They’re the words every blogger hates to hear: Pinterest is doing an update.
What are the telltale signs of a Pinterest update, you ask?
-A sudden huge drop in your site’s traffic
-Your usual pinning tactics no longer working
-General mania and mayhem in all of your social media blogging groups
-And a 300% increase in the amount of times you scream at the Pinterest section of your Google Analytics, “WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!?!” while your partner slowly backs out of the room in fear.
While seemingly minor, a Pinterest update and change in algorithm can actually be a pretty big deal.
You see, many bloggers (myself included) receive the majority of their traffic from Pinterest.
So when the Pinterest algorithm changes and traffic takes a nosedive, it’s cause for concern. It’s like everything is slightly askew. Mercury is in retrograde. The world is off-kilter. Nothing feels right.
You know that weird sound you hear at night when Pinterest is in the middle of an update?
It’s not raccoons.
It’s the sound of mom bloggers around the world, creeping out of their homes and howling at the moon, begging forgiveness for whatever they’ve done to anger Mother Pinterest.
(I’m not speaking from personal experience, mind you. I mean, I’m out there howling at the moon nightly, yes, but for entirely different reasons.)
It’s time we learned some coping strategies for Pinterest updates.
After many, many hours of research and a close examination of Pinterest trends, I’ve forecasted five potential Pinterest updates that could likely happen in the future, and strategies we can use to save both our traffic AND our sanity.
(NOTE: These haven’t OFFICIALLY been implemented yet, but I think it’s a wise blogging strategy to anticipate trends and plan ahead.)
Here are five ways to keep your traffic (and your cool!) during potential Pinterest updates.
POTENTIAL PINTEREST UPDATE # 1
PINTEREST NO LONGER FAVORS “FRESH” CONTENT.
Every blogger knows that Pinterest has always been about “fresh” content.
If you’re a content creator, they want your latest and your greatest. We’re talking multiple pins for each blog post, and perhaps even creating them DAILY (Seriously, Pinterest? I can’t even SHOWER daily).
That pin you created yesterday at lunch time? ALREADY IRRELEVANT.
But now things have changed.
Pinterest doesn’t want fresh content.
They want STALE content. Stale, old, out-of-date content.
What’s a blogger to do?
Pinterest Traffic-Saving Solution:
Let’s go old.
Like, realllllly old.
Dig out those encyclopedias, or dive into Wikipedia, and start making those pins!
Are you stumped? Here are a few suggestions to get the ball rolling:
“1 Burlap Tunic, 20 Ways: Pregnancy Capsule Wardrobe for the Ancient Greek Mama”
“13 Fun Toddler Activities from the 1800s!” featuring thimble counting, button sewing, chimney sweeping, and more!
“Mutton, Rice & Potato Fritters: Easy Baby-Led Weaning Recipes for Your Victorian-Era Baby”
“Self-Care for the 19th Century Mom: Heat up that Bath Water, and DON’T GET SMALLPOX!”
Whip up about 300 of these (you should still be creating them daily, so maybe start with the 15th century and work your way up?), and soon that Monthly Viewers count will be skyrocketing!
POTENTIAL PINTEREST UPDATE # 2
NO MORE 600×900 PINS.
This one has been a long time coming: Pinterest is tired of long pins.
We all know that the super long “giraffe” pins have fallen out of favor, and will be penalized by being cropped in our feeds.
But now even our trusty 600×900 ones are getting the boot.
But that’s like ALL of my pins, you cry out indignantly. And I JUST finished making my series on 17th century baby registry essentials! Why, Pinterest, WHY?!
I know, girl. I know.
Much like a toddler who despises blue spoons today after adoring them yesterday, Pinterest is a fickle beast. And one who must be appeased.
Pinterest Traffic-Saving Solution:
And appease we shall: we’re going small.
Say goodbye to the giraffes and say hello to your new best pin.
It’s short.
It’s squat.
It’s cute, but also wildly impractical: what I like to call the “Warthog” pin.
Measuring 200×200 pixels, this new pin is tiny, like a postage stamp. You can fit at least ten of them in a single row in your feed, instead of the mere six from before.
Unfortunately, due to its small size, you won’t be able to decipher any writing on the pin, so I would instead suggest going with a pretty color, or perhaps just your keyword in BOLD.
