might include “quick”, “healthy", or “family friendly”.
  • ~60% of the most viral Pins had Pin titles of at least 25 characters

Key takeaway: Use target keywords in your Pin titles. Be intentional about which keyword(s) are most relevant to your audience.

#11 - Pin descriptions

Pin descriptions’ main use today is helping Pinterest understand your content so that it can accurately map it into the interest graph. 

Split screen of Tailwind Pinterest SEO ad. Left: Hand holds phone with keyword list. Right: Pin closeup details.

Descriptions are generally visible only after a user has enlarged your Pin - and some UX designs being tested are making font sizes on descriptions quite small to de-emphasize them even more. 

Even before these changes, descriptions are already truncated, so Pinners mostly only see the first couple lines of your descriptions. The rest is for Pinterest’s use in analyzing your content.

You can use these first couple of lines to provide more information about your Pins to “seal the deal” on the outbound click after a user has entered the Pin closeup. However, accuracy in helping Pinterest categorize your content is the bigger lever for descriptions overall.

In analyzing Pin descriptions of the most viral Pins, we found that more isn’t necessarily better. The most viral Pins tended to have shorter descriptions, averaging in the range of 220-232 characters:

Bar chart illustrating average empathy scores by income group. Gray bars represent bottom 80% to top 5%, blue bars for top 1% and 0.1%, showing a declining trend.

Why might longer Pin descriptions be bad?

Since Pinterest distributes content primarily based on topical relevance, sending mixed signals about what a Pin is about could lead to your content being ranked lower on each individual term. This could happen, for instance, if you use too many distinct keywords on a single Pin.

Instead, keep each Pin highly focused on the most relevant terms. If there are other terms you can adapt it for, make new versions of the Pin targeting those other terms. This will keep each Pin being seen by the most relevant audience possible, which will positively influence your engagement metrics - driving more distribution in turn.

Key takeaway: Keep your Pin descriptions focused. If you find yourself trying to communicate multiple ideas in one description, you’re better off breaking it out into multiple versions of the Pin.

#12 - Pinterest keywords

If Pin titles and descriptions are increasingly for Pinterest's own use in understanding and categorizing content, Pinterest keywords are even more critical to include thoughtfully. 

You’ll want to use highly relevant, consistent keywords in all text fields - Pin title, Pin description and alt text - to help Pinterest more easily learn about and categorize your Pins. This in turn helps them be added to circulation sooner after being published by the most relevant audience, which positively impacts engagement with the Pin, leading to it being shown to more people.

Feature the most important core keyword in the Pin title to avoid confusion. This is where qualifying keywords can be so useful; they add dimensions to your content, calling out important details (“gluten-free”, “sustainably sourced”, “vinyl”) and value propositions (“easy”, “cheap”, “kid-friendly”, “comfortable”) without confusing the core understanding of what your Pin represents.

Pin descriptions may have more leeway in terms of the number of keywords included.

In analyzing the most viral Pins, we saw a very wide range of keywords included in Pin descriptions --from just one or two to more than 30, but most Pin descriptions used five or fewer.

When using multiple keywords on a Pin, keep them tightly coupled, such that someone searching for one term is likely to also be interested in content about the other term(s) - AND your content is still highly relevant for all keywords used. Keyword stuffing without that tight connection of content to topic will hurt more than it helps.

Key takeaway: If you need help finding ideas for Pinterest keywords, try Tailwind’s free Pinterest keyword tool. Just enter any URL, and we’ll recommend the best match keywords from among those trending on Pinterest.

#13 - Pinterest and hashtags

Pinterest and hashtags have had a bit of a rollercoaster relationship over the years. At one point, hashtags were discouraged heavily, then pushed heavily, then just not really talked about anymore. 

The data we saw suggests it’s fine to use hashtags - and that Pinterest will see “through” hashtags to search keywords. 

19% of the most viral Pins included one or more hashtags. While we can’t say for certain what % of all Pins use hashtags, we would guess it’s lower than this, so there likely is not any penalty for using hashtags on Pinterest. On the contrary, hashtags are likely being interpreted to represent keywords, helping to classify content on the interest graph.

Of those that did, the average number of hashtags used was 7.3, but that was skewed high. Some users repeatedly used a lot of hashtags in the description (up to 30 of them!), indicating that users who lean towards using hashtags tend to use many of them. The range was once again quite broad, though: from 1 to 30 hashtags used in a description.

