Pinterest for Etsy sellers: pins that bring traffic

You've heard Pinterest can send traffic to an Etsy shop. So you pinned a few listings, nothing happened, and you went back to Etsy. Meanwhile other sellers say Pinterest is where half their visitors come from.

The difference is usually how the pins are made. Pinterest works more like a search engine than a social feed: people search for ideas, save them and click through later. Pins that are tall, clear and described in the words people search for keep getting found long after you post them. This guide shows you how to make those.

Set up your account

1. 1Use a business account. A Pinterest business account gives you analytics, so you can see which pins get clicks. You can switch an existing personal account or create a new one.
2. 2Name and profile. Use your shop name and a short line about what you sell, using words people would search for.
3. 3Know what you can't claim. Pinterest lets you claim a website you own, which links your profile to pins from that site. But Pinterest's help page says you're "unable to claim most social accounts and online stores hosted on marketplaces like Etsy, eBay and Amazon" (Pinterest Help). You can still pin your Etsy listings. If you have your own website as well, claim that.
4. 4Make a few boards. Organise them by what people search for, not by your shop sections. "Minimalist wall art for small spaces" works better than "New arrivals".

Pin sizes and limits from Pinterest

Sources: Pin specs and ad specs, which give the 2:3 recommendation.

Pinterest also says descriptions don't show in the home feed or search feed, but its system uses them to decide who sees the pin. So the description is for being found, and the image and title are for getting the click.

Why your Etsy photos aren't enough on their own

Etsy works best with horizontal photos (see our guide to Etsy photos). Pinterest works best with tall ones. A horizontal listing photo pinned as it is shows up small in a feed of tall pins.

So for Pinterest, make tall versions:

• Crop or reshoot tall. A 2:3 crop of your best photo, with the product filling most of the frame.
• Use a lifestyle scene. Pinterest users are often looking for ideas, so a photo of the item in a real room or outfit does well. Our guide to lifestyle product photos covers this.
• Add a short text line, if it helps. A few words like "Gift idea for coffee lovers", inside the safe zone. Keep it readable on a phone.
• Keep it accurate. The colour and details should match the listing, so people who click aren't surprised.

What to write on each pin

This is a made-up example. "Pebble Row Prints" isn't a real brand. Pebble Row Prints sells botanical art prints on Etsy.

Use the words people search for, the same way you'd write Etsy titles and tags, but write a sentence a person would read, not a list of keywords.

How to pin an Etsy listing

1. 1Open Pinterest and create a new pin.
2. 2Upload your tall image.
3. 3Add the title and description.
4. 4Paste the full URL of your Etsy listing as the destination link.
5. 5Choose the board that matches what people search for.
6. 6Publish, or schedule it for later.

Make more than one pin per listing. Different images and titles for the same product reach different searches: one pin for "gift for her", another for "bathroom wall art".

A weekly routine you can keep

Pinterest traffic often builds slowly, because pins keep being found in search over time. Give it a few months before deciding whether it works for your shop.

Common mistakes

• Pinning horizontal photos as they are. They look small next to tall pins.
• Linking to your shop home page. Link to the exact listing, so people land where they can buy.
• Empty or vague descriptions. The description helps Pinterest decide who sees the pin.
• Pinning only once. One pin per listing is easy to miss.
• Text too close to the edge. Pinterest's safe zones exist because parts of the pin get covered on some screens.

Where YelloShelf fits

Cropping, reshooting and writing pins yourself is free, and Pinterest's own scheduler is free too. If you'd rather not make every pin by hand, YelloShelf makes social posts from your own product photos, with captions and hashtags for Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X, and checks that your real product looks right in each one. It doesn't post for you: you download each post and pin it yourself. It doesn't have a free plan or trial. You buy a credit pack, starting at $10, and your first purchase comes with a money-back guarantee. We're helping you remove the manual, tedious, time-consuming work. You still read it, edit it and paste it in yourself.

For Instagram, see our guides to Instagram post ideas and Instagram captions for products.

Quick checklist

• Pinterest business account, named after your shop.
• Website claimed if you have your own. Etsy shops can't be claimed.
• Tall pins, 2:3, for example 1000 x 1500 pixels.
• Text inside the safe zones.
• Title up to 100 characters, using searchable words.
• Description filled in, up to 800 characters.
• Each pin links to the exact Etsy listing.
• Several pins per listing, scheduled through the week.