International SMM

Pinterest

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Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.

Overview

Pinterest is visual search and a store of ideas. A user saves pictures and video ("Pins") to themed boards, and the platform suggests similar things. The logic is closer to a search engine than to a friends feed: a person arrives with a task — renovate the kitchen, put together an outfit, find a recipe.

Hence the main difference from feed-based social networks: a post here lives a long time. The platform's help centre writes outright that there is "no fixed engagement window for Pins" and that a Pin can pick up response "hours, days, months and even years" after publication (Pin performance and distribution). For a blog or a shop that means an investment in a good Pin is not zeroed out in a day.

The second difference is that the commercial frame is set by default: the company reports that more than 50 % of users see the platform as a place to shop (Pinterest Newsroom). The third — and this needs to be understood before you start — is that the platform does not pay authors directly.

Who's here

All the numbers below are the platform's own claims, not independent measurements.

Pinterest reports 631 million monthly active users worldwide and 1.5 billion Pins saved weekly; in the same place the company speaks of "more than 500 million people who come to us every month" (Pinterest Newsroom). The indicators carry numbered footnotes, but the page does not serve the footnote text, and the counting methodology stays out of view.

The age boundary is set by the community guidelines: you can use the platform "from the age of 13", and the accounts of users under 16 are automatically made private (Community guidelines). The platform does not publish an audience breakdown by country and language on the open pages we read; the interface language of the home page is given in the markup as en.

Getting started

A business account

A business account gives access to the business hub and to statistics, as well as the ability to "create Idea ads, video ads, carousels, collection ads, product catalogues and more". There are two ways to set one up. A new account: the email must not be tied to another account, and "at the moment a new business account can only be created from a desktop device". Converting a personal account: it must be public (private ones "need to be switched to public") and not linked to another account; the platform promises that "your Pins and followers will stay the same" and that you can go back to a personal one "at any moment" (Get a business account).

Claiming your website

The next step for everyone who has their own site is to "claim" the domain. After that your avatar is shown next to Pins from your site, and the Pin leads to your profile. There are three ways: an HTML tag in the source code, an HTML file on the server, or a TXT record in DNS. Two restrictions worth knowing in advance: "a website can only be claimed by one Pinterest account", and you cannot claim "most social accounts and online shops hosted on marketplaces like Etsy, eBay and Amazon" (Claim your website).

Rich Pins and verified merchant status

Rich Pins pull data from the site themselves. The help centre names three types — recipes, articles and products — and explains that they are switched on with Schema.org, h-recipe or Open Graph markup in the <head>; synchronization "can take up to 24 hours" (Create rich Pins).

For shops there is the Verified Merchant Program. The requirements are strict and all come with deadlines: the business account must be at least three months old, the site at least nine months old, claimed and verified, "75 % of the catalogue's products successfully uploaded", and the conversion source over the last 30 days must send "at least one page view event every 7 days", as well as add-to-cart and checkout events at the same frequency. It gives a blue tick on the profile and on Pins; if compliance is lost, 30 days are given to fix it. It is not available everywhere: when read from our region, the page reported that the programme is "not available in your locality" (Verified Merchant Program).

What you can publish

The technical requirements are gathered on the specifications page:

  • images — PNG or JPEG; "all uploaded images are converted to standard 8-bit RGB JPEG", so the platform advises "uploading images in PNG with sRGB to avoid losses";
  • aspect ratios — for ordinary ads "2:3, or 1000 × 1500 pixels"; for video, a square (1:1) and the verticals 2:3, 4:5 and 9:16 are permitted;
  • file size — "20 MB on a computer, 32 MB in the app" for images; video — "up to 2 GB";
  • video — "a minimum of 4 seconds, a maximum of 15 minutes", with a recommended duration "of 6 to 15 seconds", codec "H.264 or H.265";
  • text — a title "of up to 100 characters" (the first 40 may be displayed, 30 for double-byte languages), a description "of up to 800 characters" (Pinterest product specs).

What you may not publish is set by the community guidelines: sexually explicit images and descriptions, the sale of regulated goods by unauthorized sellers (alcohol, drugs, weapons), "dangerous pranks and challenges that risk immediate physical harm", the sale of wild and protected animals, insults and stereotypes, content that threatens minors, misinformation capable of "harming the wellbeing of users or the public", and graphic violence. There is a separate clause about spam: you may not "create or save content that is repetitive, deceptive or irrelevant in an attempt to earn", and you may not try to "improperly influence distribution, clicks or other metrics" (Community guidelines).