To give a sense of how different marketers utilize hashtags, here are some indicative Pin descriptions from different Pinners who both generated multiple viral Pins in the data set AND used hashtags consistently in their descriptions:

  1. #bathroom #interiordecor #livingroom #handmade #decor #homestyle
  2. French roll natural hair #naturalhair #naturalhaircommunity @thecrownact #naturalhairisprofessional
  3. Here are six 40' Shipping Container Home Plans that might be useful for your project: #modernarchitecture #sustainableliving #tinyhome #offthegrid #ecofriendly #minimalistdesign #shippingcontainer #innovativedesign #homeconstruction #smallspaceliving #containerhouse #containerhome
  4. #weightloss #weightlossjourney #fitness #healthylifestyle #motivation #health #healthy #workout #diet #fitnessmotivation #healthyfood #transformation #keto #bodybuilding #healthyliving #personaltrainer #lifestyle #food #weightlosstransformation #gym #fit #nutrition #fitfam #fatloss #healthyeating #exercise #slimmingworld #weightlossmotivation #fitnessjourney #training
  5. Create eye-catching apple positive negative art using our printable template. This is a fun art project to celebrate back-to-school, apples and the autumn harvest season. Kids can get creative with the patterning aspect and make the project their own #doodleart #patternart #kidsactivities
  6. Discover Idyll Collective's curated collection of modern wall art. Shop luxury fine art prints, handcrafted in the US, with a variety of designs, frames, and sizes to fit any decor. #ModernArt #WallDecor #FineArtPrints
  7. Step into Dark Fantasy ~ Transform your space with this captivating post-apocalyptic art featuring a mysterious woman with glowing eyes. Perfect for fans of gothic surrealism and cyberpunk aesthetics. Exclusive digital download available on Etsy – bring this striking piece into your home today. Don't miss out on our limited-time offer! #DarkFantasyArt #CyberpunkDecor #GothicArt
  8. Looking for fashionable yet comfortable outfits for your amusement park visit? Here are 11 ideas to inspire your look! #AmusementParkFashion #OutfitIdeas

Key takeaway: It’s ok to use hashtags in your Pin descriptions. They are likely interpreted as Search keywords specifically.

#14 - Pinterest alt text

Pinterest alt text is critical for accessibility of your content. Alt text helps users leveraging screen readers to better understand the context of your images - and the copy in alt text is accessible to Pinterest to further help categorize your content and reinforce keywords you wish to target.

While we were not able to confirm potential root causes with Pinterest directly, the study data suggests that Pins with alt text are performing meaningfully better than those without. Pins with alt text are earning 25% more Impressions, 123% more outbound clicks, and 56% more profile visits on average. 

Bar graph comparing performance of Pins with and without alt text: Impressions 125%, Saves 96%, Outbound Clicks 223%, Profile Visits 156%. Blue bars indicate performance with alt text, gray without. Tailwind logo below.

This result could be happening for multiple reasons, although we don’t know which, if any, are driving the improved performance:

  • Are Pins with alt text being intentionally exposed more to users who would benefit most from them, such as those using screen readers?
  • Are these Pins seeing higher engagement metrics vs Pins without alt text simply because the portion of the audience who values alt text engages with these Pins more?
  • Is the presence of alt text leading to certain intentional or unintentional SEO benefits, leading Pins to surface in search results more?

We hope to learn more about why this might be happening - and if it is in fact a phenomenon across all of Pinterest. For now, though, we would recommend including helpful, relevant alt text with your Pins.

If you’re unsure how to write strong alt text for your Pins, try out our free image alt text generator.

Key takeaway: Add alt text to your Pins. It’s better for Pinners who need the added context — and these audiences appear to reward Pins with alt text with stronger engagement, which has algorithmic benefits.

#15 - Scheduling Pins with Tailwind Leads to a higher share of high traffic driving Pins

Following the introduction of Idea Pins, many marketers saw their Image Pins begin to perform far worse than they were used to. The underlying cause of this was largely connected to how hard Pinterest was pushing Idea Pins.

Pinterest wanted Idea Pins, and they drove their audience aggressively toward Idea Pins as a way to incentivize Creators to invest more of their precious time in making them. This left far less audience for other Pins types - especially Image Pins, which historically made up the vast majority of Pinterest’s content corpus. 

This distribution benefit for Idea Pins wasn’t highly publicized, however, so marketers were left guessing as to why their Image Pins were now performing worse. Some started asking if scheduling Pins was hurting their performance - and if they should just Pin on Pinterest directly. The challenge with these tests was that they often covered (a) very few Pins, and (b) Image Pins being scheduled vs Idea Pins being published organically. The core issue was the change in preferred content format - but many reached the wrong conclusion not understanding that.

In the years since, Pinterest has repeatedly stated that Pins scheduled through partners were handled no differently than Pins created directly on Pinterest. 

The sunsetting of Idea Pins and timing of this study gave us the perfect opportunity to analyze if this is in fact true. 

So what did the data tell us?

Pins driving high volumes of traffic were up to 54% more likely to be published through Tailwind than to be published directly on Pinterest or through any other means.

Bar chart comparing likelihood of clicks from Tailwind. Negative 7% in red for zero clicks, increasing to 54% in green for over 1,000 clicks.

To help interpret this data: 26% of Pins studied were published through Tailwind. So 54% more likely would mean: 26% * 154% = 40% of Pins driving over 1,000 outbound clicks were published through Tailwind-- far more than the average across all Pins in the study.

Does this mean we believe that Pins scheduled through Tailwind are given some bonus by Pinterest?

No.

