How the Pinterest algorithm works
Pinterest is a visual search engine. Win with 2:3 vertical images, keyword-rich titles and descriptions, and fresh pins. Saves and outbound clicks drive reach, and pins keep surfacing for months.
By Tayyab, Founder
Where these numbers come from. This is the number Content Drifter schedules and formats against. It is our editorial estimate from public reporting and our own publishing, not something the platform announced.
We never present an estimate as something a platform announced. Where we are the source, this page says so.
How the feed is assembled
The signals Pinterest weighs when it decides who sees a post, strongest first. Weights are shown against a like, which is the unit everybody has an intuition for.
- Saves5x a like
- Shares and reposts3x a like
- Comments2x a like
- Likes1x a like
The first-hour cliff
The single most actionable fact on most networks, and the one almost nobody explains concretely.
90 min
When the outcome is effectively decided
30%
Of your median engagement. Below this, the post has stalled
saves
Signals that matter most in that window
If a Pinterest post has not reached 30% of your own median engagement by minute 90, it rarely recovers. That is why the window matters more than the day: a post published into a dead hour has already lost before anybody decides whether it was any good.
Best posting windows
Every hour of the week, as a multiple of a median Pinterest hour. On Pro and above we rank your posting slots against this curve and your own posting history; on Free and Starter the queue uses our regional best-time table without the personalised ranking.
SundayStrongest
09:00 to 11:00 UTC
1.97x
vs a median hour
Friday
21:00 to 23:00 UTC
1.97x
vs a median hour
Saturday
08:00 to 10:00 UTC
1.97x
vs a median hour
Tuesday
22:00 UTC
1.84x
vs a median hour
Wednesday
21:00 UTC
1.84x
vs a median hour
Thursday
20:00 UTC
1.84x
vs a median hour
Times are UTC. Content Drifter schedules these in your own timezone.
Link policy
What Pinterest does to a post carrying an outbound link, and where we put yours instead.
Allowed
Links in the post body
No penalty
We model no reach cost for links here
in the post body
Where we place your link
Posting cadence and cooldowns
Posting more is not posting better. These are the ceilings the queue applies when it assigns slots, counted against your own calendar rather than UTC.
1h
Minimum gap between posts
10
Maximum posts per day
50
Maximum posts per week
Format mechanics
What Pinterest accepts, and which formats carry a reach advantage over a plain post.
Reach by format
- Video Pin+30%
- Idea Pin+20%
- Standard Pin0%
Hard limits
- Ideal length
- 100 to 200 characters
- Platform limit (enforced)
- 800 characters
- Hashtags for reach
- 3 ideal, 5 before it costs you, end of post
- Images per post
- 1
- Video
- up to 900s, 2048MB
- Image formats
- jpeg, png
Hashtags act as keyword tags on Pinterest. Use 3-5 specific, searchable terms; they reinforce the description, they do not replace it.
How Content Drifter applies this to your Pinterest posts
Each row pairs a number from this page with the thing the product does about it. This is the same record, not a marketing restatement of it.
Pinterest engagement peaks around 09:00 to 11:00 UTC on Sunday, roughly 1.97x a median hour.
Add a post to the queue without picking a time and it takes the next open peak slot in your timezone, skipping slots already full. On Pro and above those slots are ranked against this curve and your own posting history.
Gold Slot schedulingVideo Pin outperforms a plain post by about 30% on Pinterest.
Generation targets the formats that carry a lift on the network you are posting to, rather than producing one body and cross-posting it everywhere.
Per-platform publishingPinterest rewards engagement in the first 90 minutes, and a post that starts flat rarely recovers.
On Agency plans with the boost engine switched on, we check the post at the 90 minute mark against your own median, so a stall is something you find out about while it can still be acted on.
The algorithm-aware enginePosting more than 10 times a day, or inside 1 hour of your last post, works against you on Pinterest.
The queue honours that spacing when it assigns slots, counting posts you already published as well as ones you have queued, so a bulk import or a busy week cannot bunch your posts together.
The queuePinterest posts land best between 100 and 200 characters, against a platform limit of 800.
The pre-publish check reads the post against these rules and tells you which one it breaks, rather than handing you a score.
Pre-publish performance read
Recent Pinterest algorithm changes
Changes we have recorded and reviewed. Nothing appears here automatically.
We have not published a recorded change for Pinterest since our last check. Our canary compares engagement across our whole user base against a 28-day baseline every day, and a shift is reviewed by a person before it appears here, because saying in public that Pinterest changed something is a claim about somebody else’s product.
Pinterest algorithm questions
What is the best time to post on Pinterest?
Our strongest window is 09:00 to 11:00 UTC on Sunday, which runs about 1.97x a median hour, followed by 21:00 to 23:00 UTC on Friday. Those are UTC. Content Drifter converts them to your timezone and schedules into them for you, so the number you are reading is the one it acts on.
What does the Pinterest algorithm reward most?
saves carry the most weight, about 5x a like in our model, then shares and reposts at 3x. Pinterest is a visual search engine. Win with 2:3 vertical images, keyword-rich titles and descriptions, and fresh pins. Saves and outbound clicks drive reach, and pins keep surfacing for months.
Do links hurt reach on Pinterest?
Not materially. We do not apply a reach penalty for links on Pinterest, and we place them in the post body.
How often should I post on Pinterest?
We cap at 10 posts a day and 50 a week, with at least 1 hour between posts. The queue applies these when it assigns slots, using your own calendar day rather than UTC, and counts what you have already published as well as what is queued.
Which post format performs best on Pinterest?
Video Pin carries the largest lift in our model, roughly 30% above a plain post. Generation targets the format that wins on the network you are publishing to.
How long should a Pinterest post be?
Between 100 and 200 characters. Pinterest allows up to 800, which is what we stop you at. Hashtags work best at 3 and start costing you reach above 5, well below the 5 the platform permits.
Every network we publish to
The same page, rendered from the same kind of record, for each of the 9 networks.