How Pinterest decides who sees your pins, and the account setup everything else builds on.
A free Pinterest marketing school
Learn Pinterest marketing the way it actually works.
Pinning School is a free, step-by-step course in Pinterest marketing for bloggers, creators and small shops. Each lesson takes under ten minutes, teaches one skill by hand, and ends with a task you can do on your own account today.
- Lessons under 10 minutes
- A practice task in every lesson
- Free, no sign-up
Your path
4 courses · 12 lessons
- 1 Pinterest Foundations How Pinterest decides who sees your pins, and the account setup everything else builds on. 0%
- 2 Pinterest SEO Find the words people search for and put them where Pinterest reads them. 0%
- 3 Pins That Get Clicks Design pins people stop for, publish at a pace Pinterest trusts, and stay out of spam filters. 0%
- 4 Grow and Measure Plan ahead for the seasons, read your numbers, and apply the method to any niche. 0%
The curriculum
Four short courses, in the order you need them
Find the words people search for and put them where Pinterest reads them.
Design pins people stop for, publish at a pace Pinterest trusts, and stay out of spam filters.
Plan ahead for the seasons, read your numbers, and apply the method to any niche.
How a lesson works
One skill, one task, done before your coffee gets cold
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1
The short answer firstEvery lesson opens with the answer in a few lines, so you know where it is going.
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2
The method, by handThen the steps, with examples. No tool needed: you work in Pinterest itself.
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3
A practice taskA small job for your own account, so the lesson turns into a result.
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4
Mark it doneYour progress is saved in this browser. Come back any time and pick up where you left off.
Lesson 1 · Pinterest Foundations
8 min
How Pinterest actually works
Pinterest works more like a search engine than a social network. People type what they want to make, buy or plan, and Pinterest shows the pins that best match those words. Your pins reach people through search, the home feed and related pins, and they can keep bringing visitors for months after you publish them.
You will learn
- Pinterest works like a visual search engine: people search for ideas and Pinterest shows the pins that match their words.
- Pins are found through search, the home feed and related pins, so followers matter much less than on other networks.
- Pinterest reads your title, description, image text, board and linked page to understand what each pin is about.
Questions
Before you start
Is Pinning School really free?
Yes. Every lesson is free to read, with no account and no email required. Your progress is saved in your own browser, so you can pick up where you left off.
Who are the lessons for?
Bloggers, creators, small shops and anyone with a website who wants visitors from Pinterest. The lessons start from zero and work for any niche, from recipes to software.
Do I need any paid tools?
No. Every lesson teaches the manual method first, using Pinterest itself and free tools. Where a tool can save time we say so, but you never need one to follow along.
How long until Pinterest brings traffic?
Most new accounts need a few months of steady, well-keyworded pins before traffic builds, because pins are found through search and keep working long after you publish them.
Who makes Pinning School?
Pinning School is made by the team behind PinBoostr, a Pinterest marketing tool. The lessons stay tool-neutral: they teach how Pinterest works, not how to use our product.
Start with lesson 1.
It takes 8 minutes, and every later lesson builds on it.