In the last few months Pinterest has implemented quite a few changes on the platform. Are you aware of all the recent Pinterest updates? Do you know how to make the best of them and use them to your advantage? If you’re not sure what’s been going on, and what the impact is to you and your business or blog, read on to find out.

#1 Stolen Pins

Ok so this isn’t necessarily a change that Pinterest themselves has made BUT it is a big problem on the platform right now, and as a content creator it’s likely you’ve been affected. You must check to see if your pins and images are being stolen and redirected to spam (or other) websites. Search your pin keywords, and check that ‘your’ pins are actually directing to your website. If they’re not, they’ve been stolen. You can file a DCMA notice to stop the pin (don’t ask to remove all pins of that image or you’ll lose your own too) and hope that it works. Good luck!

#2 Long Pins

Have you noticed on the feed how all the long pins are truncated now? It’s a change that happened a few weeks ago; the smart feed isn’t showing the full longer pin. For those of you who love to use a long pin, ensure that any text is at the top of the design now, or users won’t see it when the scroll.

#3 Pin Size

Are you using the correct pin size these days? It’s all got a little complicated as to what is actually the best size but the latest news from Pinterest themselves is that a 600×900 pin image is the optimum size. You might find other sizes do work for you so experiment with a few to see what’s best.

Here’ s a recent pin I made for my other site to the new optimum sizing:

Pins are organized into columns, so vertical Pins take up more space and tend to stand out more on our platform. The ideal aspect ratio for a vertical Pin is 2:3—600px wide x 900px high.

Square images—600px wide x 600px high—can work well, too. Pins longer than 1260px high will get cut off, and people will only see the entirety of the Pin when they tap it for a closeup. Pinterest optimizes Pins that fit within these preferred aspect ratios.

#4 Board Sections

A few months ago Pinterest launched board sections. Essentially you can now section up your great big HOME board, into different sections. It’s a great way to showcase your content and organise your boards, BUT it won’t necessarily be great for your pinning strategy. It doesn’t look like board sections are taken into account within the algorithm, so you’re better to have separate boards to enable pins to be found, than keep then all in one board, within sections.

#5 Rearranging Pins

Oh yes, this is one of those Pinterest updates that many of you had been waiting for, me included. The ability to move pins around on a board has been a long time coming but now it’s here and we can finally make our boards look the way we really need them to. Ideal for brands who want to showcase their products in a particular order and perfect if you want to pin a bunch of pins close together but then integrate them into other pins once on the board.

#6 Archiving Boards

Another very new feature on the Pinterest updates allows you to archive off a board, not losing followers and not fill up your secret board area. A great way to move a board without deleting the board or the pins.

#7 Rich Pins on the Smart Feed

Have you noticed how the smart feed (home page) view is a little different now. The pins are showing up without all the rich pin information, and mainly just show the pin title and any hashtags. What does this mean? Well, it means your image and any text is more important than ever, and the title of your page or blog post needs to engage the pinner immediately. Descriptions and keywords are still important though so don’t forget about them; that’s all still helping you get found in search, just in the background.

#8 Pinterest Analytics

In January we all noticed a big dip on our Pinterest analytics, and Pinterest announced we would see a difference in our impressions on the site. They’ve changed the way they measure views and so some might be seeing different figures now. To be honest, I’d never rely on their analytics, and always refer to Google Analytics for the actual clicks to a website from Pinterest. It’s so much more reliable. Pinterest analytics is good for giving you an overview on how your pins are being shown and what’s happening to them, but GA is the place to get your accurate detail.

#9 Pin Stats

This is the little button on your pins, in the lower right hand corner. Click on it and you’ll see a set of statistics for that pin. They take a few days to appear – allow the pin to be indexed first – but then you’ll start to see how many close ups, clicks or saves the pin has had. Obviously with time, this figure updates itself, but it can give you a good indication of performance and how well received your content has been.

#10 Brand New Shiny Profile Look

So I have to say this is by far my favourite Pinterest update of recent months. Yep, there’s a new look profile, and it’s pretty awesome. The new look is much fresher and more modern than before with various tabs allowing you to showcase your content, boards and pins to an audience, and there’s a nice header bar too which is great for showcasing your brand. Edit the header to show different types of your pins or even a favourite or highlighted board. Do you have the new profile look yet?

#11 Follower Feed

Most of you will have an icon in the top right of your Pinterest bar, one of people. Click this and you get a new Pinterest feed made up of pins from the people you follow. No smart feed. Again, like a lot of these changes, it’s quite new so we don’t know yet how it will affect things, but it could mean that gaining followers could actually be beneficial again. (Remember they’re not that relevant for success through the current algorithm).

So, which of these Pinterest updates is your favourite?

Have you adapted your pinning strategy and Pinterest marketing to take account of these updates?

More Reading:

• How Many Times to Pin Each Day
• 6 Steps to Your Next Viral Pin
• 3 Most Common Pinterest Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Jen x