How to Get People to Click On Your Pinterest Pins
Hands up if you’re struggling to get blog traffic through Pinterest! You’re not alone. Some bloggers find great success through Pinterest and others struggle to get repins that may lead to those valuable click-throughs.
The problem MAY be your actual pins.
In a previous post, I covered 5 Reasons Why I Didn’t Share Your Blog Post. In an effort to continue to help you improve your blog traffic, today I’m going to give you the reasons why I didn’t click on your Pinterest Pin.
Meaning, I saw your pin but didn’t feel inclined enough to click through to your blog post or repin that pin.
By learning what other pinners aren’t drawn to, you’ll be able to make the necessary adjustments to your own pins and “get the click”.
Let’s dive into why I (and likely many others) didn’t click on your pin!
This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my own. Read my full disclosure here.
1. Square / Horizontal Pins
This is probably the #1 reason I wouldn’t click or share a pin. Not only does Pinterest favor vertical pins, but they’re also more eye-catching to potential readers who are scrolling through Pinterest for inspiration.
A square or horizontal pin will easily get lost in a sea of long, vertical pins.
They also allow far less room for highly readable text and engaging photos or graphics. The smaller your pin, the smaller your canvas. This often means your pin titles will be smaller and harder to read.
Solution: Create vertical pins only. Pinterest is currently recommending a pin size of 1000×1500 pixels.
If you use Canva to create your pins, you can also use their Pinterest Pin template of 735 x 1102 pixels. Both sizes are Pinterest friendly and can be quite effective.
Note: I’m not saying it’s impossible to see results with square pins. There are exceptions to every rule. But if we are generalizing, it’s safest to go with longer, vertical pins. For more exceptions, check out Pin Design Rules to Break.
2. Spelling / Grammar Mistakes
This is a close second if not a tie for first place. If there is a spelling mistake on your pin, I’m probably not clicking.
Sorry. Grammar nerd over here.
Your pin sets the stage for your post. If there are spelling or grammatical errors on your pin, there are likely similar mistakes within your post as well.
I get it. We all have a million blogging tasks to accomplish. Sometimes pin design gets rushed to just get the content out into the world.
Just be sure to proofread your pin before you publish. I can’t tell you how often I see pins that are actually missing words in their sentences.
Solution: Get around this by using Grammarly. It’s free and checks your spelling, punctuation, and grammar wherever you’re typing online. Including Canva, when you’re likely designing those pins.
3. Font Mistakes
As you’re designing your pins, keep in mind that most people will be viewing them on their phones while scrolling their Pinterest feed.
Your fonts need to be big enough to read. Don’t get overly wordy. This will allow room for larger sized fonts.
The same can be said for choosing a font that’s too hard to read. I love a fun, script font as much as the next guy, but sometimes they can be difficult to read. Especially when shrunken down to mobile view size.
Choose easy to read fonts and keep them a suitable size that grabs the reader’s attention.
If they have to squint or zoom in on your pin to figure out what it’s about, chances are they aren’t going to take the time to do that. They’ll just keep on scrolling, baby!
Solution: Use simple, bold fonts that stand out well from your background colour or image.
And, if you want to test your design out before making it public, try saving the pin to a Secret Pinterest Board that only you can see. This way you’ll be able to have a look at it on your phone and critique how it will look to other mobile viewers.
Related Reading: 7 Unique Ways to Use Secret Boards on Pinterest
4. No Pin Description
I can’t exaggerate this enough. You NEED to fill out your pin descriptions. I’ve seen some great pin designs with NO Pin Descriptions attached. It makes me so sad to see these lost opportunities!
Pinterest is a visual search engine. The platform needs those perfectly keyworded pin descriptions to determine what your pin is about and to help you get found by readers searching for a solution to their problem.
If you don’t bother taking the time to fill that info out, I’ll assume you aren’t a serious blogger. And I’ll also assume your post will reflect the same thing. Therefore, I won’t be clicking or sharing. No matter how beautiful your pin design is.
Solution: Simple. Just fill out your pin descriptions when you create your pins. Include keywords and/or hashtags others may be searching for.
Or, if you want to take it to the next level, check out the Tasty Pins Plugin to optimize your descriptions directly within your blog posts. This can help with your blog’s SEO as well as your Pinterest reach.
Personally, it’s one of my favorite investments I’ve made for my blog and I never see myself not having it.
Learn more about Tasty Pins here.
5. Unattractive Pin
It’s pretty simple, really. If your pin isn’t attractive, it’s not likely to get a lot of clicks. Great pin design is not everyone’s jam. And that’s okay! We all have our strong suits.
BUT, having high-quality, attractive pins is more important than you may think. Your pin will be plunked in the middle of people’s home feeds among an endless supply of others.
If your pin doesn’t stand out and catch their attention, it will get lost almost instantly. And lost with it will be the opportunity to get traffic to your blog.
Solution: Scroll through your own home feed and take note of the pins that catch your eye. Study them and note exactly what elements attracted you to them.
A cool hack to do this is to actually squint as you scroll. Only the best pins will stand out to you that way.
If pin design is really not your thing, don’t stress. You can get some free, professional, predesigned pin templates HERE.
Related Reading:
7 Reasons to Hire a Pinterest Pin Designer
How to Save Time With Pinterest Pin Templates
6. Overused Stock Photos
There are plenty of blog posts out there promoting free stock photo sites for bloggers. Pixabay, Pexels, Unsplash, to name a few. And as a beginner, I totally fell for this. I used them all. And I thought I was choosing great photos for my pin design.
As time went on, I began to notice I was seeing the same images I had chosen were also being used on a LOT of other pins. Suddenly my nice pin design was feeling stale and amateurish.
