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You are here: Home / Pinterest Tips / Pinterest Hashtags 2020: This Is All You Need To Know

Pinterest Hashtags 2020: This Is All You Need To Know

October 27, 2020 by Louise Myers 58 Comments

Pinterest hashtags banner

Wondering if you should you use Pinterest hashtags?

Are hashtags on Pinterest even a thing in 2020?

For years, Pinterest had been telling us not to use them, except for one branded hashtag.

Then in late 2017, they said YES, use them! But now…

Pin or tweet, then read on.

Do hashtags work on Pinterest in 2020?

This blog post was originally published on August 23, 2017, with a lot of rumors and innuendos.

Hashtags in Pin descriptions were clickable on desktop – then not. Hashtag buttons appeared on mobile – sometimes.

Pinterest finally published an official statement on September 26, 2017. YES you can use hashtags on Pinterest!

Like hashtags on Instagram, you now could, and should, use hashtags on Pinterest.

But, here we are in late 2020.

1 | Pin descriptions no longer show in the feed. Remember when we had hashtags there? Scroll down a ways and I’ll show you! Now we have titles – maybe (see visual directly below).

2 | When you open the Pin, the description is cut off.

3 | And even if you click “More,” the hashtags are no longer clickable.

Pinterest feed and pin screenshots
Pinterest hashtags in late 2020: Barely visible, not clickable.

 
Hashtag searches have been surfacing non-hashtagged content for quite some time. And with hashtags no longer clickable, hashtag feeds just don’t exist.

Finally, Pinterest said it: Hashtags are optional.

Yes, you can still use them, but their effectiveness is limited to a short, initial burst of extra exposure.

This article is a virtual Ultimate Guide to Pinterest Hashtags, and I’d love for you to read it. It’s updated as of October 27, 2020.

But, Spoiler Alert: I was 100% right in January 2020 when I said:

Don’t spend a lot of time worrying about Pinterest hashtags.

What are hashtags on Pinterest?

Hashtags are a word or phrase preceded by a hash (#) used to identify Pins on a specific topic. You’ll know it’s a hashtag when you see the hash (#) preceding the word or phrase.

Up until late 2020, hashtags on Pinterest worked like they do anywhere else. However, now they seem to function as keywords. They’re no longer clickable, so they don’t lead you to a hashtag feed, like even Facebook hashtags do.

Hashtags can be one word, or multiple words strung together, but you can’t use spaces or punctuation in hashtags.

How to use hashtags? #hashtaglikethis (or #HashtagLikeThis, for better readability).

When you add hashtags to the description for a new Pin, other Pinners could click on it to visit a feed of all the Pins that share that hashtag. But no longer.

The freshest Pins were right up top. Unlike normal search results on Pinterest, these were shown in (mostly) chronological order.

Starting in 2020, chronology of Pins is no longer shown (aka “freshness indicator” as I’ve shown below). It’s unknown if they’re still in chronological order.

How to find Pins with hashtags

You used to be able to discover related content by clicking on a hashtag in Pin description.

You can still search for a hashtag, like “#interiordesign” or “#healthyrecipes”.

Truth be told, in late 2020 this seems to pull up the normal search results page. Hashtags are no longer differentiated from keywords on Pinterest.

And even if your results include Pins with hashtags in the description, they won’t be visible as blue clickable links like this screenshot from 2019.

Discover related content by clicking on a hashtag in Pin description
Hashtag search results on Pinterest 2019 (you’ll find a newer screenshot further down).

 

How do I add hashtags to Pins?

Hashtags for Pins go in the description.

I recommend placing them at the end of your description, and not peppered throughout your carefully-crafted sentences.

Remember that hashtags are clickable, so give Pinners a chance to read through to your call-to-action before getting distracted to click away to a hashtag feed!

To add a hashtag, type “#” and add a keyword or phrase.

NEW for 2020: You’ll ONLY get hashtag suggestions when creating a NEW Pin in the mobile app. This is still true in October 2020. See screenshots below.

Start typing the hash mark followed by a word, and you’ll see suggested hashtags pop up with a number following.

The number indicates how often that hashtag has been used on Pinterest.

The hashtag suggestion feature is no longer available on desktop, at all.

Suggested hashtags pop up in the Pin description when you create a new Pin in the app

Which hashtags should I use on Pinterest?

When inserting a hashtag, Pinterest recommends you be specific and descriptive. Use words or phrases that describe the content in the Pin.

