What’s the Difference Between Personal and Business Pinterest Accounts?
A personal Pinterest account is great for saving ideas, but a business account gives you more tools to grow. You’ll get better SEO, clickable links, and access to Pinterest ads. Plus, you can use Rich Pins, join the Verified Merchant Program, and track your performance with analytics.
Here’s why you need a business Pinterest account:
- Better SEO: Business profiles have extra SEO advantages, allowing you to use keywords more effectively in your profile, boards, and Pins. This helps your content rank higher in Pinterest search and even on Google, making it easier for potential customers to find you.
- Website traffic: Unlike personal accounts, business profiles prioritize brand visibility and include advanced analytics to track performance. You can link product catalogs and optimize Rich Pins to drive high-intent shoppers straight to your website, boosting conversions.
- Pinterest ads: Want to reach people faster? A business account gives you access to Promoted Pins (Pinterest Ads), which target specific audiences based on interests, demographics, and keywords.
- Rich Pins: These Pins sync info from your website, automatically showing details like product prices, article headlines, or recipe ingredients.
- Verified Merchant Program: If you sell products, you can apply for the Verified Merchant Program, which gives you a verified badge, product pricing on Pins, a Shop tab, and better search rankings. To join, your account must be at least 3 months old and your business website must be >13 months old.
- Pinterest analytics: Business accounts give you access to detailed insights on Pin performance, audience demographics, and website traffic. These stats show you what works and what doesn’t so you can improve your marketing strategy on the go.
How to Create a New Business Account on Pinterest:
1. Head over to business.pinterest.com and click Sign up in the top right corner.
2. Fill in your business email, password, and age, then click Create account.
3. Add your business name, website, and country.
4. Select the category that best fits your business and add what you offer or sell. Click Next.
5. Pinterest will ask if you want to run ads. Select Yes if you plan to use Pinterest Ads or No to skip this for now.
6. Pinterest will also suggest a few starting points, like creating a few Pins or running an ad. Choose one or click the X to go straight to your profile.
How to Create a Linked Pinterest Business Account:
1. In the top-right corner, find and click the down arrow next to your username.
2. From the dropdown menu, click Add account.
3. Under “Create a free business account,” tap Create.
4. Enter your business name, website, and country, then click Next.
5. Pick a category that best fits your business and what you offer or sell. Click Next.
6. Select whether you want to run Pinterest ads now or later and click Next.
7. Choose an option to begin (“create Pin”) or click the X to go straight to your Pinterest profile.
NOTE: A Pinterest linked account lets you connect multiple Pinterest accounts, like your personal and business accounts, under one email and password. This makes it easy to switch between them without logging in and out. You can link up to four accounts and manage them all in one place.
How to Convert Your Existing Personal Account into a Pinterest Business Account:
1. Press the down arrow next to your username in the top-right corner.
2. In the Settings section, go to the Account Management tab.
3. Find the option that says “Convert to a business account” and click on it.
4. Enter your business name, website (if applicable), and country, then click Next.
5. Select your business type and what you offer, then click Next.
6. Get started by creating a Pin or click the X to go straight to your Pinterest profile.
How to Use Pinterest for Business:
- Claim your website
- Add Pinterest widgets
- Enable Rich Pins
- Run shopping ads
- Combine organic and paid content
- Partner with experts
- Set up a Pinterest Shop
- Stand out from other brands
- Join Pinterest’s Business community
1. Claim Your Website
Claiming your website on Pinterest helps improve your visibility and lets you track how often people share your content. After you go through with it, your profile picture will appear next to any Pins saved from your site, and those Pins will link back to your Pinterest profile. This helps users find and follow you more easily.
To claim your website, you need to own the domain and have access to edit the site’s code. First, you need to access Pinterest’s Business hub.
There, Pinterest gives you three ways to do this:
- Upload an HTML file: Download a file from Pinterest and upload it to your web server.
- Add an HTML tag: Copy a small code snippet from Pinterest and paste it into your website’s source code.
- Add a DNS TXT record: Copy a unique TXT record from Pinterest and add it to your domain’s DNS settings.
The process might look a little different depending on where your site is hosted (like Shopify, WordPress, or Wix), so check their instructions if needed.
After you add the verification method, go back to Pinterest and hit Submit. Once the platform reviews and approves your claim, your site will officially be linked to your profile. You can always check which websites you’ve claimed by going to Settings > Claimed Accounts.
2. Add Pinterest Widgets
Pinterest widgets let visitors save your content, follow your profile, or explore your Pins without leaving your site.
There are five Pinterest add-ons you can explore:
- The Save button allows people to pin images from your website directly to their Pinterest boards in one click. If you have multiple images on a page, a hover button works best. For mobile users, a fixed Save button is better.
- The Follow button lets visitors follow your Pinterest profile straight from your website. This helps you gain more followers without them needing to search for you manually.
- The Pin widget helps you showcase a specific Pin on your website, making it more interactive.
- If you want to display an entire collection, the Board widget lets you feature up to 50 Pins from one of your boards. This works well for highlighting product categories, recipes, or inspiration.
- The Profile widget gives visitors a quick look at your latest Pins, encouraging them to check out your Pinterest page.
PRO TIP: To get these widgets to work properly, add Pinterest’s pinit.js script to your website. You only need to add it once per page, since adding it multiple times can cause issues.
3. Enable Rich Pins
Rich Pins make your content more useful by automatically pulling key details from your website and displaying them on your Pins. This means when you update things like product prices, article descriptions, or recipe ingredients on your site, your Pins will update too.
There are three types of Rich Pins:
- Recipe Pins (which show ingredients, cook time, and dietary info)
- Article Pins (which display the title, author, and summary of your blog post)
- Product Pins (which update pricing and availability)
To enable Rich Pins, first, verify your website with Pinterest. Then, go to Pinterest’s Rich Pin Validator to check if everything is set up correctly. Once approved, any content on your site with metadata will transform into a Rich Pin when someone saves it.
4. Run Shopping Ads
Pinterest users frequently browse with the intent to buy, so promoting your store here can lead to more clicks and conversions. Firstly, make your products available as Product Pins by uploading a catalog, linking your e-commerce platform, or tagging products directly on your Pins.
Once your products are on Pinterest, you can run ads to help them reach the right audience. Catalog sales campaigns automatically show your products to interested shoppers, while conversion campaigns let you promote specific items with more control over targeting.
PRO TIP: Make shopping easier by using direct links that take users straight to your product page. Mobile deep links can also guide them to the right product in your app.
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Remember to add discounts, seasonal sales, or special offers to grab attention and encourage more clicks.
For optimal results, track your ad performance. You can use the Pinterest tag and Conversions API to monitor sales and engagement, and Pinterest Analytics to see what’s working so you can tweak your strategy.
For a deeper look at your campaign’s impact, Pinterest’s measurement tools can help analyze results across different marketing channels.
5. Combine Organic and Paid Content
If some of your organic Pins are doing well, you can promote them to reach a larger audience and drive more traffic to your website. Create a Pin just like you normally would, using high-quality images or videos. If you’re using the Pinterest app, you can select multiple images or videos to stitch them into a single video Pin.
