How To Sell on Pinterest: Complete 2026 Guide

Pinterest is a visual search and discovery platform where people save ideas to boards and shop the products they find. That makes it a useful channel for store owners looking to reach shoppers who are already searching for what to buy.

Each year, Pinterest’s trend experts analyze billions of searches to spot emerging trends for the Pinterest Predicts report. According to Pinterest, 88% of their predicted trends over the past six years have come true.

Pinterest has a large shopping audience. With 640 million monthly active users, more than half of them think of it as a place to shop. Gen Z is the platform’s fastest-growing audience, and their top reason for using Pinterest is to look up products and brands.

Here’s how to sell on Pinterest, sync your online store, and make the most of the platform’s shopping features.

Why sell products on Pinterest?

Pinterest is an ideal platform for selling products online for a few important reasons:

Pinterest shopping statistics and user behavior

Pinterest users save 1.5 billion pins every week, and many of them come across something new while they’re at it. According to Pinterest, 71% of users say the platform helps them discover products and ideas they wouldn’t normally find.

Pinterest’s audience includes higher-income shoppers. The platform reaches 40% of US households earning more than $150,000 a year.

Top searches on Pinterest rarely include a brand name. In fact, Pinterest reports that 96% of them are unbranded, which it reads as a sign that Pinners are open to new ideas.

Pinterest is a product discovery channel

Eighty percent of weekly Pinners are inspired by the shopping experience on Pinterest. Brands that display their products with the right targeting can reach eager buyers. When users click on Pinterest’s search bar, popular and tailored search ideas help them discover new products faster:

It has a distinct audience

Pinterest’s primary audience skews young and female. Globally, 70% of Pinterest’s audience is women and 30% is men. The platform’s fastest-growing group, Gen Z, searches and saves more than any other generation on Pinterest.

In the US, Pinterest reaches 46% of people ages 18 to 24, 40% of people ages 25 to 34, and 39% of people ages 35 to 44. Demographics differ by country, so check the data for each of your sales markets. The Pinterest Trends tool lets you filter by region and demographic to see what your audience searches for.

Pinterest has paid ads

Adding Pinterest ads to your paid social media marketing strategy targets your Pinterest marketing efforts even more. You can target people by audience segmentation, using demographics, interests, and keywords. Or, turn on auto-targeting and let Pinterest show your ads to people it predicts will like them.

Access robust audience insights

Pinterest provides clear and detailed insights about your audience with Pinterest Analytics, which helps you understand what content performs well, who’s interested in your brand, and what else they’re interested in. Explore your account’s audience for a breakdown of Pinterest demographics, including location, gender, and age.

Pinterest shop features and capabilities

Businesses with a Pinterest business account can use Catalogs to upload their whole product range at once. Pinterest turns each item into a product pin, a shoppable pin that shows accurate product details like price and availability.

If you link a hosted product feed, Pinterest pulls updates from it every 24 hours, so your pins stay up to date. You can also sort catalog products into groups and promote them as shopping ads, which isn’t possible with product pins added any other way.

Another option is Pinterest Try On, which uses augmented reality (AR) to let shoppers “try on” products before buying, known as AR shopping.

Pinterest integrates with your other channels

Connect your Shopify store to Pinterest to publish pins, sync product catalogs and inventory data, run ads, and track your store’s performance. The Pinterest Shopify app is free and quick to install.

Stay on top of emerging trends

Each year, Pinterest publishes Pinterest Predicts, a report on the trends it expects to take off in the year ahead. The 2026 edition covers 21 emerging trends across categories like fashion, décor, food, and beauty.

According to Pinterest, trends that start on the platform last nearly twice as long as trends elsewhere online. Checkouts on content related to the 2025 predictions also rose 68% year over year.

To see what’s rising in your category, browse the full report, then use the Pinterest Trends tool to filter searches by region and demographic.

How to set up a Pinterest business account

To start selling on Pinterest, you’ll need a free business account. It gives you access to Pinterest Analytics and the Pinterest Business Hub, and lets you run ads and upload ecommerce product catalogs.

There are two ways to get a business account:

• Create a new business account
• Convert your personal account to a business account

If you’d rather keep your personal account separate, you can also connect it to a new business account and switch between the two.

