The Ultimate Guide for Using Pinterest Marketing To Grow Your Ecommerce Business

Last Updated: January 9, 2026

Pinterest and e-commerce shops go together like PB&J.

But have you ever wondered, ‘What is it about Pinterest that makes it a good platform for eCommerce sites?’

Over the last couple of years, Pinterest has added many features to support e-commerce sellers.

Historically, Pinterest is known as a discovery and inspiration platform. The platform is making significant moves to bridge the gap between discovery and purchase, which means a major focus on e-commerce.

If you own an eCommerce shop and want to increase product sales PLUS create massive brand awareness (96% of searches are UNBRANDED!) – know that pinners (Pinterest users) are looking to discover your business.

Pinterest truly is an untapped online marketing platform—only 20% of marketers use it!

Welcome to the ultimate guide to Pinterest marketing for eCommerce.

Let’s start right at the beginning of your Pinterest eCommerce strategy, shall we?

Table of Contents

How Does Pinterest Help eCommerce Businesses?

In a nutshell, Pinterest is powerful for traffic to your products and creating brand awareness.

Pinterest users use the site to discover new brands, find solutions to problems, and be inspired to do something in their offline lives.

The idea behind using Pinterest for eCommerce marketing is to ensure that your products appear when users search for them.

Sounds simple, right?

It is if you set things up correctly and are consistent.

Let’s dig deeper and discover how to use Pinterest for your eCommerce shop.

How To Use Pinterest

Get a Pinterest for Business Account

I get this question a lot: Should you use your personal Pinterest account or create a new business account?

My advice remains the same: It is way better to create a new Pinterest business account than to use your personal one.

There are several reasons why, but here are the most important ones:

Business accounts unlock important analytics that help you decide how to grow your account.
If you’ve pinned all types of content subjects on your personal account, it’ll be confusing for Pinterest and your ideal person when you start using it for business.
Starting fresh lets you focus on optimizing your account right away, rather than cleaning it up first.

That said, you can choose to use your personal account if you switch it to a business account and make boards secret that have nothing to do with your content.

Claim Your Website & Install the Pinterest Tag

Now that you have your business account set up, it’s time to claim your website.

Claiming your website lets you unlock important analytics that will inform your strategy as your account grows.

Here are the steps for claiming your website on Pinterest:

Go to the settings area of your account.
Scroll down until you see ‘claim your website.’
Enter your domain and click ‘claim your website’.
Pinterest will give you three options in a pop-up box. Choose the ‘add an HTML tag’ option.
Log in to your website and paste the code into the header code section.
Use the ‘code injection’ section for Squarespace and paste the code into the header.
In WordPress, open your theme file editor, select ‘header.php’ on the right, paste the code on its own line in the section, and click update.
On Pinterest, follow the prompts and then click ‘submit.’
Pinterest will verify within 24 hours, but the process is often completed in minutes.

Now that you’ve successfully claimed your website, it’s time to install the Pinterest tag.

Even if you are not planning to promote a pin right now, it’s a good idea to install the tracking code so it can collect data in case you change your mind later.

To find your Pinterest pixel:

Locate the ads menu in your Pinterest account – it’s generally at the top of your account.
Select ‘conversions’ from the drop-down menu under ads.
Follow the prompts to set up your base code.
Copy the base code and install it using the steps given above to verify your website.
Choose any event codes you want to use and install those underneath the base code.
Download the Pinterest Tag Helper extension for your browser.
Test to ensure your tags are firing correctly.

Here is a helpful tutorial if you need more help!

Optimize Your Pinterest Account with Keywords

Now that you’ve completed some of the more technical steps, it’s time to optimize your account before you start pinning.

Finding and using keywords is one of the most critical steps in growing your Pinterest account.

The goal is to find the words that people are searching for around your business niche.

You then want to create boards, pins, and descriptions using these target keywords.

Optimization means laying the foundation on Pinterest so that when you start pinning, Pinterest has an idea of what your content is about and who to distribute it to.

So, what words do people use to learn more about your product?

A good place to start is to examine the problem your product solves and determine how people use words to find your solution.

Take out a piece of paper and jot down all of your ideas.

If you’re having trouble or can’t think of the terminology because it’s your product, ask your friends and family how they would describe it.

Take it a step further and ask people in Facebook groups.

Here is a detailed tutorial about how to find keywords to target on Pinterest.

Pinterest for Product-Based Business

Now that the foundational steps are in place, it’s time to leverage Pinterest’s eCommerce features.

This will help you take advantage of their offerings and really ramp up your Pinterest eCommerce strategy.

Connect Your Catalog

There are many different ways to upload your catalog to Pinterest, and it really depends on the platform your shop is hosted on.

If you’re using Shopify, you need to connect the integration, and all the technical integrations, including catalog upload, will be set up.

Here is a helpful tutorial that explains how to do it.

It’s similar for those hosting their shops on WordPress’s WooCommerce platform—there is now a plugin that will integrate your product catalog with your Pinterest account.