The stronger performance of Pins published through Tailwind is likely more driven by Tailwind users’ adherence to best practices when creating and publishing Pins. Tailwind guides users to follow best practices at every step of the Pin creation journey, so on average, Pins published by Tailwind are likely better Pins. In addition, Tailwind users learn best practices more and more over time, helping them become better Pinterest marketers.

Key takeaway: Pins scheduled and published through Tailwind outperformed Pins published by any other means, including on the key metric of Outbound Clicks.

#16 - Best Times To Post

One such best practice that Tailwind guides users towards is publishing at the best times to Pin on Pinterest. 

If you research this topic, you’ll see an echo chamber of SEO link farm content citing each other about the best times to post, generally based on small samples of Pins from years ago.

The truth is: the best time to Pin on Pinterest is not the same for each account.

The audiences that engage with different types of content are active on Pinterest at different times. And these trends change as the audience evolves.

So, we do not profess a generic “best time to post on Pinterest.” Instead, we offer a feature called SmartSchedule, which will adapt to the specific type of content your account Pins. 

Trends related to that type of content - and broader activity - are analyzed to recommend when you should be publishing. From there a SmartSchedule is built for you based on the target the number of times you want to Pin each day. 

A sample SmartSchedule:

Table showing Tailwind smart scheduling publishing times for each day of the week with varying times for early morning, midday, and night. Each day has an "Add" button.

From there, you can simply add new Pins to your queue, knowing that you are Pinning as close to the best time to post on Pinterest as possible.

Key takeaway: Tailwind’s SmartSchedule calculates the best time for YOU to post on Pinterest, not a generic answer.

#17 - Pinterest Shoppable Pins

The last key observation we want to call out from the study data about viral Pins is this:

Pins that have Pinterest’s shoppable recommendations enabled perform better than those that do not.

This may sound counterintuitive, but diving into the data demonstrates why this is the case.

Shoppable recommendations has been a controversial feature since it launched, specifically because some Pinterest marketers don’t like the idea that after doing all the work to get Pinners to view THEIR Pin, the Pinner might click on SOMEONE ELSE’S link. 

We get why that might feel off-putting.

But here’s the thing: those added links and images lead to FAR more clicks on Pins with shopping recommendations. Those clicks are engagement signals. And stronger engagement signals are rewarded by Pinterest with more distribution.

While it’s true you may lose some Pinners to others’ Pins or products, the NET BENEFIT of getting more distribution on your Pins outweighs that loss.

The core reason for this is that it’s a better experience for Pinners - and Pinners reward what works for them.

The specific stats we saw:

  • Fashion: The most viral Pins were 4x more likely to show shopping recommendations than less viral Pins.
  • Decor:  The most viral Pins were 3.5x more likely to show shopping recommendations than less viral Pins.
  • All other categories: The most viral Pins were twice as likely to show shopping recommendations than less viral Pins.

The disparity across categories here is likely driven by how often Pinterest is able to map shoppable recommendations to the content of specific types of Pins today. Fashion and Decor are perhaps easier categories to identify objects in photos, which can then be mapped to other similar products. Today, we see these two categories leading the way, but assume shopping recommendations will become more prevalent with time.

Key takeaway: Do NOT turn off the shopping recommendations on your Pins. Doing so will likely result in your Pins being see by significantly fewer people - and having a much lower chance of going viral.

That’s “ALL” we have for you today (6,270 words later…).

Come back for Part 3 of the research to learn how to benchmark new, fresh Pin performance. Given how long it takes Pins to growth into their distribution, this can be tricky. But today’s fresh Pins are tomorrow’s viral Pins on Pinterest. 


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More on our research methodology:

This study looked at data spanning over 17k Pinterest creator and business accounts and over 1.2 million Pins:

  • ~430k Pins comprise the “fresh Pin” data set, used to analyze traction and trends for new, fresh Pins created within the “last 90 days,” ending October 4, 2024. 
  • ~748k Pins comprise the “Impact Pins” data set, used to analyze which Pins drove engagement and traffic to these users’ websites during the “last 90 days” ending October 8, 2024, regardless of when the Pins were created.
  • Any Pin that had been promoted through paid ads was removed from these data sets, as paid promotion would skew the results.
  • ~26% of the Pins included in the study were published through Tailwind, while ~74% were not.

The accounts included were chosen at random from the larger universe of accounts Tailwind has permission to pull data for.

While this number of accounts and Pins is a pretty large sample size, there is certainly a likelihood of bias in the results due to the composition of Tailwind’s user base, which may not be representative of the entire Pinterest creator and business universe. For example:

  • Tailwind’s user base skews heavily towards English speakers, and is thus more concentrated in English-speaking countries
  • Tailwind is used mostly by Ecommerce sellers, service provider businesses, local small businesses and content creators

About Tailwind:


Tailwind
is a marketing software platform, trusted by over 1.5 million creators and small businesses. Tailwind was one of the first three Pinterest API developer partners ever, dating back to 2012-- before Pinterest had an official partner program. Try Tailwind’s newly updated Pinterest Scheduler for the easiest way to create, schedule and publish Pins.

2025 Pinterest Marketing Best Practices Benchmark Report