How to grow

What the platform says about distribution

Pinterest describes the mechanics of distribution through response: the platform "uses engagement data to determine what content is most appropriate to show people", and "engagement depends on what people want to see, and this can change over time". It can be affected by "language, location, seasons, holidays, formats and trending topics". The recommendations are simple: "create Pins often and regularly", "aim to publish original content weekly", and do not use blurry images (Pin performance and distribution). The platform makes no promises of reach in exchange for specific actions.

Built-in statistics

Analytics requires a business account. It shows engagements, impressions, saves, Pin clicks and outbound clicks, and for video — views, average play time, "10-second plays" and "95 % completions"; the total and engaged audience are counted separately. The depth is "custom ranges over the last year and a half, plus real-time estimates for the last 48 hours". Export is a CSV file (Pinterest Analytics).

Advertising

The advertising formats are listed in the description of the business account: Idea ads, video ads, carousels, collection ads, Showcase and quiz ads, and product catalogues (Get a business account). The minimum budgets and the list of countries where advertising is sold are not on the open pages.

Path to monetization

Pinterest does not pay authors for content. This is not our conclusion but the platform's own wording on its own creator page: "Pinterest does not provide payouts under monetization programmes such as product tagging, affiliate links or brand collaborations". Payment terms are to be "agreed directly with the brand or partner" (Grow and succeed).

Earning here means traffic and intermediation: the platform names three routes — links to your own site, affiliate links and brand collaborations (the same page).

They are explicitly allowed: "affiliate links help creators measure their contribution and get paid for their work". But with conditions: one genuine account, "affiliate content must be original and bring unique value", the volume must be "in moderation", and disclosure of the commercial nature is mandatory ("for example, using #ad"). Fake accounts for saving your own affiliate links and arrangements for reciprocal saves are prohibited (Commercial and branded content guidelines).

The paid partnership label

The author tags the brand when creating the Pin, the label appears automatically on publication, the brand receives an email, and after approval the brand's name is added to the label. The restrictions are substantial: the tool is "available only in the Pinterest app" (Android and iOS), you can tag one brand per Pin, "the paid partnership label cannot be added after the Pin is published", and a removed label cannot be brought back. And the key point for a budget: "creators cannot promote paid partnership Pins themselves. Only brand partners can promote such Pins as paid partnership Idea ads" (Paid partnerships for creators).

Tools and automation

Built-in scheduling

The built-in scheduler is modest: "you can schedule a Pin no more than 30 days ahead" and "there can be up to 10 scheduled Pins at a time". Once scheduled, "you cannot change the Pin's image or video", while the other fields can be edited (Schedule Pins).

Auto-publishing from RSS

For sites with a feed there is built-in auto-publishing, but a verified site is required: the field for the RSS address "will appear only if you have a claimed site". The limitation is that "Pins will be created with a limit of up to 200 Pins a day"; the platform processes new content "within 24 hours", starting from the older entries (Auto-publish Pins from your RSS feed).

The official API

There is an API, and it has two access tiers — Trial and Standard. The difference is not only in limits but in visibility: "all Pins and boards created on trial access are visible only to their creator as sandbox entities". This is the most treacherous trap of the Pinterest API: the request goes through, there is no error, and nobody sees the publication. To move to the standard tier you have to apply from the "My apps" section, confirm details about the application and the privacy policy, and "upload a video demonstration of your application" showing the OAuth sign-in (Access tiers).

The unit of counting for the limits changes too. On trial access it is "1000 requests per day across all API calls", on standard — "100 requests per second per user per application". By category on standard access (requests per minute): ad analytics — 300, ad reads — 1000, ad writes — 400, catalogue work — 100 each, organic analytics — 60, organic reads — 1000, organic writes — 100, trends — 60. The documentation warns: "all limits may change without notice" (Rate limits).

Limits and rules

  • Age and sanctions. You can use it from 13; accounts under 16 are automatically private. For violations the platform promises to "remove, restrict or block the distribution of such content and accounts" (Community guidelines).
  • One account. "In general you should run only one Pinterest account", and it must be your genuine presence (Commercial and branded content guidelines).
  • Numerical profile limits. The help page about limits on Pins, boards and follows contains no specific numbers: it says only that "there is a limit on the total number of boards and follows we can store for accounts", and also that "there is no limit to how many Pins you can create" or "how many people can follow you" (Limits for Pins, boards and follows). The numbers that circulate in reviews are not confirmed by this page.
  • Geography. The Verified Merchant Program is not available in all regions; when we read it, the page stated the unavailability outright (Verified Merchant Program).

Who it's for

Pinterest makes sense if you have your own site or shop and a visual product: interiors, clothing, food, weddings, crafts, travel, step-by-step learning. The long life of a Pin and the built-in auto-publishing from RSS make the platform a convenient "second wind" for a blog.