You can also manually upload your catalog to Pinterest.

There is an excellent tutorial on how to do this here.

A manually uploaded catalog is a good option if you’ve built your shop on a platform other than Shopify or WooCommerce.

Apply for the Verified Merchant Program

After you’ve uploaded your catalog, it’s time to apply for the Verified Merchant Program.

It is smart to apply for and join the Verified Merchant Program.

This program earns you a little blue checkmark on your profile, which means Pinterest has ‘vetted’ your shop and knows you’ve met all the requirements for selling products on Pinterest.

Being part of the program also means you’re eligible for increased distribution of your product pins in Pinterest’s shopping experiences.

What do you need to have in place before applying to the Verified Merchant Program?

You’ll need to meet all the requirements for Pinterest’s merchant guidelines, including the accuracy of your product listings, return policy, shipping policy, about page, and more.

You can find the whole list here.

The Importance of Pinterest SEO

Find Keywords to Target

Pinterest is a visual search engine, so you need to collect relevant keywords people search for in your product niche.

If there is anything you take away from this eCommerce Pinterest guide, do your research!

Keywords on Pinterest are a foundational thing – without them, your results will fall flat.

Here’s my post on how to find keywords on Pinterest – read it and make sure to do the work.

Keep Track of Trends on Pinterest

We’ve established that keywords are important on Pinterest, but so are trends.

Interest and inspiration happen early on Pinterest, so you need to plan and pin your content when it has the best chance of being seen by your ideal customer.

Visit trends.pinterest.com to see when interest starts in your niche.

PRO TIP: This is one of the best ways to discover keywords that weren’t on your radar before.

Pinterest eCommerce Strategy

A lot goes into a successful Pinterest marketing eCommerce strategy, and there are so many variables that it’s hard to cover a perfect Pinterest eCommerce strategy in this post.

Truthfully, it will depend on your niche, your goals, and how much time you have to dedicate to your strategy.

Here are some helpful tips to include in your Pinterest eCommerce strategy.

Create Product Pins

Once you connect your catalog, Pinterest will create product pins from your data, but I also recommend creating separate product-tagged pins that target different keywords and trends depending on the time of year.

Pinterest creates images for your shop listings, but the pins I recommend you create will target keywords and trends in the text overlays, pin titles, and pin descriptions.

This is part of a solid Pinterest eCommerce strategy (and something I love doing for clients!).

Remember, Pinterest is a visual search engine, so you want as many pins as possible that cover the different angles of your niche.

Include Lifestyle Images of Your Products

When I speak to potential eCommerce clients, they often don’t realize the power of lifestyle images of their products.

You, as the product business owner, understand how your product enriches lives or solves a problem, but people on Pinterest are in discovery mode and need to be warmed up.

They need to connect with the product and envision using it daily.

Using lifestyle images of your products is a great way to start that connection.

Use Keywords and Trends

Keywords and trends are the foundation of your Pinterest strategy – do not skip this step!

Use keywords in your account description, board titles, and descriptions, as well as text overlays on your pins, pin titles, and pin descriptions.

Pin Consistently

The last part of a solid Pinterest marketing strategy for eCommerce is to pin consistently.

Like other platforms, Pinterest rewards creators and shop owners who consistently show up.

Your consistency will look different from others’ and depend on how much time you have to execute your strategy.

Get a system in place to help you stay consistent.

That wraps up the ultimate guide to using Pinterest marketing to grow your eCommerce business.

Pinterest has invested in many features to support product business owners, so it’s smart to add the platform to your digital marketing strategy.

Did you know I offer Pinterest account management and strategy as a service?

Check out the Pinterest marketing services here.

If you’re overwhelmed or don’t have the time to run your own Pinterest eCommerce strategy, make sure to book a call here to learn how we can help you achieve your Pinterest goals.

Happy Pinning! 📌

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About Elaine Timms

Elaine Timms is a Pinterest strategist, and founder of Elaine Timms Creative, a boutique Pinterest marketing agency established in 2018. She has over a decade of hands-on Pinterest strategy experience and has helped bloggers, small businesses, and e-commerce brands build sustainable, search-driven marketing, visibility, and growth through her Always in Circulation framework — a Pinterest strategy designed to keep your content continuously circulating, growing, and converting. Elaine believes every business should be growing their owned online assets (think email list, blogs, podcasts, online shops, etc.) and knows Pinterest is one of the most powerful platforms to do so. Her results speak for themselves: she built her own blog to over 100,000 monthly sessions through Pinterest before successfully selling it, and still runs a niche website generating consistent revenue from content created years ago — proof that a smart Pinterest strategy has serious staying power. Her clients don't just grow, they build Pinterest presences that withstand algorithm changes, recover from platform shifts, and compound over time. Elaine offers monthly Pinterest account management, the Pinterest Circulation Blueprint, her signature account build and optimization service, and trainings and workshops to those who want to DIY Pinterest.

Elaine Timms

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