How to Go Viral on Pinterest: Tips and Tricks that Work

Did you know that 85% of weekly Pinterest users have bought something based on the Pins they come across on the platform?. While often bundled with networks like Instagram and Facebook, Pinterest isn’t your typical platform; it’s a visual search engine that people use not just to kill time but to find ideas and discover products. This makes it one of the best options for brands and content creators looking to increase sales and earnings.

There’s just one thing, though: Pinterest is not scroll-driven. So, sudden spikes in views and engagements aren’t typically the norm. Don’t get us wrong — Pins do go viral. But virality takes a lot of work, as it often results from consistent profile and Pin optimization.

In this guide, we explore how to go viral on Pinterest, providing not just practical tips to help your content grow but also diving into how the Pinterest algorithm works.

How the Pinterest Algorithm Works

To determine how best to go viral on Pinterest, you first need to know how the platform’s algorithm works. The Pinterest algorithm is the engine that determines where your Pins land and how they rank. Crack the algorithm code, and you’ll know exactly how to optimize your profile and content for discoverability on the platform.

As with many social media algorithms, Pinterest’s system follows a simple logic: push high-quality, fresh content that aligns with users’ interests. To facilitate this, it weighs the following signals when determining Pin visibility:

Content Relevance

Pinterest’s algorithm aims to make sure Pins reach the right audiences. To achieve this, it scans Pin titles, descriptions, linked domains, and Board topics to understand what your content entails. Once it does, it compares it to what Pinterest users are searching for and surfaces posts when they align with user queries.

Pin Quality

As a visual search engine, it’s no surprise that Pin quality is one of the most impactful signals. The algorithm assesses Pin quality based on engagement. The more comments, saves, likes, click-throughs, zooms, and shares a Pin has, the higher its perceived quality.

In many cases, high-resolution vertical images with a 2:3 aspect ratio generate the most engagement — because the format optimizes the user experience on the platform’s mobile-first interface. So, the algorithm tends to push them harder than other content formats.

Pinner Activity

Pinterest doesn’t just consider the quality of an individual Pin when ranking content; it also assesses creators’ overall behavior and authority. Usually, consistent, high-authority accounts that regularly engage with their audiences gain more visibility than others. This makes it important to build up your profile.

Content Recency

Pinterest stands out from other platforms because it gives Pins long-term, evergreen traffic. As long as your content is high-quality and aligns with users’ search queries, the algorithm will surface it.

That said, it does consider freshness when pushing content to prevent the feed and recommendations from becoming too repetitive. Fresh Pins get an early visibility boost and often rank higher than older Pins in search results. So, you have to post consistently to increase your chances of going viral.

How to Go Viral on Pinterest

Now that you know how the Pinterest algorithm works, how do you make it push your content to virality? Here are our top tips:

Use Keywords

Help the algorithm understand what your content entails and who it is for by conducting Pinterest search engine optimization (SEO). One of the best ways to do this is to incorporate relevant keywords into your username, Pin titles and descriptions, and Board titles and descriptions. When you do, make sure they fit naturally and align with your content.

For example, if you’re a fitness content creator, you could use “X Fitness” as your username and “At-home workouts for beginners” as the title for a post offering beginner workout tips. The better the algorithm understands you, the more it’ll push your posts to new audiences, bringing you closer to going viral.

To find suitable keywords, use the Pinterest search bar. Type in a “seed” word, like “workout,” into the search bar and wait for the engine to make suggestions. These are excellent keywords because they’re typically based on real searches.

Alternatively, you can use online keyword generators like Semrush and Ahrefs. These are especially great if you need help coming up with long-tail or more descriptive keywords.

Create High-Quality Pins

High-quality Pins stop the scroll and encourage engagement. These are positive signals to the algorithm that can help strengthen your ranking.

Here are some core design principles to keep in mind for high-quality Pins:

• Choose high-resolution, well-lit images.
• Use a 2:3 aspect ratio — it occupies more screen space, which can improve the mobile user experience.
• Include text overlays with easy-to-read fonts that explain your posts’ value propositions.

Optimize Descriptions

Pin descriptions are just as important as the Pins themselves. They help the algorithm understand your posts and match them to relevant searches, which could lead to you appearing in more results and feeds. They also provide context for users, helping them decide whether to give your posts a chance or scroll past them.

To increase your chances of going viral, keep the following best practices in mind when optimizing your descriptions:

• Incorporate relevant keywords naturally.
• Highlight your value proposition early on. For example, if you’re sharing a quick recipe, start your description with something like “Quick and easy recipe for busy seasons.”
• Match descriptions to Pins to avoid confusion.
• Include soft calls to action (CTAs). You could go with something like “Save this Pin for later” after providing a brief recipe breakdown.

