Pinterest Guide: Formats, Search and Best Practices

2:3 Pins, titles, descriptions, video, carousels and long-term distribution: a verified Pinterest guide to driving lasting traffic.

Published on September 23, 2026 · Social platforms

Pinterest doesn't work like other social networks. People don't go there to keep up with friends; they go to look for ideas: a room makeover, a recipe, an outfit, a gift, a project. It's really a visual search engine, and that changes everything for a brand. A well-made Pin can keep getting found and saved for months or even years after it's published, and every Pin can send people to your website. This guide covers specs verified in Pinterest's Help Center and developer documentation, what Pinterest says about how Pins get distributed, and a practical way to publish.

Formats and limits

Image Pins

Pinterest's official product specs, which also apply to organic Pins, recommend a 2:3 aspect ratio, or 1,000 × 1,500 pixels. Pinterest notes that Pins taller than 2:3 may get cut off in people's feeds. Accepted files are PNG and JPEG, up to 20 MB on desktop and 32 MB in the app.

Title, description and alt text

• Title: up to 100 characters, of which the first 40 may show in the feed. Put the important words first.
• Description: up to 800 characters. Pinterest says descriptions are used by its algorithm to determine relevance.
• Alt text: up to 500 characters, to describe the image for people with low vision.

These limits are confirmed by Pinterest's official API specification, which also caps a Pin's destination link at 2,048 characters.

Video Pins

Videos must be between 4 seconds and 15 minutes long, in MP4, MOV or M4V, up to 2 GB. Recommended ratios are 1:1, 2:3, 4:5 and 9:16. Vertical is the better bet: Pinterest points out that most of its users are on mobile.

Carousels

A carousel Pin holds 2 to 5 images, at 1:1 or 2:3, up to 20 MB each. It's the right format to show several angles of a product, the steps of a tutorial or a small curated set.

One Pin format, with links

In 2023 Pinterest unified its formats: the old Idea Pins were merged into the standard Pin, which now supports links, flexible aspect ratios and post-publish editing. Every Pin can link to your site. After publishing, you can edit the title, board and details, but not the image or video, per Pinterest's guide to creating Pins.

Rich Pins

Rich Pins automatically sync information from your website using your pages' metadata. There are three types: recipe, article and product. Syncing can take up to 24 hours. For an online store, a blog or a recipe site, it's an easy way to make every Pin richer.

What Pinterest says about distribution

Pinterest's official page on Pin performance and distribution is unusually explicit compared with other networks:

• No set engagement window. A Pin can pick up engagement years after it's first published. Pinterest is a long game.
• Consistency and freshness. Pinterest recommends creating Pins frequently and consistently, aiming for original content every week, with fresh content rather than reposts.
• No duplicates. Posting the same Pin repeatedly can get it flagged as spam.
• Match the landing page. A Pin's image, text and keywords should match the page it links to. That page should load in under 4 seconds, and broken links are to be avoided.
• Vertical format, since most users are on mobile.
• Seasonality. Pinterest recommends using Pinterest Trends: Pins can resurface every year in the same season.

Search optimization is the heart of Pinterest

Because Pinterest works like a search engine, your words matter as much as your image. A few principles:

• Put your main keyword in the first 40 characters of the title, the part that shows in the feed.
• Write a natural description that says who the Pin is for and what they'll find, using the terms your customers would search for.
• Organize Pins into themed boards with clear names.
• Add relevant topics to each Pin: Pinterest lets you add up to 10 when creating one, per its Help Center.
• Prepare seasonal moments early: searches often start well before the event itself.

Designing a Pin people want to save

On Pinterest, people scroll a grid of visuals looking for an idea. Your Pin has to make sense in a fraction of a second. A few design principles:

• One clear subject. The product, the dish, the finished room: whatever matters should fill most of the frame.
• A short text overlay, if it helps. A few words that say what people will find ("5 storage ideas for a small entryway") can make the difference in a grid. Keep it readable on a phone.
• An image that looks like the landing page. Pinterest asks for consistency between the Pin and the page, and users are let down when they don't find what they saw.
• Several Pins for the same page. One product can have a lifestyle Pin, a close-up Pin and a carousel Pin. That's how you publish fresh content without creating duplicates.
• Your visual identity. Consistent colors and typography help people recognize your Pins across searches.

Before you publish, look at your Pin at thumbnail size next to others in the same search. If you can't tell what it's about at a glance, simplify.

How often to post

Pinterest explicitly recommends consistency and weekly original content. For a brand, a realistic baseline is a few new Pins every week, with varied visuals pointing to the same landing page (several photos of one product, several angles on one article) rather than reposting the same image.

Common mistakes

1. Posting horizontal images. They take up little room in the feed. 2:3 is the standard.
2. Visuals taller than 2:3. They risk being cut off in the feed.
3. A vague title. Only the first 40 characters show, and it's the first text the algorithm reads.
4. An empty description. Pinterest uses it to judge a Pin's relevance.
5. Reposting the same Pin on a loop. Duplicates can be flagged as spam.
6. Linking to a slow or unrelated page. Pinterest asks for a matching page that loads in under 4 seconds.
7. Expecting results within days. Pins live a long time. Judge over several months.

Measuring what works

Because Pins keep circulating long after they're published, judge them over months, not days. Look at saves and outbound clicks per Pin rather than impressions alone: saves show that people want to come back to an idea, and clicks show that the Pin did its job of sending them to your site. When a theme or visual style keeps earning saves, make new Pins in that direction instead of reposting the old one.

Pre-publish checklist

• Vertical 2:3 image (1,000 × 1,500 px), PNG or JPEG.
• Title of 100 characters or less, main keyword in the first 40.
• Description of 800 characters or less, clear and natural.
• Alt text of 500 characters or less.
• Link to a page that matches the Pin and loads fast.
• Pin saved to a relevant themed board.
• Video from 4 seconds to 15 minutes; carousel of 2 to 5 images.
• A new visual, not a repost.

Pinterest in your content plan

Pinterest rewards consistency and freshness, which means a steady flow of new visuals. With Oposto, you describe your brand once: it learns your voice, colors, products and audience from your website, prepares visuals in the right format for Pinterest, plans them in a calendar and publishes them at the scheduled time alongside your other networks. Then it measures real performance and reuses what works.

To see next month's content ready for review, try Oposto: describe your brand once, it prepares a month of content in the right format for each network, and you approve.