Thursday Press #141: what tf is going on with Pinterest?

[18 JUL 2024] updates, glitches, & what to do about them

Someone tell Pinterest to get with the summer fun program, because instead of taking it chill and easy, they've been switching some things around lately!

and by switches, I really mean glitches 😵‍💫

As I was updating my clients' analytics reports at the beginning of the month, there were a lot of things on my mind to keep you in the loop on, but we were smack dab in the middle of that email list growth series!

So now, only a few weeks later (but with more insight!), it's time for a good old-fashioned update on what's going on in Pinterest-land!

If you've noticed your stats trending downwards or you're just curious about what everyone's favorite search-engine-social-media hybrid platform is up to, this one's for you…

Pinterest Updates + Glitches: Summer 2024

First up, the Pinterest updates:

Pinterest has been rolling out a new desktop layout when you click on an individual pin and, safe to say…

I HATE it.

It's cluttered, distracting, and messy. So why are they testing this out?

Ad revenue.

If there's one thing Pinterest is going to do, it's going to shove ads in your face 🙃

Lots of users have been noticing an increase in ads on their scroll, and while this is great for advertisers on Pinterest, it's not so good for user experience. 

I imagine they're eventually going to have to rein in the ad distribution a bit.

What It Means for You:

Not much, TBH.

The majority of Pinterest users are on mobile, so this new view won't impact them. Everyone is pretty equally annoyed by the amount of ads, but there's also not much we can do about it except hold on tight.

Another new Pinterest feature is the ability to share your boards as a video to other social platforms.

I'll be honest, I haven't even tried this new feature, but @leveeroadstudio demo'd what it looks like in her reel here.

It seems like Pinterest is trying to play a bit "nicer" with other social media platforms and encourage cross-platform content creation/consumption, especially with re-introducing the ability to claim your Instagram profile.

What It Means for You:

If you want to share a mood board for an upcoming project you're working on, this is a fun and easy way to do it. Otherwise, don't worry about it!

While this built-in feature is fun and could help encourage your audiences on other platforms to engage on Pinterest, I don't see myself or my clients using this in the future.

🚨 Pinterest Glitch!

Surprise surprise, Pinterest f*cked with their ranking algorithm again.

Sorry, I mean — Pinterest broke something while updating something else.

(Can you tell I'm a little jaded?)

Long story short, there are a lot of search terms that don't pull up results as expected.

For these glitched keywords, the algorithm seems to disproportionately favor the recency of pins as opposed to other, more traditionally heavily weighted ranking factors like saves, clicks, etc.

Imagine if Instagram brought back the chronological feed again, except it's hundreds of meh-quality product pins.

What It Means for You:

If you've had pins that rank highly in any of the searches that are glitched, you are probably seeing lower traffic, impressions, saves... all of it.

It isn't uncommon, and there also isn't much you can actually do about it.

Identifying the keywords that are glitched can be tricky, but I know it's primarily affecting the fashion niches, where the search results look like just a lot of product pins.

Compare this to the search results below, which is more what I might expect… Full outfits, real creators, even a flat-lay or two.

The reason this is so obvious is because 1) there's so much fashion content, so it's more evident, and 2) Catalogs on Pinterest are ingested every 24 hours, so there's TONS of new product pins to display for these glitched keywords.

So, what do you do about it?

If you suspect this recency glitch is affecting you, see if you can dig around and find any other keywords that aren't glitched that you could position the same content towards.

Otherwise, once again, it's about hanging on tight and waiting for things to right themselves.

Just because you're seeing lower stats than normal doesn't automatically mean you're experiencing a glitch, however.

There are lots of very normal, very expected reasons your Pinterest stats could be dropping.

One of those reasons is that for most users in the Northern Hemisphere, they've got kids at home, vacations to go on, and they're spending less time on their phone.

Less user activity = less eyes and engagement on your content.

This week's blog post is all about reasons just like that and what to actually do about it.

Why Your Pinterest Views are Dropping

Nearly every week, I'm reminded of the complexities of running a business that depends on a single platform.

It's not something that stresses me out or that I'm even inclined to think about most days, but if you, like me, have a business that primarily deals with one software or app or platform, you know the kind of codependent, not-exactly-symbiotic relationship you form with it.

I love Pinterest.

And I acknowledge that sometimes they do stupid things. (Or things that I just don't like.)

Can I blame them though? They're just trying to make money, the same as us.

At the end of the day, being able to flex with the changes, whether that's personal, national, global, or platform-wide, is an essential part of having a sustainable marketing strategy.

So despite the updates and the glitches, I'm gonna keep on keepin' on. And I encourage you to do the same!