It is a poor fit for those counting on direct payouts from the platform: there are none, and the platform writes so itself. Nor will it suit places where the value is in live dialogue or in speed of response: the mechanics here are search-based, not news-based. Developers should plan in advance for the review of the application for standard access.

Tools for this platform

The list is built from the tools' own facts: every line is a tool's statement that it supports the platform, with the source named. A tool missing from the list only means we have no such statement.

Scheduling and publishing:

Statistics and analytics:

Automation:

Social listening:

Other tasks:

Verified data

The checked data this deep dive rests on.

Who's here

Monthly audience. 631 million MONTHLY active users worldwide; a company claim with a footnote to the source

The indicator: MAU. Footnote ¹ on the page leads to an explanation of the source

source, checked 2026-07-28

1.5 billion Pins saved per week; more than 50 % of users see the platform as a place to shop

The second indicator is actions, not people

source, checked 2026-07-28

the company claims «more than 500 million people who come to us every month» — a separate indicator that does not coincide with the claimed 631 million monthly active users

__

source, checked 2026-07-28

Account and access

working with the API requires a BUSINESS account, a confirmed email and acceptance of the Developer Terms of Service

source, checked 2026-07-28

a new business account is created ONLY from a desktop device; the email must not be tied to another account. Converting a personal account requires it to be public and not linked to another one; you can go back to a personal one at any moment

The device restriction is a rare one: you cannot set up a business account from a phone

source, checked 2026-07-28

claiming a website in three ways: an HTML tag in the code, an HTML file on the server, a TXT record in DNS. A site can be claimed by only ONE account; you cannot claim shops on marketplaces (Etsy, eBay, Amazon) or most social accounts

Access to auto-publishing from RSS depends on claiming the site

source, checked 2026-07-28

Business terms

the Verified Merchant Program: the business account at least 3 months old, the site at least 9 months old and claimed, 75 % of the catalogue's products successfully uploaded, and the conversion source over the last 30 days sending page view, add-to-cart and checkout events at least once every 7 days

If compliance is lost, 30 days are given to fix it. When read from our region, the page reported that the programme is unavailable in this locality

source, checked 2026-07-28

What you can publish

an advertising image: PNG or JPEG; all uploaded images are converted to 8-bit RGB JPEG; the recommended aspect ratio is 2:3 (1000 × 1500 pixels); file size 20 MB from a computer and 32 MB in the app

source, checked 2026-07-28

an advertising video: a minimum of 4 seconds, a maximum of 15 minutes, 6–15 seconds recommended; codec H.264 or H.265; size up to 2 GB; permitted aspect ratios 1:1, 2:3, 4:5, 9:16

source, checked 2026-07-28

a title of up to 100 characters (the first 40 may be displayed, 30 for double-byte languages), a description of up to 800 characters

The separate norm for double-byte languages matters for Japanese, Chinese and Korean

source, checked 2026-07-28

Text length. The limits are the same for an image and for a video and are given separately by field: the title — "100 characters max", the text on the material itself (textbox) — "250 characters max", the description — "Enter up to 800 characters". For advertising the same title is 100 characters with a proviso about display: "Depending on the device, the first 40 characters may show in people’s feeds", and for double-byte languages "For Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic and other double byte languages, only the first 30 characters will show in people's feeds". The description, by the platform's own indication, is not shown in the feed or in search at all

the limits are separate by field, not a general one for a post; the advertising provisos about 40 and 30 characters — https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/pinterest-product-specs ; www.pinterest.com is closed by robots.txt ("User-agent: * / Disallow: /"), the help centre and the documentation for developers permit crawling

source, checked 2026-08-04

The limits are different for an ordinary video pin and for advertising. A video pin: "Video length Minimum 4 seconds, maximum 5 minutes". An advertising video: "Minimum 4 seconds, maximum 15 minutes", and at the same time "Recommended length for video ads: 6 to 15 seconds"

the lower limit is common (4 seconds), the upper one depends on the kind of post: 5 minutes for an ordinary pin against 15 minutes for advertising; the advertising limit — https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/pinterest-product-specs

source, checked 2026-08-04

File size: an ordinary pin — "Web: 20 MB maximum", "Android and iOS: 1 GB recommended"; an advertising image — "Desktop 20 MB, In-app 32 MB"; an advertising video — "Up to 2GB"; a carousel image — "20 MB per image". The number of materials at a time: "2 to 5 images per carousel", and for the "sales" objective — "2 to 10 images and video per carousel. This only applies to the sales objective". The frequency of calls to the API depends on the app's level of access: "Trial access: 1000 requests per day for all API requests", "Standard access: 100 requests per second per user per app for all API requests"; the creation and editing of pins and boards (the org_write category) — 300 requests per 24 hours per app with trial access and 100 requests per minute per user per app with standard access; reading (org_read) — 1,000 and 1,000. The platform stipulates: "All rate limits are subject to change without notice"