Include a selection of hashtags that are closely related to your niche. One could be your brand hashtag (if you have one). Mine is #LouiseM.

Always place your branded hashtag before any other hashtags so it’s more likely to be the one clicked.

Don’t use popular, irrelevant hashtags just to get attention! I know of one account that was banned from Pinterest for doing this.

While you shouldn’t use hashtags that are crazy popular and vague, super-niche hashtags with under 100 uses are probably not going to help you get found. I suggest using a combination of broad and niche hashtags.

If you’re not sure which hashtags to use, try searching for your topic on Pinterest and use the autocomplete suggestions as guidance.

Search hashtags that you’re considering using (enter “#yourkeywordphrase” in the Pinterest search bar) and check out the content in the search results to make sure it’s relevant to yours.

You can also get an idea of how often that hashtag is used. If the page is filled with Pins posted in the last 10 minutes, that tag feed moves too fast to be of much use to you.

Unlike hashtags elsewhere, Pinterest hashtags aren’t used for jokes, memes or commentary. So for a fashion brand, something like #springfashion would work well—but #ilookterribleinhats wouldn’t.

It’s best to be objective and use hashtags that make sense and are relevant to the Pin.

Depending on your Pin, consider using hashtags that are timely, such as:

  • #oscars
  • #backtoschool
  • #halloween

And/or hashtags that are evergreen, like:

  • #mealplanning
  • #hairgoals
  • #homedecor

This will help make it easier to for users to filter and find relevant content they are interested in.

How many hashtags should I use on Pinterest Pins?

Pinterest says to add no more than 20 hashtags per Pin.

I’ve seen some people say to use one or two, which makes me wonder, Why bother?

I personally have a hard time narrowing down to less than 5 or 6. I would suggest you try somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 to 8.

Though I use and recommend 30 hashtags on Instagram, I avoid using the full complement of 20 on Pinterest. You can test it though, and see if it works for you!

If you write a long enough description, the hashtags will be hidden under a “More” tag. Currently descriptions are truncated by “More” after approximately 190 characters.

I still feel 20 hashtags per Pin looks out of place and spammy on Pinterest. Please let me know if you’ve tried and found it effective!

Four hashtags seems like a reasonable number. In Fall 2017, Pinterest showed 4 hashtags instead of a Pin description under the Pin previews in streams and on boards. If you’ve used more than 4, only the first 4 were shown here (see below).

Pinterest is always changing things up, and I’m going to speculate about Pinterest hashtag use in 2020 further along.

As of October 21, 2017, Pinterest is showing 4 hashtags instead of a Pin description under the Pin previews in streams and on boards.

You have 500 characters to use in your Pin description, so you can add more than 4 hashtags.

But also be aware that many Pinterest users are complaining about excessive hashtag use and calling it spammy. Don’t overdo it!

Here’s a great tip from the Tailwind blog:

If a user searches for hashtags that have few Pins labeled with the hashtag, the search feed will also display results without hashtags.

The Pinterest algorithm will try to match the content based on keywords and other cues from the content to identify user intent. This helps the feed display similar, non-hashtagged content the user may have intended to find with the hashtag search but that has not been hashtagged.

Note: These instances of low hashtag use provide a great opportunity for businesses who have content that would fit within these hashtag search results. Dominate hashtags that have few results in the search feed by adding these hashtags to your posts when relevant.

Where should I put Pinterest hashtags?

Use a few hashtags at the end of your Pin descriptions. Not at the beginning.

If you use a branded hashtag, place it before other hashtags for brand recognition.

I suggest to include one or two at the end of your Pin descriptions - NOT at the beginning!

Should I add hashtags to old Pins?

People often ask if they should go back and add hashtags to older Pins.

You can, but it won’t help your content show up at the top of hashtag search feeds. Newer Pins with that hashtag will appear first. source

If you want to change or add a hashtag, just edit the Pin description. Since hashtag searches turn up Pins based on when they were Saved, don’t edit old Pin descriptions to add hashtags.

Do add hashtags when doing a new “Save” of a previous Pin. Now you’ve got a fresh one!

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Pinterest Hashtag Hacks: Short Version

Add hashtags for Pins in the description by typing “#” followed by a keyword or phrase.

When creating a new Pin on mobile, suggested hashtags pop up with a number. Choose tags in a medium range of uses.