For example, if your pin is a sweet potato and red lentil slow cooker soup recipe, your pin would simply say “FOOD” in bold.
Making an extremely small and succinct pin helps to cut out all of the bells and whistles and just get right to the point, ya know? Who has time to wade through SIXTY different recipes for red velvet cake recipes? (*coughs loudly while frantically closing 60 open tabs on computer*)
You may also wish to invest in a pair of high quality glasses.
POTENTIAL PINTEREST UPDATE #3
GROUP BOARDS ARE OUT.
You know all of that time you take each evening, carefully pinning your pins to your group boards? And then all of that time you spend re-pinning other people’s pins to make sure you’re following the group board rules?
Oh, and THEN all of the time you spend seeking out new group boards to join, sending emails to board owners which will never be answered, and messages which will never be acknowledged?
Yeah.
Well, that’s all done now.
All those things you thought about group boards—that they’re great for distribution and engagement? You thought wrong.
Now Pinterest says that group boards are bad.
Not only are they bad, but using them will actually be DETRIMENTAL to your personal life.
They will cause your toddler to stop napping.
They will cause your rent to increase.
They will cause your crops to fail.
They will cause every stranger you encounter to ask, “No offence, but are you feeling okay? You look a little tired.”
They will cause all of your leggings to develop holes in the inner thighs immediately after one wearing.
Truly devastating stuff.
So how do we deal?!
Pinterest Traffic-Saving Solution:
Now is the time for swift action: delete all of your group boards immediately and pretend that you were never in them.
If you MUST speak of them in conversation, be sure to use a soft, gentle tone full of fondness, as if you’re recalling a long-ago, distant memory.
“Ah yes, I remember the days of !!!Best Blogging for Basic Bosses Share Group!!! It was a different time, wasn’t it?,” followed by a wistful sigh.
To fill the seven hours of free time that you now have each evening since you’re no longer dealing with your group boards, I suggest the following:
-Engaging in political debates with your weirdest relatives on Facebook
-Creating a detailed six month SEO plan which focuses almost entirely on sharing funny memes and trying to remain coherent on five hours of sleep a night
-Searching for that fancy blog planner that you ordered off of Amazon that your toddler now uses as her very expensive coloring book
–Sleeping Sharing more memes
POTENTIAL PINTEREST UPDATE #4
PERSONAL BOARDS NEED TO BE NICHED WAY DOWN.
You’ve been working hard on your personal boards. Maintaining them. Adding keywords left and right. Maybe even doing those personalized covers for them (girl, you fancy!).
And that’s great and all, really, but guess what?
IT’S NOT ENOUGH.
You see, your personal boards are just too BROAD.
Pinterest, like the rest of the blogging community, now wants you to niche them right down.
Pinterest Traffic-Saving Solution:
No sweat.
Let’s say you’re in the motherhood niche. You likely have personal boards on topics such as “Pregnancy,” “Babies,” “Toddlers,” “Postpartum Fitness,” etc.
But those broad topics are leaving your followers confused. And frustrated. And straight up FURIOUS.
So instead of a single board called “Labor and Delivery,” we’re going to break it down into several helpful, niched-down boards, with a different keyword in each of them.
–First Contraction
–Second Contraction
–Refusal of Epidural
–374th Contraction
–Request for an Epidural
–Six Hour Wait for an Epidural
–Insertion of Epidural
–Failure of Epidural
–C-Section It Is!
–Listening to Surgeons Chit Chat While Shivering Uncontrollably On a Gurney
–Oh Hi, Baby! You Look Different Than I Thought
–It’s Placenta Time!
–Wearing 4 Huge Maxi Pads at Once
–A Stranger Helped Me Pee While I Cried
–So Very Tired May I Sleep Now Please
This way, your followers will be able to easily understand EXACTLY what your board is about.
No more confusing everyone with combining pins for both postpartum body image and postpartum fitness in the same place (What are you, some kind of monster?! You make me sick).
All of these super niched-down boards with extremely specific keywords will leave your followers re-pinning and sharing your pins until the cows come home.
Although, oddly enough, “It’s Placenta Time!” seems to have only three followers. Probably needs a better board cover.