the rate limit depends on the app's level of access (Trial or Standard) and on the category of the call; the numbers themselves — https://developers.pinterest.com/docs/reference/rate-limits/ ; the platform does not announce a daily number of publications for an ordinary user

source, checked 2026-08-04

Video. An ordinary video pin: the formats depend on the device — "Web: .MP4, .M4V", "Android and iOS: .MP4, .MOV, .M4V"; "Video encoding H.264 or H.265". The aspect ratio: "For full-bleed videos... we recommend using a 9:16 ratio or 1080x1920 pixel size. Other options include: 1:2, 2:3, 3:4, 4:5, or 1:1". The page about pins does not name a maximum file size for a video. An advertising video: "File type .MP4, .MOV or .M4V", "Encoding H.264 or H.265", "Max file size Up to 2GB", and the aspect ratio is limited by "Shorter than 1:2 (width:height), taller than 1.91:1". For advertising a table of permissible containers and codecs is published separately (MP4, QuickTime, Matroska, MXF, AVI, WebM, MPEG-TS and others; the video codecs AVC (H.264), HEVC (H.265), MPEG-2, VC-1, VP8, VP9, Apple ProRes, DNxHD and the rest). The maximum-width video ("Max. width video ads") is available only as a paid format

the set of formats depends on the device of the upload, the file size is announced only for advertising; the table of containers and codecs — https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/pinterest-product-specs

source, checked 2026-08-04

The platform has no independent upload of an audio file: in the list of kinds of pin there are only an image and a video. Requirements for audio are announced only as part of the table of permissible codecs for an advertising video — AAC, MP3, PCM, AIFF, Dolby Digital (AC3), Dolby Digital Plus (EAC3), Dolby E, MPEG Audio, Vorbis, WMA, WMA2 are listed, and moreover the set depends on the container. The platform names neither a bit rate, nor a sampling rate, nor a number of channels

audio exists only as a track of a video; the permissible audio codec depends on the container and is not set by a single list; https://help.pinterest.com/en/article/review-pin-specs was also checked — there is no audio there at all

source, checked 2026-08-04

Images. Sources diverge: An ordinary pin: "File type BMP, .JPEG, .PNG, .TIFF, .WEBP", the maximum file size depends on the device — "Web: 20 MB maximum", "Android and iOS: 1 GB recommended". The safe margins: "Top: 270 px, Left: 65 px, Right: 195 px, Bottom: 790 px". An advertising image has a set of its own: "File type .PNG or .JPEG", "Max file size Desktop 20 MB, In-app 32 MB", "We recommend using a 2:3 aspect ratio, or 1000 x 1500 pixels", and moreover "Pins with an aspect ratio greater than 2:3 might get cut off in people's feeds". A carousel: ".PNG or .JPEG", "20 MB per image", "2 to 5 images per carousel", "Aspect ratio 1:1 or 2:3". Any image is reassembled: "All uploaded images are converted to standard 8-bit RGB JPEGs before being turned into Pins and ads"

the limit on file size depends on the device and on the kind of pin, and the source contradicts itself: for a mobile the help centre on pins has "1 GB recommended", while the help centre on advertising has "In-app 32 MB" for the same case; the lists of formats for an ordinary pin and for advertising are also different (a pin has BMP, TIFF, WEBP, advertising only PNG and JPEG); the advertising numbers — https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/pinterest-product-specs

source, checked 2026-08-04

Content

The creator has no obligation to label AI content — the platform applies the label itself. An indication by the creator is called possible but not obligatory: "Some Pins may also have the AI modified label if the content owner indicated that the Pin was generated or modified using AI". The Pinterest "AI acceptable use guidelines" contain no labelling requirements at all

Three official pages were checked: the help article about the labels (help.pinterest.com/en/article/gen-ai-labels), the community guidelines (policy.pinterest.com/en/community-guidelines) and the AI use guidelines (policy.pinterest.com/en/genai-acceptable-use-guidelines). None of them has the words "must label". Read through WebFetch: the robots.txt of both domains disallows "anthropic-ai", "ClaudeBot", "Claude-Web", but not "Claude-User"

source, checked 2026-08-04

The label is called "AI modified" and appears from the platform itself: the user sees it "in close-up at the bottom left after you click on the Pin". For advertising pins the disclosure is under the ellipsis icon, with the wording "was modified with AI" or "may be modified with AI". The creator may dispute the label: to argue about it one has to "contact our support team"

Neither a tick box at upload nor a field "this was made by AI" in the pin creation form is described in the help centre

source, checked 2026-08-04

Yes, in two ways: "Pinterest analyzes a Pin’s metadata following the IPTC Metadata Standard, but also developed classifiers that automatically detect Gen AI content, even if the content doesn’t have obvious markers"