Create an account from scratch

You’ll need an email address that isn’t already used on another Pinterest account. For now, Pinterest only lets you create a new business account on the desktop site. To set one up:

1. Go to pinterest.com. If you’re logged in to an existing account, log out first.
2. Click “Sign up” at the top right of the screen.
3. Click “Create a business account.”
4. Enter your email, create a password, and enter your age.
5. Click “Create account.”
6. Fill out the “Build your profile” and “Describe your business” fields, clicking “Next” after each.
7. Choose whether you want to run ads, then click “Next.”
8. Pick where you’d like to start, or close the window to go to your new account.

Connect a business account to your personal account

Pinterest no longer lets you link a business account to a personal one. Instead, create a new business account with a different email using the steps above, then connect the two:

1. Log in to your personal account.
2. Click the arrow-down icon in the top right corner.
3. Select “Add Pinterest account.”
4. Under “Existing account,” click “Connect account.”
5. Log in to your business account.

To switch accounts, click the arrow-down icon and choose an account under “Your accounts.” You’ll stay connected as long as you use the same browser session.

Convert your personal account to a business account

Converting your personal account keeps your existing pins and followers. Business accounts are public, so you’ll need to switch a private account to public first. If your personal account is linked to another Pinterest account, unlink it before you start.

To convert on desktop:

1. Log in to your personal account.
2. Click the more options icon at the bottom left of the screen, then select “Settings.”
3. Click “Account management.”
4. Under “Convert to a business account,” click “Convert account,” then click “Convert account” again to confirm.
5. Fill out the “Build your profile” and “Describe your business” fields, clicking “Next” after each.
6. Choose whether you want to run ads, then click “Next.”

You can switch back to a personal account at any time.

How to get started selling on Pinterest

When someone wants to buy a product they find on Pinterest, the product pin sends them to your online store to complete the purchase. That means shoppers need to be able to buy your products directly from your website before you can add product pins.

Pinterest shop setup options

Here are the main ways to get your products onto Pinterest.

Product catalogs

Catalogs let you upload your whole product range to Pinterest as product pins.

If you sell on Shopify, the Pinterest app for Shopify handles the setup for you. It claims your website on Pinterest, installs the Pinterest tag, and connects your Shopify product feed, then updates your catalog automatically every day. Larger retailers can also use the Pinterest API to create and manage catalogs, which requires a bit of technical expertise.

Product tagging in pins

Tag specific products in lifestyle images or videos so people can click through and shop what they see. Use it to show products in real-life settings, like a styled outfit or a decorated room.

Rich pins

Rich pins pull product information like price, availability, and descriptions from your website. They don’t update instantly. Pinterest syncs them periodically, and changes on your site can take up to 24 hours to appear. Rich pins also can’t be promoted as shopping ads, because only product pins created with Catalogs can.

Pinterest shopping ads

Promote your catalog’s product pins to reach new audiences, retarget interested users, and drive traffic to your site.

How to sell on Pinterest with Shopify

Link your Shopify store with Pinterest to promote your products directly. While you can manually add the Pinterest tag to Shopify, as described above, using the Shopify Pinterest integration is a simpler approach.

The Pinterest Shopify app simplifies syncing your online store and inventory with your Pinterest account. Using this integration, you can quickly publish product pins, create ads with a free credit, and track performance with the Pinterest tag. Your product catalog will automatically update as you add or remove products from your website.

To connect: Go to the Shopify App Store and find the Pinterest Shopify app. Click “Install” and follow the prompts to set up the integration.

Alternative monetization methods

Pinterest’s store options aren’t the only ways to make money through the platform. Here are some additional ways you can turn your pins into profit.

Pinterest Inclusion Fund

The Pinterest Inclusion Fund is an incubator program for emerging creators who are new to Pinterest and already active on other platforms. Accepted creators get personalized education, dedicated time with Pinterest and industry experts, and financial support for content creation. Participants who show strong engagement and growth can also be invited to join the Pinterest Creator Community when they graduate.

To be eligible, creators must:

• Be legal residents of the US (including Washington, D.C.) and 18 or older
• Share content on at least two other social media platforms
• Create content in fashion, beauty, or lifestyle categories, such as home, travel, or gaming
• Create content that supports Pinterest’s inclusive features, like skin tone and body type ranges
• Commit to attending program sessions and office hours

Pinterest announces new application periods through its creator newsletter.

Affiliate marketing

You can add affiliate links to your Pins and earn a commission when someone clicks through and buys. Pinterest’s affiliate guidelines ask you to be transparent about the commercial nature of your content and to use affiliate links in moderation.

Brand partnerships and sponsored pins

Brands can pay creators to feature their products in Pins. Pinterest requires every paid partnership to include a clear disclosure, either a hashtag like #ad or a label added with Pinterest’s paid partnership tool.