Be specific and descriptive. Use words or phrases that accurately describe the content in the Pin.

IF relevant to your Pin, use both hashtags that are timely, and ones that are evergreen.

Search hashtags that you’re considering using. Enter “#yourhashtagphrase” in the Pinterest search bar, and ensure the search results are relevant.

Add no more than 20 hashtags per Pin. The first 4 added may appear under the Pin in feeds – they did at one time, and it’s always possible they’ll return.

I suggest using 2 to 8 maximum hashtags. More may look spammy.

Put hashtags at the END of your description to lead Pinners TO your content, not away from it.

If you want to change your hashtag later, edit the Pin description.

Since hashtag searches favor recent Pins, don’t edit old Pin descriptions to add hashtags.

Continue your keyword strategy on Pinterest, as most Pinners will discover your content via keywords.

Be sure to make eye-catching Pins, so that yours get noticed and clicked.

Hashtags on Pinterest ONLY work in Pin descriptions! No need to use them elsewhere.

Be sure to Pin the Hashtag Hacks cheat sheet at the end of this article!

Are Pinterest hashtags working in 2020?

I strongly recommend you continue your keyword strategy on Pinterest. I believe this will be the way most Pinners will discover your content.

When I first started using hashtags on Pinterest 2 months before the official announcement, it appeared that they helped, since my repins, views, and website traffic went up.

But I can’t say for certain it was due to hashtags.

My repins, views, and website traffic are up, but I can't say for certain it's due to hashtags.

In 2020 though, many marketers say they just help spammers steal our Pins.

I can’t say if this is true, or it just provides an easy way for us to find our pins that have been stolen.

In the screenshot below, I wasn’t even searching my branded hashtag, but a niche hashtag that not many people use: #hashtagtips.

All but one of the non-promoted Pins in the first screen of results were my own Pins – BUT only one of them linked to my own website!

The rest were all stolen from me and redirected to spammers’ sites 🙁

hashtag search for stolen Pinterest Pins

Did they find them by my hashtags though?

I’m doubtful. The stolen Pins were heavily weighted to the Pins that had the best results for me. So I really think spammers are finding Pins to steal by popularity, not hashtags.

Including, and then searching, your branded hashtag can certainly help you find stolen Pins, if you care to.

Some Pinners do still use a branded hashtag for that reason alone!

Late 2020: I no longer use hashtags on new Pins. Pinterest has said they’re optional, so you’re free to use them if you like.

However, Pinterest has been playing with hiding Pin descriptions, which means those hashtags won’t be seen, and they can no longer be clicked even when visible.

They do help you surface in keyword search, at least in the short term.

As I said months ago, I seriously doubt that anyone other than marketers actually searches by hashtags on Pinterest. It’s not easy to do, as it is on Instagram and Twitter.

We don’t even know if Pins in the hashtag feed show up freshest first anymore.

Pinterest removed mention of hashtags on their content tips page, and hasn’t said much about them since 2018.

For me, Pinterest sent the most traffic to this one viral post for 3 years. That Pin had no hashtags.

I believe we can’t ensure specific results on Pinterest, we can only enhance our chances. If you’ve already done the research, I suggest you include a few of your well-chosen hashtags at the end of your Pin description.

But for newbies? Don’t spend a lot of time worrying about Pinterest hashtags.

There are more important Pinterest tasks.

Why aren’t my Pins showing up in the Hashtag Feed?

This section is rather irrelevant since there’s not a hashtag feed per se in late 2020. Left here for historical reference.

In 2018, Pinterest said that hashtag feeds would surface the freshest content first – but you may notice that the feed isn’t showing you all Pins with that hashtag, in completely chronological order.

One woman noticed that most of her Pins were missing, and some of the content was old. She emailed Pinterest and got this response:

What shows up when a hashtag is searched has to do with a lot of different factors including a Pinner’s interests, searches, past history of engagement, etc as well as a vast majority of other signals. In general, our goal is to show the right Pin to the right Pinner at the right time. That means that it actually isn’t possible to force show a specific Pin of yours for the hashtag.

So like I said above, we can’t make Pinterest bow to our wishes – we can only follow suggestions and see what works best for our own accounts.

Pinterest first hinted about hashtags in August 2017

I first heard of this in a blog post. The author Vanessa was fortunate enough to visit Pinterest HQ in San Francisco.

She met with Jackie, a Partner Manager.