It is the IPTC standard that is named (not C2PA). Plus its own detectors, which work without metadata. The same is in the platform's news (newsroom.pinterest.com/news/introducing-gen-ai-labels/)

source, checked 2026-08-04

The general one: "Our policies apply to everyone and to all types of content, including synthetically generated content". Prohibited: "Content that is synthetically generated or manipulated to degrade and/or shame" (bullying); "synthetically generated or manipulated content that impersonates a person or organization" — for this "We’ll deactivate accounts"; on elections — "Fabricated or manipulated content (e.g. content generated with AI tools) making someone appear to do or say something they didn’t with the clear intent of influencing public sentiment about a political figure and/or election"; "Instructions, tools or services for creating sexually explicit or nudity content (e.g. “nudifiers”)"

Pinterest's ban regarding elections is worded directly and with a direct mention of AI tools. There is no separate ban on medical claims made by AI — there is a general ban on medical misinformation, not tied to the way of production

source, checked 2026-08-04

three types of «rich Pins»: recipe, article, product. They are switched on with Schema.org, h-recipe or Open Graph markup in the head section; synchronization takes up to 24 hours; on a page they can be turned off with the meta tag pinterest-rich-pin content=false

source, checked 2026-07-28

Promotion

Word for word: "Pinterest takes different factors into consideration when distributing Pins to people. When your Pin is seen by someone, they can engage with it in different ways. As users search, save and engage with your Pin, Pinterest uses that engagement information to determine what content is most relevant to share with people. Engagement is driven by what people who use Pinterest want to see and that can change over time"; "There's no set engagement window for Pins, so it's possible that a Pin can gain engagement hours, days, months, or even years after it's first published. Engagement of your Pins can be impacted by language, location, seasons, holidays, formats and trending topics." On language: "Depending on your location and what language your content is in, your Pins can be distributed differently." From the viewer's side: "Pinterest recommends Pins to you based on your saves, searches, and browsing activity"

the platform does not give a list of signals with weights; the second quotation is from the page https://help.pinterest.com/en/article/tune-your-home-feed

source, checked 2026-08-05

The control is detailed and listed point by point. Word for word: "Refine your recommendations in your settings to customize what appears in your feed. Refine your recommendations by setting your preferences: Activity: Turn off recommendations based on Pins you have looked at. AI content: Choose to see fewer AI Pins in certain categories in your feed. Boards: Turn off recommendations based on specific boards. Interests: Remove topics you no longer wish to see recommendations for. Following: Review and edit who you follow on Pinterest." Separately: "Recommendations are automatically turned off for archived boards and secret boards"; "Turning on or off recommendations won't affect the ads you see on your home feed"; "GenAI interests: Choose the GenAI interests you want to see less of"

the "AI content" / "GenAI interests" setting is a rare case: the showing of material made by AI is put into a separate toggle. A caveat: "The ability to customize your GenAI interests is available on desktop and Android only, with iOS coming soon"

source, checked 2026-08-05

Reduced distribution is named as a separate measure and defined word for word: "Limiting distribution: When we limit the distribution of a Pin, board or account, it will continue to be accessible on Pinterest to the user who posted it and to users with a direct link, but it won't be featured in recommendation or discovery surfaces, such as search results or the home feed." The basis: "We determine whether content should be removed or limited in distribution based on how much risk of harm it poses, particularly the severity of its impact and the vulnerability of its target." The measure extends to a whole board: "if we limit the distribution of a board, all of the Pins on that board will also be limited in distribution". There is also a reduction without a breach of the rules: "Content that our systems predict may not meet those criteria may be shown less often or less prominently, even if we haven't determined that the content necessarily goes against our Community Guidelines"

the clearest definition of "reduced distribution" of all twelve platforms. The page is marked "Last updated: April 2025"

source, checked 2026-08-05

It is stated directly and with a consequence. Word for word: "Avoid creating duplicate Pins: Try not to repeatedly save the same Pins or upload content that already exists on Pinterest. You may get flagged as spam and get temporarily blocked from creating Pins. If your content was uploaded by someone else, use the Content Claiming Portal to claim it." And advice about one's own content: "Create your own Pins: Publish your own Pins with fresh, new content instead of saving other people's Pins you find on Pinterest to see this reflected in your analytics"

the consequence is named as a "spam" flag and a temporary ban on creating Pins, not as reduced distribution

source, checked 2026-08-05

built-in scheduling: no more than 30 days ahead and no more than 10 scheduled Pins at a time; once scheduled, the image or video cannot be replaced