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also has disclosure rules for influencers. They apply whenever you get something of value from a brand, including free products. Place the disclosure with the endorsement itself, in plain words like “ad” or “sponsored,” and don’t bury it among other hashtags. For video pins, include the disclosure in the video and in the description.

Digital products and services

Pinterest can drive traffic to digital offers like online courses, memberships, templates, or professional services. To sell downloadable files like ebooks, PDFs, or digital art from your Shopify store, install the free Shopify Digital Products app. It lets you attach files or links to new or existing products and sends customers access links after they buy.

Tip jar or creator support tools

If you regularly post free content, consider linking to a tip jar like Buy Me a Coffee or Ko-fi, or adding a “support me” link to your profile.

9 best practices for selling on Pinterest

1. Brand your Pinterest account
2. Focus on high-quality visuals and content
3. Use Pinterest catalogs
4. Organize content into Pinterest boards
5. Use rich pins
6. Explore pin formats
7. Master Pinterest SEO
8. Try Pinterest Ads
9. Leverage user-generated content and influencers

Ready to make your first sale on Pinterest? Here are some tips to help you make the most of your Pinterest account and reach your target audience.

1. Brand your Pinterest account

Treat your Pinterest profile as you would any other place your brand shows up. Be sure your bio, username, business name, and avatar follow your brand guidelines and accurately describe your business.

These steps legitimize your business and help you earn confidence with Pinterest users looking for a product like yours. This example from Bushbalm uses clear, engaging copy and visuals to instantly show a visitor what the brand is about.

Verify your business profile

Pinterest’s Verified Merchant Program gives vetted brands a blue checkmark on their profile and pins. Verified merchants can also add merchant details to show the values and communities their brand represents. There’s no application and Pinterest verifies you automatically once you meet its requirements.

First, you’ll need to be an approved merchant, which means claiming and verifying your domain and adding your catalog. From there, you’ll need:

• A business account that’s at least three months old, with a profile picture and a completed About section.
• A website that’s at least nine months old, claimed by your Pinterest account, and in line with Pinterest’s merchant guidelines.
• A catalog where at least 75% of products have been ingested successfully.
• A conversion source, like the Pinterest tag, that has sent page visit, add-to-cart, and checkout events at least once every seven days for the past 30 days.

Note that if your account stops meeting these requirements, Pinterest suspends your verified status and gives you 30 days to fix the issues.

Doe Lashes is an example of a verified merchant on Pinterest.

2. Focus on high-quality visuals and content

Pinterest is a visual search engine, which means high-quality product visuals, like photography, video, and graphics, are essential for this digital marketing and sales channel.

Pinterest recommends the following for pin creative:

• Vertical images work best at a 2:3 aspect ratio, ideally 1,000 pixels by 1,500 pixels.
• Include your logo or other brand signals (this is especially important on Pinterest Ads).
• Add a caption, call to action, and link to every pin.

Succeeding on Pinterest demands a creative and visually appealing approach, even if your products aren’t visual. Users build boards around moods and aesthetics, so make sure your visual content is inspiring rather than overly salesy.

For example, Caraway includes products in an aspirational lifestyle photo that could live on any dream kitchen board.

3. Use Pinterest catalogs

Pinterest catalogs are the platform’s main shopping feature. Catalogs let you upload your store’s products into pins along with pricing, availability, and a direct link to buy. These are called product pins.

Product pins also get priority placement at the top of searches. In this sample search for “running shoes,” you can see a row of product pins labelled “Shop running shoes” above the rest of the results.

How to qualify for Pinterest catalogs

Pinterest catalogs are available to business accounts with a claimed website and business practices that meet Pinterest’s requirements. This includes a compatible shipping policy, return policy, and accessible contact information. You also need a data source for your products. If you’re a Shopify merchant, this is your Shopify store.

4. Organize content into Pinterest boards

Pinterest boards function like folders or categories for your collection of created and curated pins. Organize your boards so users can easily browse and engage with your content. Boards can also boost your visibility in search if you optimize them for search terms, called keywords, relevant to your brand (more on that later).

Here’s a sample of boards by Le Creuset. They include educational content like recipe ideas, as well as brand-relevant content, like how to properly care for Le Creuset products.

Tip: Move pins between boards using the bulk organizing feature in Pinterest. This is an efficient way for busy business owners to manage multiple pins at once, especially useful for marketing campaigns, promos, and seasonal collections.