Here’s an example. I thought I’d found the perfect image for this post:
Buuuuut, so did a lot of other people:



I have now seen this photo more times than I can count. And every time I see it, I regret using it. And this has now happened to me with a good number of photos I used in my earliest blogging days.
The free sites are so tempting to use. I get it. Obviously, I did it too. There are thousands of free photos out there that can be downloaded with the click of a button.
But I’m here to tell you, DON’T DO IT! You WILL regret it. Pinterest DOES notice.
Using these free photo sites can actually hurt your Pinterest traffic. Read more about that here:
Why I Stopped Using Free Stock Photo Websites
Solution: Take your own photos. Seriously. Pinterest prefers original photos, even if they aren’t amazing. Using your phone camera is totally acceptable.
Or use paid stock photo sites. They really are one of those wise blogging purchases you won’t regret. You’ll get far better reach and engagement with beautiful, professional, not overly used images. And the price per photo isn’t drastic.
P.S. Little known fact about me, I’m also a photographer. Camera equipment and software are not cheap. Photographers should not be expected to give their work away for free.
I personally love Deposit Photos, Pixistock and Ivory Mix. Their photos are gorgeous, professional and very high quality. They offer pin templates as well.
You can also download my Photo Bundle for Female Entrepreneurs. These are brand new photos perfect for creating Pinterest pins and blog graphics. Grab them HERE.
7. Bad Pin Titles
If you’re not seeing a lot of click-throughs on your pins, there’s a good chance your pin title is falling short.
Your title needs to make the Pinterest user want more information. Enough so that they don’t even hesitate to click through to your post.
For example, let’s say you wanted to make chocolate chip cookies.
You open up Pinterest and do a search for a recipe.
You’re scrolling through a sea of cookie recipes.
Would you click on a pin with the headline “Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies” OR “The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies You’ll Ever Eat!”?
Kind of a no-brainer. Titles matter.
Solution: Create titles that leave the user wanting more. If you struggle with this concept, check out this very affordable, and super helpful mini book: Pinterest Traffic Title Hacks For Bloggers
Related Reading: How to Write Better Pin Titles (that get clicked)
Always keep in the back of your mind that people are visual creatures. And in a sea of Pinterest pins, yours has to stand out and WOW other pinners in order to get the click.
And remember, repins are great, but what really matters is getting that click-through / page view to your site.
So, go! Create those beautiful, vertical, free of spelling errors, easy to read, with original photos and well-keyworded description PINS, and share away!
Make these changes and you will no longer wonder why I (and many others) didn’t click on your pin 😉
And if you’re STILL not getting the Pinterest traffic you crave, I can’t say enough great things about Pinteresting Strategies. It is, in my opinion, the BEST Pinterest marketing course out there!
Related: The Secret to Getting Massive Traffic From Pinterest
P.S. Did you know I do Pinterest account reviews? Learn more about my business account audits HERE.
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How to Increase Your Pin Click-Through Rate
I loved these tips, especially the one about stock photos
Thanks, Lara! I’ve noticed such a difference in my repins since using paid stock photos.
This was so helpful as a new blogger. I did suck it up and purchase photos with Ivory Mix though. Pinned for later when I can redo some pins.
I love Ivory Mix for stock photos. I’m also on her mailing list and find her emails really great. Awesome advice for beginner bloggers. Thanks for the comment 🙂
This was such a refreshing but eye-opening article about Pinterest. I wholeheartedly agree! Well done.
Thanks, Beth! So glad you enjoyed it. Happy pinning!
All of these are great points! My pet peeve is seeing one script font, in one size for all of the text. Silly? Maybe, but it annoys me for some reason. 😆
Thanks, Kari! I think we all have our pin design pet peeves 😉
Thanks for the great post. I’ve been using Canva to help with pin design, it’s very helpful but as a new blogger there’s so much to learn!
Hey Maura! There is a seemingly endless amount to learn about blogging. Attractive pins are a really important factor in Pinterest marketing. I hope this post helps to increase your repins 🙂
I love your style! So often bloggers are giving us guides, how to’s and tutorials. I like the idea of why you are a reader/visitor who did not do something. That is far more appealing to me. These tips were extremely helpful too! Pinterest is such a big source of many things for my blog, and I want to maximize is all ways. And I believe this gives me an insight I hadn’t gotten before.
Thanks so much for the kind words! I’m so glad you found the post helpful 🙂 I hope Pinterest continues to help you grow your blog.
Thank you for sharing this – I’m still getting the hang of Pinterest and this was really helpful!
Thank you
No problem Lisa. Pinterest can be so tricky! Hope you got some helpful Pinterest tips 🙂
OMG, yes! I’ve seen so many spelling and grammar mistakes lately, and it even makes me unfollow some people on Pinterest!
I hear ya, Nina! Spelling mistakes are a huge turn off!
Great tips! Like you, I won’t click through for a lot of these reasons. The grammar one’s a biggie for me. It makes me think there will be grammar errors in the post too, and that makes reading something far less enjoyable. It even impacts credibility for me.
Thanks, Rose! I totally agree about the impact on credibility. Thanks for the comment!
Super Helpful! I need to hear the hard truth
Glad you found it helpful, Christen 🙂
I just now started using stock photos, because I was told it made things a lot easier…I guess it’s back to my old way with the trusty Cannon . Thanks.
Hey Sissy! It is definitely easier! It just might not be the most effective. But you could always do some test pins to see if you notice a difference.
Thank you for sharing this! I like the part about the stock photos. It has been super confusing figuring out if I should use my pictures or other pictures. I have been trying both to see what gets better hits. Thanks again!
No problem! I used to always use free stock photos but now always buy them. If you can take your own photos that really is ideal!