The shallow scheduling depth is a practical reason to use an external scheduler

source, checked 2026-07-28

the platform explains distribution through engagement and stresses that there is no fixed window: a Pin can pick up response hours, days, months and even years after publication; language, location, seasons, holidays, formats and trending topics all have an effect

The long life of a post is the key difference from feed-based platforms

source, checked 2026-07-28

There is no separate document specifically about ranking. The closest are a business help centre article, "Pin performance and distribution" (https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/pin-performance-and-distribution), a rules page, "Enforcement", with a section about limiting distribution (https://policy.pinterest.com/en/enforcement), and a help centre page about tuning recommendations (https://help.pinterest.com/en/article/tune-your-home-feed)

the word "algorithm" is not present on the help centre pages checked; the spread of content is described through the notion of "distribution"

source, checked 2026-08-05

The platform does not write about the time of day; about frequency it does write. Word for word: "Create regularly: Create Pins frequently and consistently to grow your following and increase your reach. Aim to create original content weekly. You can schedule Pins up to two weeks in advance that can be published in the future." And separately about the fact that the lifetime of a Pin is not limited: "There's no set engagement window for Pins, so it's possible that a Pin can gain engagement hours, days, months, or even years after it's first published"

nothing is said about the "best time to post"; all that is said is about the weekly frequency and about the fact that a Pin may gain a response even years later

source, checked 2026-08-05

There is no direct admission of "we do not disclose the mechanics" on the pages checked. The lists of signals are given without weights and with open-ended turns of phrase: "Pinterest takes different factors into consideration when distributing Pins to people"; "Content that our systems predict may not meet those criteria may be shown less often or less prominently". The word "algorithm" does not occur in the help centre articles checked

https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/pin-performance-and-distribution, https://policy.pinterest.com/en/enforcement and https://help.pinterest.com/en/article/tune-your-home-feed were checked. The robots.txt of help.pinterest.com and of policy.pinterest.com close off anthropic-ai, ClaudeBot and Claude-Web, but not Claude-User — the pages were read lawfully

source, checked 2026-08-05

Analytics

The organic reporting metrics with the platform's own definitions: Impressions — "The number of times your Pins or ads were on screen"; Saves — "The number of times people saved your Pin to a board"; Pin clicks — "The total number of clicks on your Pin or ad so it opens in closeup"; Outbound clicks — "The number of times people perform actions that lead them to a destination off Pinterest"; Profile visits — "The number of times people visited your profile after viewing one of your Pins"; Follows — "The number of times people followed you after viewing one of your Pins"; Video views — "The amount of views for at least 2 seconds with 50% of video in view"

the platform states the definition of a video view directly: two seconds with half of the video on screen

source, checked 2026-08-05

"If Pin was created before 2023-03-20 lifetime metrics will only be available for Video and Idea Pin formats"

for ordinary Pins created before 20 March 2023 nobody has lifetime metrics

source, checked 2026-08-05

"The reporting endpoints covered in this guide are only for organic Pins, any new performance a Pin receives once its been promoted will be reported on in our ad analytic endpoints"

once promotion has been started, the organic reporting for a Pin stops being added to

source, checked 2026-08-05

The rolled-up metrics for 1, 7 and 30 days are "unique to this method of fetching and not available in other analytics endpoints"

the same figures are not served by every endpoint — hence part of the discrepancies between tools

source, checked 2026-08-05

"90 day look back on organic reporting for user accounts and Pins"; "Lifetime organic reporting for most Pins"

day by day — 90 days back; the lifetime total exists, but with the stipulation about Pins older than 20 March 2023

source, checked 2026-08-05

"Some analytics are only available if the user has a business account"

the wording is deliberately vague: the platform does not list which metrics exactly are closed to a personal account

source, checked 2026-08-05

built-in statistics require a business account; they show engagements, impressions, saves, Pin clicks and outbound clicks, and for video — views, average play time, 10-second plays and 95 % completions; the depth is a year and a half plus real-time estimates for 48 hours; export to CSV

Real-time audience metrics are not available

source, checked 2026-07-28

The platform's page about measurement names two dashboards — Pinterest Analytics and Ads Manager — and general words about "overall performance, in addition to more audience-specific insights and trends", but it gives no list of metrics

robots.txt was checked separately. www.pinterest.com — "User-agent: * / Disallow: /", closed completely; help.pinterest.com — "User-agent: ClaudeBot / Disallow: /", closed to us. Open are developers.pinterest.com ("User-agent: * / Allow: /") and business.pinterest.com ("Allow: /", with only /search-results? disallowed). Everything else comes from there

source, checked 2026-08-05

Export of organic data as a file is not described in the documentation checked; a separate endpoint for a report exists only in the advertising part

the v5 reference pages are served by a script and are empty in the HTML, so it was not possible to confirm the list of parameters

source, checked 2026-08-05

How the money works here

Creator's share. There is no share: Pinterest does not pay creators for content. Earning is described as a commission from third parties — "When you partner with brands and someone buys from your affiliate link, you could make a commission"

