Online advertising
Pinterest Ads: How to Advertise on Pinterest, Step by Step
When Pinterest is worth it and when it isn't, your first campaign using Pinterest's own setup steps, the sizes that don't get cropped and a test budget that comes from your margin, not a guess.
Pinterest ads are paid pins that appear in people's home feed, in search results and next to related pins, and you run them all from Pinterest Ads Manager. They work best when people are planning a purchase, like a wedding, a kitchen remodel or the holidays.
In the US, "pinterest ads" gets about 5,400 searches a month and "pinterest business account" another 18,100 (DataForSEO, October 2026). Pinterest reported 640 million monthly active users worldwide on June 30, 2026, in its second-quarter results.
It's one more channel in your online advertising mix, with a twist that changes everything: on Pinterest people don't scroll past your ad, they search for it. Here's when it pays off, your first campaign step by step, the sizes that don't get cropped and a test budget with real math.
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What are Pinterest ads and how does Pinterest advertising work?
You pick an objective, an audience and a few pins, bid in an auction and pay for impressions or clicks.
Pinterest advertising lets a brand promote pins, videos, carousels and catalog products to people searching for related ideas. Ads look like regular pins with a "Promoted" label, which is why Pinterest long called them promoted pins. You manage everything from a business account.
What it isn't: posting free pins and waiting, which is organic Pinterest marketing, or a platform that pays you for your content. With ads, you pay to show up in front of a search that already exists.
Pinterest ads vs Facebook ads: when Pinterest wins
Pinterest wins when your customer researches ideas before buying; Facebook and Instagram win when the purchase starts as an impulse.
| Pinterest ads | Facebook and Instagram ads | |
|---|---|---|
| How people arrive | They search and save ideas | They scroll through friends and creators |
| Buying moment | Planning, weeks ahead | Impulse or discovery |
| Best niches | Home, fashion, food, weddings, gifts, crafts | Almost everything, especially offers and launches |
| Star targeting | Search keywords and interests | Interests, behavior and lookalikes |
| Core format | Vertical 2:3 pin | Vertical 9:16 video and square |
The best proof is in Google's own data. In the US, "pinterest christmas" jumped from about 2,400 searches in October 2025 to 18,100 in November, then dropped to 9,900 in December (DataForSEO). Americans plan Christmas on Pinterest in November, so an ad that launches in December arrives after the decision.
Pinterest ads library: can you see your competitors' ads?
Partly, and it depends on where your competitors sell. Pinterest runs an Ads Repository, but its own report under the EU's Digital Services Act describes it as holding the ads served in the EU over the last year, with details such as how each one was targeted. An ad that runs only in the US may not be in it, so don't count on it for a US-only rival.
When a brand is in it, you can learn which formats it runs, which hooks and offers it repeats and how often it swaps its creative. Pinterest doesn't say it shows spend, clicks or sales, so treat it as a swipe file, not a scoreboard.
For any market, the free method works:
- Search your customers' keywords on Pinterest.
- Note every pin labeled "Promoted by" or "Sponsored": format, headline, offer and landing page.
- Save them to a secret board and review it monthly.
Paid ad-intelligence tools exist too. We haven't tested them, so we don't rate them.
How to advertise on Pinterest in Pinterest Ads Manager, step by step
Get your business account ready, install the tag, pick one objective, set a budget and audience, and launch three vertical pins.
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Get your business account ready
Switch to (or create) a free business account and claim your website so your brand shows on every pin that links to it.
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Install the Pinterest tag
It records visits, add-to-cart and checkouts on your site. Without it, you can only optimize for clicks.
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Open Ads Manager and create a campaign
In Pinterest Ads Manager, go to Manage campaigns, Create campaign and pick a manual campaign for full control.
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Choose one objective
Brand awareness, consideration, leads or sales. If the tag isn't recording purchases yet, start with consideration.
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Set the budget and dates
A fixed daily budget, a Performance+ daily budget or a lifetime budget, with start and end dates.
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Define your audience
Search keywords, interests and location, plus site visitors or customer lists once you have them.
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Upload three different pins and publish
Same product, three angles: in use, main benefit and offer. Each one goes to the exact product page.
Which campaign objective should you pick?
According to Pinterest's guide to Ads Manager, brand awareness is billed per thousand impressions or per completed video view, and consideration per click. Leads and sales optimize for sign-ups and purchases. For a small shop with no conversion data yet, consideration is the sensible start.
How big should your first test budget be?
Work back from your margin. If you make $40 per sale and accept spending half to get it, your maximum cost per sale is $20. To decide with data you need around 20 sales: 20 × $20 = $400 over three or four weeks, roughly $15 to $20 a day. That's how Pinterest ads cost should be planned: as a learning budget with a ceiling.
Pinterest ad specs: formats and sizes that don't get cropped
The building block is the standard vertical pin at a 2:3 ratio, 1000 × 1500 pixels, and nearly everything else builds on it.
| Format | Specs and limits | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Standard pin (image) | 2:3, 1000 × 1500 px; PNG or JPEG; up to 20 MB on desktop and 32 MB in the app | Almost everything: start here |
| Video | 4 seconds to 15 minutes; 6 to 15 s recommended; 1:1, 2:3, 4:5 or 9:16 | Showing the product in use |
| Carousel | 2 to 5 images, 1:1 or 2:3 | Several views or products |
| Catalog carousel | 2 to 10 images and videos | Stores with a connected catalog |
| Title and description | Title up to 100 characters (about 40 show in feeds); description up to 800 | Relevance and clicks |
These Pinterest ad specs come from Pinterest's ad specs help page, checked in October 2026. If you're used to web formats, standard banner sizes won't help here: Pinterest is vertical first.
