Hey blog fam wanted to write this post to help some of you with some Pinterest marketing strategies to avoid.
There are so many changes that we are seeing with Pinterest these days (all for the better-we hope?)
It seems like the slightest wrong move you make could get your account flagged as spam and even more serious suspended.
In the different Facebook groups I participate in every single day there are a number of people seeking advice on what to do because there account has been suspended or they have seen a drop in engagements.
Pinterest Tips For Bloggers
This has certainly been my case, as a Pinterest account I am working on appears to have just fallen off a cliff so to speak.
My overall engagements have dropped significantly, and while link clicks back to my website have also dropped. The drop is not as steep and I continue to see traffic to my website.
I recently reached out to Pinterest regarding my analytics- all of a sudden going haywire and they responded with this.
“Just like our users’ interests evolve, we can expect the distribution of content to see natural ups and downs as well.“
“We encourage creators to continue to post high-quality, inspiring ideas to see what resonates with their audience on Pinterest. In some cases recent changes may be due to updates we are making to prioritize new Pins over already-Pinned content.”
“Pinners come to our platform to find new ideas and as we continue to update our service, we’ll prioritize new original content published by creators over Saves.”
That was a bit of what the email read. Recent Pinterest updates are the cause of these changes.
So as creators we need to continue to produce original content to keep our accounts healthy and growing.
This post will be about Pinterest marketing strategies you definitely need to avoid so that you can protect your profile.
Since I’ve had an account suspended I’m extra careful when it comes to my activity on Pinterest.
Sometimes it feels like the slightest thing I do could get me flagged?
It’s a little frustrating but I continue testing different strategies in an effort to grow my profile.
I will say this for those who are looking to grow your website traffic organically.
Pinterest is still a great platform to promote your content, be discovered, and drive traffic to your website.
Pinterest Marketing Strategies to Avoid
If you go through the steps in setting up your free Pinterest business account.
Create a keyword optimized BIO.
Choose board titles that reflect your niche, and create great looking pins with catchy titles and SEO optimized descriptions.
You can definitely rank your pins on Pinterest, be discovered, and drive traffic to your website or offering.
If you want to learn how to properly set up your profile. You can see my post here the Ultimate Pinterest Guide.
If you want to learn specifics on ranking your Pinterest pins. You can see my post here on Ranking Your Pinterest Pins.
My suggestion is to be careful with your pinning activities. Verify your website, and add rich pins to help Pinterest get to know you better.
Let’s jump in and have a look
Low Quality Pins
Look out for spammy looking pins. When you are saving others pins (curating) you want to find the highest quality pins to add. Pay attention to what the pins are saying.
In the beginning I would move so fast and just pin pin pin. You want to be mindful of what you are pinning making sure you find high quality pins with valid URL’s.
An occurrence of saving pins that have already been blocked or the pin says “best recipes” but redirects to a different website and content- could get your boards flagged.
Once your flagged you may see a decrease in engagements or even end up with a suspended account.
The Pinterest algorithm is designed to find spam so you want to not associate your profile with any suspect pins.
Repinning Non Relevant Pins
Doing this the right way can prevent your account from being flagged as spam on Pinterest.
As a content creator you want to save pins within your niche. When you use Facebook share threads make sure you are in a group that is relevant to your niche.
These groups are super easy to find. You can search “Pinterest bloggers” and be given a list of choices that are related.
If you join one of these groups you won’t have to worry about your pins being saved to a non relevant board. As the group is specific to your niche.
This works for your pins as well as pins you save from others.
Using Stolen Pins
Once in a while you may come across a really eye catchy pin. You decide to use the pin as one of yours. As innocent and simple as this may seem its totally against Pinterest policy.
Your pin will be reported quickly and you will loose your account.
A word about templates-while you may recognize a pin from another user it could be due to them using a template they may have purchased.
Usually when using a template you want to customize it and add a new image, new colors, etc.
Repetitive Content
Don’t create or save content that is repetitive. Saving the same pin over and over to the same board is a big no no. You can easily end up in the danger zone with Pinterest.
Now you probably wouldn’t do this knowingly but even if you did it mistakenly it could affect your account.
Just pay attention to what your pinning. If your making multiple pins per post make sure to use time intervals (5,7,10 days).
Otherwise you can pin the same URL to different boards and not be spammy.
Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing can potentially hurt your profile and even look spammy. To Pinterest this is attempting to manipulate the system.
You want to find relevant keywords and use them in a natural, readable way. Whatever your keyword choices are do not use the same keyword more than one time in the sentence.
What is keyword stuffing? Here’s an example. My keyword is “healthy snacks”.
The most healthy snacks for your diet are important. If you want to learn more about healthy snacks you can follow my boards and learn the best healthy snack ideas.
A little over exaggerated but to make the point this was a quick example.
Mass Following
In 2021 I do not recommend mass following and unfollowing.
Even though some people do this i would suggest limiting the amount of accounts you follow. Only follow accounts recommended by Pinterest.
I had an account suspended in 2019 and Pinterest did not specify why it was suspended. The only activity I had on the account was mass repetitive following.
Mass Commenting
When you commented on pins this was a way to potentially get found on Pinterest. Now this too can hurt your account.
It’s perfectly fine to comment but you want to limit commenting to just a couple at a time in a day.
If you are commenting on multiple pins throughout the day this could look spammy to Pinterest and get you shutdown.
Using Shortened Links
Another big no no on Pinterest is using link shortners. If you’ve ever clicked on a pin and the link read. “this link may lead to spam” that’s the result of a shortened link.
The following comes directly from Pinterest community guidelines
“Don’t attempt to evade our anti-spam systems, for example, by using shorteners”
So just make sure to use the full link provided to you.
Conclusion
With all of the changes we are seeing with Pinterest these days its important for content creators to know what not to in order to keep your account out of Pinterest jail.
If you end up getting your account suspended you may or may not be able to get the account back.
You would need to go through a link and choose appeal and complete the form including your username, email address on your Pinterest account, reason why you are appealing and a screenshot of your account showing suspended.
If you are suspended I hope the best for you in recovering your account.
Now over to you
More Pinterest marketing strategies to avoid? Has your Pinterest account been suspended or flagged? What was your method of recovering your account?
Leave comments below. We love hearing from our readers!