POTENTIAL PINTEREST UPDATE #5
YOU ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED TO DO YOUR PINNING.
Okay, stay with me here. This one is pretty weird.
To be honest, I’m starting to suspect that Pinterest is just messing with us now. I had my first inkling that they were testing us when that “first five pins of the day” fiasco occurred (…what WAS that, by the way?), but now I’m fairly certain of it.
When pressed for explanation, vague mumblings of “user engagement” and “targeting new demographics” and “I dunno just getting a little bit bored” were overheard.
Whatever the reason is, here’s what we know:
Pinterest wants someone pinning from your account, just not YOU.
They’re sick of you. They know what you’re up to. They see you log on only during bathroom breaks and re-pin 30 pins about cheesecake. Come on, girl; you’re not even in a baking niche!
Time to mix it up, they say.
Pinterest Traffic-Saving Solution:
Well then, let’s get ready to rumble.
This one is perhaps the most challenging update of all, but it’s still doable.
Sit your toddler down on your knee, and instead of reading her Little Blue Truck seventeen times in a row like you normally do, tell her that it’s a very special day.
“Today is the day Mommy is going to teach you Pinterest.”
Now, you’re going to need a lot of patience for this.
It’s going to be quite a bit of, “No, no, honey, you pin it to your most relevant board FIRST,” and “Remember when Mommy explained that the monthly visitor number is different from the monthly engaged? We need to LISTEN.”
It’s going to be tough. Really tough.
It will likely be harder than teething, nap time, bed time, learning to walk, and potty training all mixed together.
But if you persevere and use lots of positive reinforcement (“Great job, sweetheart! We got 20 re-pins on that one!”), soon your toddler will be running your Pinterest account with ease.
Just make sure your cute little Pinner is creating content daily.
Phew! We did it, folks: we navigated our way through five potential Pinterest updates while keeping our traffic (and our sanity) intact!
TAKEAWAY LESSONS
I know this post might be a bit of information overload, so for those of us with a bad case of Mom Brain, here’s a summary of our Action Items:
1.) Ensure your content is old, stale, and out-of-date.
2.) Begin phasing out your disgustingly large 600×900 pins and phasing in your new 200×200 “warthog-sized” pins.
3.) Leave your group boards behind and never look back.
4.) Create extremely specific, as niched-down as humanly possible personal boards.
5.) Your toddler is now in charge of your Pinterest account.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all of this, just take it slow.
Or, if you’re a Pinterest Queen like myself, just go ahead and implement all of them now! These updates are bound to happen at some point, right? (…Maybe? Probably? Definitely not? Eh, just go for it!)
I hope these strategies will be helpful for you on your Pinterest journey through life.
What strategies do YOU use to help keep your sanity during Pinterest updates? And what updates do you predict will be coming our way soon? I’d love to hear from you!
PS: Want more blogging tips? Be sure to check out: How I Grew My Mom Blog’s Traffic from 0 to 20 Views in Five Months, and How You Can, Too!
DIED at “It’s Placenta Time!” Gold, my friend. Internet/blogging gold.
SO glad you enjoyed “It’s Placenta Time!” (sheesh, the amount of times I have to type that sentence, ya know??). Thanks so much for reading! May these tips bring your pinning to a whole new level (…and by that, I clearly mean to you creating a personal board also entitled, “It’s Placenta Time!”).
That was hilarious! I’m loving the 15th century peasant thing 🙂
Thank you so much, Sarah! Minimalism is in now, right?? I’m taking the 15th century peasant’s lead and have already ditched all of my pewter tableware and MOST of my burlap sacks. Not all,but most.
Thank you for commenting! 🙂
I avoid all this by totally sucking at Pinterest lol
I think that’s a wise strategy. I somehow manage to spend way too much time trying to figure out Pinterest, while also totally sucking at it. My “How to Be a Minimalist When You’re a 15th Century Peasant” pin is doing horribly!
Hahaha this is awesome, and also hammers home how ridiculous some of things we do to get on Pinterest’s good side are!
Yes! Pinterest is almost more demanding than my toddler. I can’t keep up with the constant demands and changing rules, so I’m gonna stick with the 200×200 pins about placentas and hope for the best.
Thanks so much for reading, Laura!