Pinterest acts not as the payer but as the platform where content is placed; the rate is set by the brand's affiliate programme

source, checked 2026-08-04

There are no payout programs from the platform. The tools named are: the paid partnership tool (a paid partnership label) and affiliate links with product tagging in pins

both mechanics are a way to mark and measure someone else's payments, not to receive money from Pinterest

source, checked 2026-08-04

Allowed with restrictions. Allowed: running one genuine account for affiliate activity, publishing original affiliate content, using affiliate links paid per click, paying invited creators to run boards for brands. Prohibited: paying for each save of a pin or subscription to a board, using fake accounts for affiliate links, asking people to save affiliate pins in exchange for a return action, asking others to create pins with your affiliate identifiers, inflating popularity, publishing affiliate pins in large volume — "should be used in moderation"

the restriction is about volume and anti-spam, not a ban on affiliate links as such

source, checked 2026-08-04

What must be disclosed. "Include a clear disclosure to indicate the commercial nature of your content (such as the use of #ad to indicate that your content is a paid partnership, or applying a label to your content using Pinterest's paid partnership tool)". For affiliate content: "Be transparent about the commercial nature of your content and about your links and their behavior"

either the #ad hashtag or the built-in paid partnership label is acceptable

source, checked 2026-08-04

the platform states OUTRIGHT that it does not provide payouts under monetization programmes — product tagging, affiliate links and brand collaborations; payment terms are to be agreed directly with the brand or partner

The most important fact for the card: there is advertising on the platform, but no payouts to authors from the platform. This refines the earlier record about the absence of links to payouts: now there is a direct statement by the platform itself, not an inference from missing links

source, checked 2026-07-28

the platform names three earning routes for authors: links to your own site, affiliate links and brand collaborations

All three are income from third parties, not from the platform

source, checked 2026-07-28

the built-in paid partnership label is available ONLY in the mobile app; one brand per Pin; the label cannot be added after publication, and once removed it cannot be brought back; the author CANNOT promote a labelled Pin themselves — only the brand partner has the right to promote it

The promotion restriction changes the shape of the deal: the promo budget has to sit with the brand

source, checked 2026-07-28

affiliate links are explicitly allowed, but with conditions: one genuine account, original content, moderate volume, mandatory disclosure of the commercial nature (for example, #ad). Fake accounts for saving your own links and arrangements for reciprocal saves are prohibited

source, checked 2026-07-28

Who is admitted. Pinterest does not describe a payout program of its own for creators with an entry threshold. For the paid partnership tool it says only: "The paid partnership tool is only available on the Pinterest app"; it is used by creators who have "a material connection" with a brand; it is separately stipulated that "Some of these options may only be available to account owners above a certain age", but the age is not named

the Pinterest help centre has no numeric thresholds (subscribers, views)

source, checked 2026-08-04

Limits and restrictions

the unit of counting changes with the access tier: on trial the limits are counted in calls per DAY per application, on standard — in calls per MINUTE per user and application

Not only the size of the limit changes, but what exactly is being counted

source, checked 2026-07-28

trial access: 1000 requests a day across all calls. Standard access: 100 requests per second per user per application, by category per minute — ad analytics 300, ad reads 1000, ad writes 400, catalogues 100 and 100, organic analytics 60, organic reads 1000, organic writes 100, trends 60

The documentation warns that the limits may change without notice. The working address is /docs/reference/rate-limits/ (with the hyphen); the former /ratelimits/ returns an error

source, checked 2026-07-28

Word for word: trial access (Trial access) — "1000 requests per day for all API requests"; standard access (Standard access) — "100 requests per second per user per app for all API requests". There are separate limits by classes of endpoints: for example, ads_analytics — 1,000 requests per 24 hours with trial access and 300 per minute with standard access; ads_write — 300 per 24 hours and 400 per minute respectively. The response headers: x-ratelimit-limit, x-ratelimit-remaining, x-ratelimit-reset

The only one of the thirteen platforms where the limit per user and per app is named directly by a number: 100 calls per second per "user + app" pair. A change of the limit is by a request to support ("file a ticket with our support team")

source, checked 2026-08-04

Word for word: "A rate limit block is a temporary block that may automatically be put on your account if we notice that you’ve repeatedly done the same action too many times in a short period of time." The reasons: frequent logins, fast and repeated comments, fast follows, the saving of a multitude of pins from one site in a row. Removal: "most limits are removed automatically within 24 hours"

