Written by Adele Webb
4 min read - 24th March, 2025
Pinterest ads are a powerful option to consider when advertising to users who are actively searching and engaging with products and services online. With its uniquely visual format that seamlessly linked users to sites, Pinterest features an ad platform that blends paid content seamlessly with organic content.
This guide will take you through the most effective strategies to consider when planning your future Pinterest ads campaigns. By the end, you’ll understand the benefits, best practices, pitfalls and performance metrics to keep an eye on.
Get ready to maximise your Pinterest advertising effort, to boost your next campaign.
Pinterest is a visually driven platform where users (known as pinners) save and organise images and videos on the platform into their own personalised boards. These are a collection of saved pieces of content on Pinterest, usually grouped by a theme, such as hairstyles, kitchen renovations or inspirational quotes.
Each post links to its original source, meaning you could effectively take multiple products, webpages from your company site or even blogs and social posts by your brand, and link them to Pinterest.
Because Pinterest is used primarily like a search engine, users are actively seeking specific content, making it an excellent platform for paid ads. Specifically, the paid ads that are native to Pinterest itself, making use of its extensive data sets based on its users.
The main benefit is the audience on Pinterest. Engaged, curious and ready to buy. Unlike other social media ads that fade quickly, Pinterest pins continue driving traffic long after being posted.
Many users actively seek inspiration, making them more likely to convert, with 83% of weekly US pinners having made a purchase based on content they discovered on the platform.
You can target their ideal audience using keywords, interests, demographics, and behaviours. This not only boosts brand discovery but also helps businesses connect with potential customers early in their buying journey.
Pinterest Ads effectively enhance brand visibility, engagement, and conversions.
There are several types of ad available on Pinterest. Here’s a handy overview of your options:
Standard pins (Promoted pins)
Video pins (Promoted video pins)
Carousel ads
Shopping ads
Collection ads
Currently, these are the recommended sizes and formats of each ad type on Pinterest:
Standard & Shopping Ads: 1000 x 1500 pixels (2:3 ratio recommended) with a maximum file size of 32MB..
Video Ads: You can use either square or vertical ads (2:3, 4:5 or 9:16) with a maximum file size of 2GB.
Carousel Ads: 2-5 images per carousel, with a 1:1 or 2:3 aspect ratio. Your total size should be 20MB per image in the carousel.
Collection Ads: 1:1 or 2:3 for your hero image, alongside 3-24 secondary creatives with a maximum size of 10MB.
File Types: PNG or JPG for static images; MP4, MOV, or M4V for videos.
When working with Pinterest ads, there are a few key things you can do to optimise effectively, bringing in the highest quality engagements and interactions with your ads and brand online.
Optimise landing pages
Ensure and pages that your ads link to are mobile-friendly and fast-loading. Ideally, you want to maintain brand consistency between the ad and landing page, so that first-time users are reassured when tapping off of Pinterest to browse your site.
A/B test ads
Experiment with different images, headlines, and descriptions at the same time, and under similar controlled conditions, to A/B test various elements of each ad. This is a great way to learn what is working in your campaign, and what needs some improvement.
Analyse these newfound performance metrics to refine your future campaigns.
Jump on some Pinterest trends
Pinterest, like any social media site, has trends and moments of virality embedded within its content. Use Pinterest Trends to identify popular keywords and themes, and create ads that align with seasonal and trending topics to boost engagement.
Use high-quality, vertical images
Vertical images perform better due to Pinterest’s mobile-first design. Given its visual nature, only the highest quality content rises to the top of user’s feed, so prioritise quality over quantity.
Write compelling copy
Alongside your images, you have the option to include text. Here you can use keywords to help improve visibility via Pinterest’s algorithm, and include a strong call to action to drive user interaction.
The key to creating the best ad campaigns on Pinterest is through careful monitoring of your metrics. After all, the proof is in how users interact with what you create, and your data is the first step to understanding what is resonating with users. There are a few vital things to keep an eye on, as detailed below.
Key metrics to track
Using Pinterest analytics
Like any paid marketing campaign, the best way to refine your ads is through analysis and optimisation. You can monitor your ads performance in Pinterest Business Hub.
Here, you can identify top-performing pins and optimise underperforming ones.
Once you’ve analysed your existing data, you can adjust targeting, creatives, and bidding strategies based on your findings, to further optimise current and future campaigns.
With its highly engaged users ready to make a purchase and find inspiration, Pinterest might just be the most useful social media platform for connecting your audience to your shopping feed.
Knowing the best approach to how you can structure and target your Pinterest Ad campaign is the boost you’ll need in its highly competitive market. By closely tracking metrics, refining over time and understanding each ad format accordingly, you can stay one step ahead of your competition, taking your advertising efforts to the next level.
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