Pinterest Traffic Tips: How Often Should You Pin on Pinterest?

How Many Pins a Day Is the “Right” Amount?

It’s an on-going debate question from anyone trying to get the most free traffic they can from Pinterest:

“How many pins should I pin per day?”

Is there a magic number of pins per day that sends massive traffic to your site?

Can you pin too many pins per day that STOPS you from getting traffic from Pinterest?

It’s time to talk – like for realz talk – about how many times a day you should pin to Pinterest.

I think there’s some bad info going around – it’s time to set it straight.

Before I even get started, I want to say: I am NOT a “Pinterest Expert”.

Pinterest is not my full time job and I don’t have Pinterest clients either.

I’m just a blogger, like you, who does the best she can to get ALL she can out of Pinterest.

And, if you’ve ever taken a look at my Pinterest stats, you know I do pretty well.

But the question still remains:

Is there a certain number of pins per day that makes the magic happen?

I’ve heard ‘experts’ say that you should pin 30 pins per day.

Anything more than that defeats your purpose – that you’re saturating your feed or the Pinterest algorithm (the ‘smart feed’) won’t reward you for more pins than that per day.

I don’t buy that – not even a little bit.

I’ve heard others say you should 200+ times a day.

Here’s the thing –

I’ve tried both – and everything in between – and while either can work for YOU, that’s not my point.

Here’s what I think (and I pretty much KNOW from my own stats)…

The newer your Pinterest account is, the more you pin.

It has very little to do with how many followers you have on Pinterest.

BUT, it has EVERYTHING to do with getting your pins out there as often as you can in order to build up your ‘core pins’.

Core Pins?

Yes, Core Pins – the pins on Pinterest that are responsible for the majority of your traffic FROM Pinterest.

If you’re experienced on Pinterest, you know exactly what I mean – every day you get traffic from pins you put on Pinterest months ago – maybe even YEARS ago.

You could stop pinning anything new right this moment, and you’d still get great traffic from Pinterest for as long as Pinterest stays online.

You already have Core Pins that will always be working for you.

BUT – if you’re new to Pinterest, you don’t have Core Pins.

So you pin your a$$ off until you get at least 20 Core Pins.

You keep pinning until things “stick”, that’s all there is to it.

That could mean 10 pins a day – that could mean 300 pins a day.

You do everything you can to get your pins in front of people hoping at least 20 of them “stick”.

Because it’s about the number of followers I have?

It has VERY little to so with how many Pinterest followers you have – it’s about how many Core Pins you have.

The more Core Pins you have, the less often you have to pin on Pinterest.

And this is what drives me a little nuts about hearing the advice given when people ask how many pins they should pin on Pinterest each day.

There is NOT a “one size fits all” answer.

Here’s an example:

Yesterday, I was analyzing some Pinterest accounts (because I’m a geek and that’s what I do for fun…lol!)

This particular account had almost 90k followers. Yes, ninety THOUSAND followers on Pinterest.

They’ve been pinning for a long, long time and they do super well on Pinterest.

I have no doubt they get crazy traffic from Pinterest. In fact, I’d safely bet that they could STOP pinning and STILL get amazing traffic from their pins.

Why?

Because they have 90k followers?

NO!

It’s because they already have tons of Core Pins alllllllll over Pinterest that will send them traffic forever and ever.

So, just for fun:

Guess how many times a day they pin on Pinterest NOW.

Ready?

They pin 3 times a day.

Yes, you read that correctly… THREE pins a day.

I’ve seen them pin 4 times a day and every now and then they pin 5 times a day.

Oh and guess what?

Every single pin is their OWN pin (ie, leading to their own site).

Yeah, that whole 80% other people’s pins and only 20% my own pins – yeah, well… do what you think is right for you and what YOU are comfortable with, but that 80/20 thing…. well, it might be good for NEW accounts, but the bigger accounts do NOT do that.

So, I should pin 3 times a day?

Based on that account I just analyzed, that means I could tell YOU, the new Pinterest account owner, that you only have to pin 3 times a day for the magic to happen.

Uhhhhh…. NO!

You pin and pin and pin until you have at least 20 Core Pins that stick or you have multiple pins that go viral (and they aren’t seasonal) – and you keep pinning until you feel that you could STOP pinning right NOW and still get good traffic from Pinterest.

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When you get to 20+ Core Pins, that’s when you can start paying attention to how many pins a day works for YOU.

So should I repin other people’s pin?

If you have a new account, or a Pinterest account you’re trying to build up – YES, repin other people’s pins.

You want to build engagement on your Pinterest account so that YOUR pins are seen also.

As an example, let’s talk about Facebook for a moment.

If you follow me on Facebook and I share 9 things from other people that are really GREAT resources and articles… and then I post ONE thing of mine – odds are good that you will go look at my post because of the 9 awesome things I shared before that, right?

Odds are also good that the Facebook algorithm will show some favor on my post because the 9 previous things I shared had great engagement.

The Pinterest algorithm kinda works that same way. If I repin 9 cool things that you click and you repin/like/click and read, when I pin that 10th thing (something of mine) odds are good that you’ll see that pin in your Pinterest home feed.

On Pinterest, it’s about being seen… and being FOUND.

And it’s about getting at least 20 Core Pins that always send you traffic.

Being seen, being found and getting your 20+ Core Pins all works together.

Moral of the Story?

You pin until you really don’t HAVE to pin anymore.

There will be a moment when you realize that you’re getting great traffic from Pinterest and that it’s really isolated to about 20 pin images or so.

(that’s when I HOPE you pin like this)

And you also realize that if you never pin again, you will still ALWAYS get traffic from those 20+ Core Pins.

That’s when you can choose to pin less – or not pin at all.

That’s when you can pin ONCE a day and get AMAZING results for that one pin.

Pin until you get at least 20 Core Pins that send you great traffic.

Translation:

Pin your a$$ off until you don’t HAVE to pin anymore.

Going back to the Pinterest account I spoke of earlier – the one with 90k followers…

They have a ton of Core Pins that send them traffic 24/7… 365 days a year.

So, they have almost 90,000 followers on Pinterest… and they pin THREE times a day now.

Guess what?

I’d feel safe to bet that ALL their followers that log onto Pinterest see their pins – don’t you agree?

It’s like a snowball thing – get it going and it all just builds and builds.

So – what’s the answer to “How Many Pins Should I Make a Day?”

You pin and pin until you feel like you don’t NEED to pin anymore – THEN you slow it down and pin selectively.

You’ll know when it happens.

You’ll look at your stats and see 20 or so pin images that are ALWAYS sending traffic to your site.

It’s not about how MANY pins…

It’s about how many Core Pins you have.

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Mentioned In This Post:

– My Pinterest Stats

– How To Get The Most Traffic from Your Core Pins

Recommended Read:

Why You Suck at Pinterest – and How To Pin Better

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