The term of removal is named directly — up to 24 hours, automatically. The threshold number of actions itself is not published deliberately: all that is said is "too many times in a short period of time"

source, checked 2026-08-04

Word for word: "Appeals are how you can tell us if you think we made an enforcement error." "Appeals can be submitted in-product, via the Help Center or by clicking the one-click appeal link in an enforcement notice email that we sent you." "We review appeal requests and update our enforcement decision if we determine that we made a mistake, or in some cases to give people another chance to abide by our rules." A proviso: "Appeals availability may vary for some product features or in some localities"

Pinterest does not name terms for submission. For a temporary block for tempo, contesting is not provided for: the help centre proposes waiting, the restriction is removed by itself within 24 hours. For the limits of programmatic access — a request to support

source, checked 2026-08-04

There is no daily limit. Word for word: "There’s no limit to how many Pins you can create" and "There’s no limit to how many people can follow you". At the same time a limit on the number of boards does exist, but it is not named by a number: on reaching it a notification arrives and it is proposed that part of the boards be deleted

Pins may be created in any quantity, but the tempo is limited separately — through a "rate limit block" for repeated actions. The number of boards is limited without the size being indicated

source, checked 2026-08-04

A limit exists, the number is not named. Word for word: "There’s no limit to how many people can follow you", but a limit on one's own follows does exist, and on reaching it "You can still continue to follow people who already follow you". The reason for a temporary block is named separately: "following a lot of people in a short period of time"

Pinterest acknowledges a limit on the number of follows and does not publish its size; once it is exhausted, one is allowed to follow only those who already follow you

source, checked 2026-08-04

Restrictions

on the trial access tier the Pins and boards created through the API are VISIBLE ONLY TO THEIR CREATOR: the platform calls them sandbox entities. For others to see the publications, the application has to be moved to the standard access tier

The publication happens and gives no error — but nobody sees it. The most deceptive kind of restriction: from the application's side everything looks successful. Two records about the same thing are merged here; the former address /docs/getting-started/access-tiers/ now leads to this one

source, checked 2026-07-28

you can use the platform from the age of 13; the accounts of users under 16 automatically become private

The age restriction affects statistics too: the platform warns that analytics may be unavailable to owners under a certain age

source, checked 2026-07-28

API access

the application goes through review: the request is considered every business day, and an approval or refusal email follows

source, checked 2026-07-28

two access tiers: Trial and Standard. The difference lies in the limits and in the behaviour of the objects created

source, checked 2026-07-28

built-in auto-publishing from RSS requires a claimed site and links matching that domain; the limit is up to 200 Pins a day; new content is processed within 24 hours, starting from the older entries

Scheduling without a third-party service is a rare built-in capability

source, checked 2026-07-28

to move to the standard access tier you have to apply from the My apps section, confirm details about the application and the privacy policy, and upload a VIDEO DEMONSTRATION of the application showing the OAuth sign-in

The video demonstration requirement is an unusual barrier: the application cannot be closed out with text fields alone

source, checked 2026-07-28

Languages

the interface language of the home page: en

The language is taken from the markup attribute, the versions from hreflang

source, checked 2026-07-28

metrics

A video view, verbatim: «Video views — The amount of views for at least 2 seconds with 50% of video in view» (at least 2 seconds with 50 % of the video in view; in the API the metric is called VIDEO_MRC_VIEW). An impression, verbatim: «Impressions — The number of times your Pins or ads were on screen»

help.pinterest.com is closed in robots.txt by name to ClaudeBot/Claude-Web/anthropic-ai — the open metrics glossary at developers.pinterest.com was used (robots: Allow /); the quotations were checked against the page's HTML

source, checked 2026-08-07

The equivalent of reach is Total audience, verbatim: «The total number of people who have seen or engaged with your Pins»; monthly reach, verbatim: «Monthly total audience — The total number of people who have seen or engaged with your Pins in a 30 day window up to and including each day» (a rolling 30-day window)

Pinterest calls reach «audience» and counts it in people, unlike impressions (times on screen); separately there is Engaged audience — «The number of people who have engaged with your Pins»

source, checked 2026-08-07

Verbatim: «Engagements — The total number of engagements on your Pins. This includes saves, Pin clicks, outbound clicks, carousel card swipes, secondary creative (collections) clicks»; the rate, verbatim: «Engagement rate — The total engagements with your Pins divided by the total number of times your Pins were seen. Engagements include saves, Pin clicks, and outbound clicks»

Note: the Engagements counter has five types of action, while in the Engagement rate formula the glossary lists only three (saves, Pin clicks, outbound clicks) — the platform's own wordings differ

source, checked 2026-08-07

Catalogue section: all similar See also: catalogue index · region: USA and Canada · scheduler comparison · find by situation · platform restrictions