The newest feature to be unveiled yesterday on Pinterest gives you the ability to customize your search. Now, you can select to search everything or just your own pins. Pinterest suggests using this to find if you have already pinned something. But what exactly does this mean for companies who are using Pinterest to expand their reach and market their products?
An unreliable search engine
The search function on Pinterest has always been somewhat unpredictable. In the beginning, your search would bring up the most popular pins. Then, the search function changed and would reveal the most recent pins on your topic. Most recently, the change in the way a hashtag search functions seems to reveal an even deeper struggle by Pinterest to master the ability to provide an effective way to search billions of pins.
The newest search function seems to have even more complicated results. A search for the term “homeschool” brought up pins with various dates and interactions…
At first glance, I thought that the search results were based on recent interactions, but then how would I explain the search result that had no repins, likes, or comments? This also means that the results are not based on popularity.
I know for a fact that the search results are not based on recent pins since I am a member of a large community of homeschool bloggers who pin regularly and none of their pins showed in the top ten.
Only one thing is clear… keywords are a necessity if you have any hope of showing up in someone’s search results. For brands and bloggers, as you pin your own content, make sure that the pin description contains the words that will help pinners find you.
How does the Pinterest search work?
I would LOVE to know what you have discovered about the Pinterest search. How do you think the algorithm picks search results?