What happens if a pin is taller than 2:3?
Pinterest will likely crop it in the feed, and you lose the bottom of the image, which is usually where the offer sits. If your image has a different width, get the exact height with our aspect ratio calculator: at 1080 px wide, 2:3 needs 1620 px of height.
Pinterest collections ads and shopping ads: which format to use
Beyond the standard pin, Pinterest has formats built for browsing and shopping. Pick by what you want the customer to do. The specs come from Pinterest's help center.
| Format | What it does | Specs | Use it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collections | One hero image or video with product images below | 1 hero, 3 to 24 secondary images, 1:1 or 2:3 | You sell a range, like a set of mugs |
| Shopping ads | Pulls products from your catalog and sends people to your store | Standard pin specs: 2:3, 1000 × 1500 px | Your catalog is connected |
| Idea ads | Full-screen vertical story with a prompt for the next step | 9:16, 1080 × 1920 px; video up to 5 minutes | You want to show a product in use |
| Quiz ads | A short quiz with personalized results | 1 title pin and up to 3 results pins, 2:3 | Shoppers need help choosing |
Premiere Spotlight, a full-width video takeover in high-traffic areas, isn't where a small test starts. In September 2026, Pinterest also announced Visual Search Ads, which place advertisers in search results and pin closeups, starting in beta for eligible advertisers.
For a small store, the order is simple. Start with standard pins, add shopping ads once your catalog is connected, then collections, and leave idea and quiz ads for after you have a winner.
Pinterest marketing after launch: measure, retarget and plan the calendar
Judge campaigns by sales and cost per sale, tracked with the tag and UTM links, not by impressions and saves.
Pinterest's analytics tell you which pins earn saves and clicks; the tag tells you which clicks turn into orders. Add UTM parameters so the same sales show up in your web analytics. The people who visited your store and didn't buy are the cheapest audience you'll ever have, so bring them back with retargeting on Pinterest or elsewhere. And if Pinterest is one channel in a bigger advertising campaign, give it its own budget and goal so you can compare it fairly with your other channels.
Act as a Pinterest ads specialist. I sell [product] at [price] to [audience] in the US. Write 5 pin titles under 40 characters that start with what my customer would search for. Add 5 descriptions under 300 characters with natural keywords. Finally, give me 10 search keywords to target, ranked from highest to lowest purchase intent.
Pinterest business account: the setup most people skip
Claiming your website and connecting a catalog take minutes and unlock attribution, product pins and shopping formats.
Most failed Pinterest tests skip this part. Claim your domain in the account settings so your profile picture and brand appear on pins from your site. If you sell more than a handful of products, connect your catalog: Pinterest turns each item into a product pin with price and availability, and opens catalog campaigns that pick the right product for each shopper.
Frequently asked questions about Pinterest ads
How do I promote on Pinterest for free?
Use a free business account, claim your website and publish fresh pins on a steady schedule. Write titles and descriptions with the words your customers actually search, organize boards around those searches and link every pin to the exact page it shows. Check Pinterest Trends to publish a few weeks before your topic peaks. Organic Pinterest is slow but it compounds, because pins keep getting found in search long after you post them.
How do I advertise on Pinterest for Etsy?
Create pins that link to your individual Etsy listings and promote them from Pinterest Ads Manager like any other pin. The catch is tracking: a standard Etsy shop doesn't let you add your own code, so the Pinterest tag usually can't see your sales. Start with a consideration campaign that optimizes for clicks and judge it with Etsy's own traffic stats and orders. If Pinterest becomes a big channel, a standalone store gives you full tracking.
Is it free to advertise on Pinterest?
Having a presence is free, advertising isn't. The business account, analytics, claiming your website and posting organic pins cost nothing. Ads are paid: you set a daily or lifetime budget and pay for impressions or clicks at auction prices. There's no monthly fee and you can pause at any time, which makes Pinterest easy to test with a small, capped budget before you commit real money.
How much do Pinterest ads cost?
There's no fixed price. You bid in an auction, and Pinterest charges per thousand impressions or per completed video view for awareness campaigns, and per click for consideration campaigns. What you pay depends on your industry, the season and how good your pins are, since competition for attention rises around big shopping dates. The Pinterest help pages we checked don't set a minimum spend, so build your budget from the most you can pay per sale.
Are Pinterest ads worth it for a small business?
They are if your product is visual and people plan the purchase: home, fashion, food, weddings, gifts or crafts. Pinterest reported 640 million monthly active users on June 30, 2026, up 11% in a year, so the audience is there. They're a weaker bet for urgent local services, like a plumber, where search ads win. Run a capped test for three or four weeks and keep it only if the cost per sale fits your margin.
What is the Pinterest tag?
The Pinterest tag is a piece of code you add to your website so Pinterest can see what people do after clicking your ads: page visits, add-to-cart, checkout and sign-ups. With it, Pinterest can optimize for conversions instead of clicks, you can measure sales per campaign and you can build retargeting audiences. Pair it with the Pinterest conversions API, which sends the same events from your server and fills the gaps browsers block.