A Pinterest business account is free. Create one at pinterest.com/business, or switch your personal account in Settings. Then claim your website, write a profile name and bio with the words people search for, make five to ten keyword-named boards, and start posting fresh pins that link to your own pages.
Business vs personal account: what's the difference?
Both are free and both can make pins. A business account adds the tools you need if Pinterest is meant to send people to your site or shop:
| Feature | Personal | Business |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free |
| Analytics (views, saves, clicks) | No | Yes |
| Claim your website or Etsy shop | No | Yes |
| Pinterest Trends | No | Yes |
| Run ads | No | Yes |
| Connect scheduling tools | Limited | Yes |
If you have a blog, a shop or anything to promote, use a business account. There's no downside, and you can switch back if you ever want to.
Step 1: Create or switch to a business account
You have two options. If you already pin from a personal account and want to keep your boards and followers, switch it: open Settings, find Account management, and choose to convert to a business account. If you'd rather keep personal pinning separate, create a new business account at pinterest.com/business and sign up with your work email.
Pinterest will ask a few questions about your business and what you want to do. Answer honestly. It uses this to suggest topics and doesn't lock you into anything.
Step 2: Fill in your profile so people (and search) find you
Your profile is the first thing people see when they tap your name. It's also searchable.
- Profile name: your name or brand plus what you do. "Maya Bakes | Easy baking recipes" works better than "Maya Bakes". You get about 65 characters.
- Username: short and close to your brand. It becomes your profile link.
- Bio: one or two sentences about what people will find and who it's for. "Simple baking recipes for busy people. New recipes every week."
- Profile picture: your logo, or a clear, friendly photo of you.
- Website: your main site or shop link.
Step 3: Claim your website
Claiming your website is the most important setting most people skip. It tells Pinterest you own the site, so every pin from it shows your name and picture, even when someone else saves it. You also get stats for all pins that link to your site.
- Go to Settings, then Claimed accounts, and choose Websites.
- Pinterest gives you three ways to prove ownership: an HTML tag, an HTML file or a DNS record.
- On WordPress, the easiest is the HTML tag. Paste it into the header setting of your SEO plugin or theme. On Shopify, Squarespace and Wix, there's usually a spot in the site settings for it.
- Go back to Pinterest and click Verify. It can take up to a day to show as claimed.
In the same Claimed accounts screen, you can also claim your Etsy shop, Instagram and YouTube. Do it if you use them. For shop owners, our Pinterest for Etsy guide explains why that matters.
Step 4: Make sure rich pins work
Rich pins pull extra details from your web page onto the pin: the article title and site name, a recipe's ingredients and cook time, or a product's price. They make your pins look more trustworthy and they get more clicks.
You don't apply for rich pins anymore. Pinterest reads them automatically from your site's page data. Most good SEO plugins, recipe plugins and shop platforms already add that data. To check, make a pin from one of your pages and look at it: if it shows your page's title in bold above the description, rich pins are working.
Step 5: Create your first boards
Start with five to ten boards named after things people search for. Use the Pinterest search bar to check your names: if it suggests the phrase as you type, people search for it.
Give each board a one-sentence description with its main words. Then put your best pins at the top of your profile by arranging boards so the most important ones come first.
Don't worry about having hundreds of boards. Ten good, focused boards beat fifty vague ones.
Step 6: Start posting fresh pins
Now the part that actually brings visitors. Make tall pins (2:3, like 1000 by 1500 pixels) for your pages, with a clear title and description, and link each pin to the page it's about.
Post steadily. A few fresh pins a day, every day, does more than a big batch once a month. Our guide on how many pins to post a day has numbers for new and established accounts. And if you want the posting to happen without you, connect a scheduler. Pinterest's own lets you schedule pins one at a time, and tools like Pinsevo make and post them for you.
Common setup problems (and fixes)
| Problem | Usual cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Website won't verify | Tag added in the wrong place, or a caching plugin is serving an old page | Check the tag is in the page's head section, clear your site cache, and try again |
| Rich pin details don't show | Your page is missing title or recipe data | Check your SEO or recipe plugin settings, then make a fresh pin to test |
| Can't find Pinterest Trends or analytics | Still on a personal account, or Trends isn't offered in your country | Confirm you switched to business. Analytics work everywhere |
| Pins show someone else's name | Your website isn't claimed | Claim it in Settings, Claimed accounts |
| Etsy shop won't connect | Logged into a different Etsy account in the browser | Log into the right Etsy account first, then connect |
What to do in your first month
A new business account has no history, so Pinterest is still working out what you're about. Help it by staying on one or two clear topics at first, posting a few fresh pins most days, and naming everything plainly. Resist the urge to judge results in week two. Most accounts need two to three months of steady posting before traffic feels predictable.
If you want a shortcut on the pin making, our free Pinterest pin maker and description generator cover the design and the words without an account.
Business account checklist
- Business account created or switched
- Profile name includes what you do
- Bio says who it's for, in plain words
- Website claimed (and Etsy or other accounts, if you use them)
- Rich pins showing your page titles
- Five to ten boards with keyword names and descriptions
- First fresh pins posted, each linking to its own page
Quick answers
Is a Pinterest business account free?
Yes. It's free to create and use. You only pay if you choose to run ads.
Will switching to a business account lose my pins or followers?
No. Your boards, pins and followers stay. You just get extra tools like analytics and a claimed website.
Do I need a website for a Pinterest business account?
No, but it helps a lot. Without a website or shop, you can't claim a site, and your pins have nowhere of your own to send people.
How do I apply for rich pins?
You don't anymore. Pinterest reads rich pin details from your site's page data automatically. Most SEO, recipe and shop plugins add it for you.
How long does it take to claim a website on Pinterest?
Adding the tag takes minutes. Pinterest can take up to a day to confirm it.