5. Use rich pins

Rich pins automatically sync with your website’s content data, then display that information for users. There are three types of rich pins:

• Article pins. Article pins include the headline or title, description, and author of the article or blog post.
• Product pins. Product pins include pricing, availability, and product information.
• Recipe pins. Recipe pins include the title, serving size, cook time, ratings, diet preference, and ingredients.

While you’ve already learned about the benefits of product pins earlier in this article, other types of rich pins can strengthen your social marketing strategy. For example, food brands can engage and inspire potential customers by posting recipes that feature their product.

Rich pins are especially valuable because they update automatically. If you update the information on your website, the changes appear in your rich pins too.

6. Explore pin formats

Collections pins group related products together. When a user clicks on a pin in a collection, they can easily shop for similar or related products from your store. This is a great way to introduce Pinners to your brand. You can also promote collections pins and convert them to a collections ad.

Try on product pins use augmented reality (AR) technology to let Pinterest users virtually “try on” products directly on the platform. To use this feature, you must have an enabled business account and catalogs. It currently isn’t available in all markets.

Video pins can help bring your brand to life. As with other social media platforms, video is an increasingly popular format on Pinterest. Rather than reusing your TikTok marketing strategy, experiment with video content and discover what resonates most with your audience.

Shop the look pins

Instead of showing just one item, “shop the look” pins let you tag multiple products in a single image, so users can shop an entire look at once.

For example, if you post a pin of someone modeling an outfit, you can tag the shirt, trousers, shoes, and bag. When someone clicks, they’ll see all the individual items laid out, with links to buy each one.

Collections ads

Collections Pins and ads show one main image or video, called the hero creative, above three smaller images in mobile feeds. You can add up to 24 secondary images, and all of them need the same square (1:1) or vertical (2:3) shape. Use collections to group related products under a theme, like “Summer Essentials” or “Gift Ideas Under $50.”

Pinterest also has max width collections ads, where the hero image creative spans the full width of the mobile feed with 4 to 24 secondary pins beneath it. You can build one by uploading a hero creative and tagging the secondary pins yourself, or create one automatically from your catalog.

7. Master Pinterest SEO

Pinterest is a visual search and discovery platform, and people use its search bar to look for ideas and products. Search engine optimization (SEO) on Pinterest means using the words people search for in your pin titles, descriptions, and board names.

This helps your content match what they’re looking for, so the Pinterest algorithm surfaces it to them. Here’s how to find the right keywords and where to use them.

Pinterest keyword research

Pinterest has its own tools to help you with keyword research, and the Pinterest Trends tool is a good place to start.

Log in to your business account, click the menu icon at the top left, and select Pinterest Trends under Analyze performance. Choose your region, then enter a keyword to see how its search interest has changed over the past two years, along with the age and gender of the people searching for it.

You can compare up to four keywords at once and browse related trends to find new terms. The Search trends view also shows whether a trend is seasonal, plus its weekly, monthly, and yearly change, which helps you time seasonal pins. If your audience is large enough, Pinterest also shows growing trends among your own followers and engaged users.

If you run ads, you can find more keyword ideas in Ads Manager. When you set up keyword targeting for an ad group, the Add keywords panel lets you search for related keywords and add the ones that fit your products.

To find words and phrases relevant to your products, try the Pinterest search bar too. As you type, it suggests related searches, which can give you ideas for long-tail keywords and SEO for niche markets.

Optimizing pins for search

Once you’ve chosen your keywords, it’s time to put them into action. Take a look at what types of content people are looking for on Pinterest by reviewing top search results. This guides you in choosing the best images to attract your audience.

You can then optimize:

• Pin titles. Keep titles clear, descriptive, and keyword rich. Think like a user. For example, instead of “my latest blog post,” try something specific, like “10 easy weeknight dinners under 30 minutes.”
• Descriptions. You’ve got up to 500 characters, so make the most of them. Include your primary keywords naturally, along with context.
• Alt text. Though not visible publicly, alt text significantly boosts web accessibility and SEO. Use it to describe what’s visually in the pin.
• Board titles and descriptions. Make sure your boards are clearly named and add keyword-rich descriptions to help Pinterest understand the type of content you’re sharing.
• Image file names. If you’re uploading custom graphics or photos, rename the file before you upload it (e.g. “boho-bedroom-inspiration.jpg” instead of “IMG_4482.jpg”).