This copy by Simple Whisk is an excellent example of an optimized description. It highlights the value proposition, includes relevant keywords, and features a clear, concise CTA: “Tap to get the recipe!”

Create and Optimize Boards

Boards provide additional context by placing your Pins alongside other related posts. This can help Pinterest categorize and rank your posts more effectively.

Of course, how you create and manage your Boards determines whether the algorithm pushes your content. For optimal results:

• Optimize Board titles and descriptions with relevant keywords. Instead of naming a Board something generic, like “My faves,” use a more descriptive title, such as “My favorite healthy recipes.”
• Only add related Pins to the same Boards. Adding irrelevant posts, such as a home decor Pin to a recipe Board confuses the algorithm, which can result in fewer recommendations.
• Regularly edit your Boards and remove any irrelevant Pins. This can help you maintain your Pinner quality score.

Use a Variety of Pin Formats

Pinterest allows users to create multiple Pin formats, including static image Pins, video Pins, carousel Pins, and idea Pins (multi-page posts that look like Stories). Take advantage of this by creating different types of content.

Mixing things up can help you appeal to a broader audience, increasing your chances of going viral. It can also be an excellent way to showcase the same product or idea without coming across as repetitive.

Leverage Pinterest Trends

Pinterest Trends is an innovative feature that shows you what Pinterest users are currently interested in. It also predicts what audiences may search for in the future, based on historical data.

Use this feature to stay ahead of your target audience. Look for trending topics and searches and create content around them. For example, if you’re in the fashion and beauty space and find that Valentine’s-inspired searches are currently trending, create Valentine’s styling tips, nail ideas, and makeup videos.

Cross-Promote Pins

Don’t wait for Pinterest users to discover your Pins organically; promote them across all the other social networks you’re active on. To drive traffic from these platforms to your Pinterest account, use high-performing Pins (those with many likes and saves). They might have a higher chance of capturing other audiences’ attention.

Also, craft compelling messaging and provide direct links to the Pins. For example, if you decide to share a Pin on X, include a short description of what users can expect (highlight its value proposition), add an image from the Pin, and include the relevant link to eliminate the need for users to manually search for the post.

Post Consistently

As mentioned earlier, recency is one of the strongest ranking factors for the Pinterest algorithm. So, posting consistently is non-negotiable if you want to go viral.

Beyond helping with recency, consistent posting helps the algorithm better understand and categorize your content. This could result in more appearances in targeted users’ feeds and search results.

Go Viral on Pinterest at Scale

Going viral on Pinterest is not just about one successful Pin. For brands and social media agencies, real growth comes from publishing consistently at scale across multiple accounts and markets.

If you manage Pinterest accounts for different clients or regions, this workflow probably feels familiar. Every day, your team is busy with tasks like:

• Creating Pin templates to speed up content creation
• Designing Pins in batches
• Scheduling and automating Pin publishing

As the number of accounts grows, so does the complexity. You need to leave notes, track special requirements, and decide which account should post what content and at what time. And if you are traveling, the last thing you want is to carry a suitcase full of old phones, each logged into a different Pinterest account.

This is where GeeLark comes in.

GeeLark is a platform that provides real Android cloud phones, along with tools built for managing and automating large numbers of social media accounts. Each Pinterest account is logged in on cloud-based Android phone, not on shared devices and not through APIs.

Because everything runs in the cloud, you can manage hundreds of Pinterest accounts from a single computer. As long as you have an internet connection, you can access and control your accounts anytime, anywhere.

What makes GeeLark especially powerful is its automation marketplace. GeeLark offers ready-made Pinterest content publishing templates that run directly on cloud phones. These automation templates follow real human behavior, such as scrolling the screen, tapping buttons, and typing text, instead of posting through APIs. This is especially important for newly created Pinterest brand accounts, where natural behavior patterns help reduce risk.

Once you schedule a publishing task, it runs automatically in the cloud, even while you are asleep. When you come back online, you can simply review the execution results. Your Pins are already published, and you did not need to be there to make it happen.

With publishing fully handled, your team can spend less time on repetitive work and more time on research, planning, and strategy. That is how you scale Pinterest growth without scaling stress.

Go Viral on Pinterest With High-Quality, Consistent Content

Wondering how to go viral on Pinterest? The secret is to understand how the algorithm works and tailor your content accordingly. The Pinterest algorithm prioritizes four main signals when ranking content: relevance, Pin quality, Pinner quality, and freshness.

To increase your chances of going viral, use relevant keywords in your posts (and profile), create high-resolution, valuable Pins, maintain your authority (by sharing valuable content and regularly updating Boards), and post consistently.

GeeLark can help with consistency. The cloud phone platform offers automation templates that allow you to schedule content at scale, reducing your manual workload. With GeeLark, you only need to upload your content, add search-optimized titles, descriptions, and hashtags, and set your publishing date. The platform will handle the rest.

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