See how Pair Eyewear uses descriptive text and keywords to optimize its pins:

“Pinterest is this strangely powerful hidden tool that I don’t think a lot of people are using,” says Dan Blacklock, founder of BoxKing (formerly BoxThrone). “When you do a Google image search, a good 20% of the photos that show up are from Pinterest, at least from my product. That matters a lot in SEO.”

8. Try Pinterest ads

Pinterest ads are available to business accounts. There are several types you can use, depending on your content, products, and goals:

• Promoted Pins look like regular Pins but include a “Promoted by” tag above your username.
• Showcase ads are carousels that let you display multiple images, each linking to a different page on your website.
• Quiz ads let you poll your audience within the Pin and send people to different pages depending on their answers.
• Shopping ads promote products from your catalog and can be formatted as a static image, video, or collections ad.
• Premiere spotlight ads show edge-to-edge video in search and home feeds on mobile.

When you create a campaign, you can target people by demographics, location, interests, and keywords. This is known as ecommerce customer segmentation.

You can also upload a customer list of email addresses to reach your existing customers on Pinterest. Only upload a list if your customers have given permission for their information to be used for advertising, and follow the privacy laws and data compliance rules that apply to you and your customers, like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act.

Pinterest also says not to upload lists that include anyone who has opted out of targeted advertising, or lists based on activity from an app or website on an iOS device.

Before you upload, review Pinterest’s Ad Data Terms and Advertising Guidelines. To get started with ads, click the menu icon at the top left of your business account, then select Create campaign under Manage campaigns.

9. Leverage user-generated content and influencers

Your customers may already be creating Pinterest-ready content for you. With their permission, re-share real customer photos of your products to add fresh visuals to your boards. Known as user-generated content (UGC), it can be highly effective as authentic testimonials and social proof.

You can also partner with creators. Look for people whose style and audience match your brand and who already post on Pinterest, then work with them on tutorials, hauls, or styling guides.

If you sell on Shopify, Shopify Collabs lets you run creator partnerships and affiliate marketing sales from your Shopify admin. You can search creator profiles in the app or invite creators you already know, send them gifts and samples, and create affiliate links and codes for them to share. Collabs tracks the sales and commissions each creator drives, and it can pay commissions automatically.

When a creator publishes a sponsored pin for you, they should label it with Pinterest’s paid partnership tool. The creator adds the label and tags your brand when they create the pin in the Pinterest app. You’ll get an email asking you to approve the tag, and once you do, your brand name appears alongside the label. Labeled pins can also be promoted as Idea ads with paid partnership, but only the brand can promote them, not the creator.

Track and analyze Pinterest performance

Pinterest Analytics provides valuable insights into how your account, pins, and ads are performing. You can also view specific metrics for your product pins.

Pinterest’s analytics let you switch between organic and promoted content to measure results separately. Various filters allow you to segment the information by date range, device, and type of engagement. You can even explore specific pin performance metrics for deeper insights. Additionally, learn about trends and audience insights by exploring the links in the left navigation bar.

Note: In addition to Pinterest Analytics, you can track the performance of your product pins directly in your Shopify dashboard by using the Pinterest app for Shopify.

Platform considerations and time investment

Pinterest can be a powerful tool for traffic and sales but, like any platform, it works best when you approach it strategically.

To see meaningful results on Pinterest, you need to consistently share high-quality content people want to save and buy.

Here’s a general guide to what your content calendar might look like:

• Pin creation. Aim for three to five new pins per week (or more, if you’re promoting multiple products or blog posts).
• Scheduling and posting. Spend 30 to 60 minutes per week, planning and scheduling pins with social media tools like Tailwind or Pinterest’s native scheduler.
• Keyword research and trend checks. Set aside 15 to 30 minutes per week to make sure you’re staying relevant.
• Analytics review. Once per month, look at your numbers to see what’s working.

You might also consider what team roles you’ll need. You’ll likely work with a content creator or designer to create the visuals; a social media manager to handle scheduling, keyword optimization, and posting; a copywriter for descriptions; and a photographer for getting those all-important high-quality product shots.

Whether you plan to use freelancers, contractors, or employees, resources like guidelines or style guides help everyone consistently represent the brand identity.

The beauty of Pinterest is that it’s not as fleeting as Instagram or TikTok. Pins can keep getting saved long after you publish them. Tailwind studied more than 1.2 million pins and found that more than 60% of saves on pins linking to websites came from pins over a year old, and more than 40% came from pins more than two years old.

Aim for:

• Three to five new Pins per week to start
• Fresh images for each piece of content
• Seasonal planning one to two months in advance