Jackie explained that brands really wanted to utilize hashtags because they had become so commonplace on other platforms and basically the language of #marketing. Pinterest has started utilizing hashtags in the search as well as linking pins with the same hashtags. Her Pinterest marketing strategy was to include at least one hashtag after the end of the pin description that most strongly represented the purpose of the pin. source

I read that August 21. Then on August 23, I was on a webinar with Pinterest and Curalate.

Tiffany Black is the Head of Content Business Development and Corporate Development at Pinterest. During the webinar, she mentioned both keywords and hashtags, and fielded a couple pointed questions later.

As far as hashtags, she recommended we use a few, relevant ones in our Pin description. “Don’t get carried away or use 100.”

There’s now an official recommendation from Pinterest on number to use: no more than 20. Heck, that’s a lot!

Jackie had said 1 or 2, but apparently that wasn’t an official Pinterest stance.

The full quote from Tiffany:

It is true that In the past, I think that we were dissuading people from using hashtags. We are actually changing that such that you can and are often benefited in the future by using hashtags. As far as best practices go, the rule of thumb is use authentic hashtags but don’t keyword stuff essentially. So I know on other platforms you can often see people putting 50 or 100 hashtags on something.

It’s not the volume of hashtags that’s really useful, it’s actually making sure you are using the hashtags that people will likely be searching for. So not trying to do like 100 because actually doing too many will decrease rank in some capacity because we will think it is possibly spam.

So I would say we haven’t figured out exactly what the right number is. I don’t think that we will probably come out with an exact number but you know keeping it reasonable and using ones that are relevant to the content and authentic is the way to go.

When asked whether keywords needed to be used in a sentence, Tiffany responded that it’s “preferred” to be conversational, but not critical enough to go edit past Pin descriptions.

Optimize your Pinterest Account with my FREE 7-day e-course

I’ll take you from setting up your account correctly to making simple, pinnable images, in this FREE e-course.

Get ONE simple action step each day. Join now!

• • • CLICK to get your FREE Pinterest Basics e-course! • • •

No worries, you won’t leave this page, so you can finish reading!

Conclusion: Should You Use Pinterest Hashtags in 2020?

Here’s what I said about hashtags on Pinterest in 2019:

Hashtags are the way to get quick results on your new Pins, which often take weeks or months to surface in search.

Hashtag feeds are “freshest first” and can give you an immediate bump in traffic.

Hashtags provide another way for your Pins to be found.

Pinterest’s stated mission is to help people discover and do things they love, and hashtags help them do that.

Pinterest invested in developing hashtag functionality. They’re behind it 100%.

On October 21, 2017, Pinterest made a bold move in favor of hashtags: showing 4 of them under Pin previews in feeds.

But hashtags in 2020?

Pinterest now says hashtags are optional.

Be sure to create eye-catching Pins, so that yours is the Pin that gets clicked in search results or hashtag feeds.

Improve your Pin descriptions, using keywords and calls-to action.

I don’t recommend spending a lot of time on hashtags.

Use them if you’ve already researched them. And let me know if you A/B test!

Have you tried hashtags on Pinterest? Let us know a comment.

I’ll keep this post updated on how to use Pinterest hashtags. Pin it, and check back!

pinterest hashtag hacks infographic

Filed Under: Pinterest Tips Tagged With: how to use hashtags, pinterest for business, using Pinterest to get website traffic

About Louise Myers

Louise Myers is a graphic design expert whose designs have been featured by Disney, Macy's, WalMart and more. Her straightforward writing style empowers small business owners to make their own graphics for social media success!

Comments

  1. Jarvee says

    August 24, 2017 at 1:56 AM

    There are making so many changes, it’s a huge challenge to keep up with all of that.

    Will have to try it out and see if I will be happy about it.

    Thank you for the news Louise!

    Reply
  2. Susan Hook says

    August 27, 2017 at 7:36 AM

    Thank you for the up-to-date information! I was dismayed to hear the news, hoping that Pinterest would continue to hashtag free. I have nothing against the hashtag (I use them with reckless abandon on Instagram!) however, Pinterest has a different “vibe” than IG and hashtags are not necessary given the power of the Pinterest search bar. I was taught to use the “@” symbol before my Pinterest name in the description, so that is the only thing I add. Is that necessary or helpful Louise? Should I consider switching to a hashtag? #susanhook888

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      August 27, 2017 at 8:24 PM

      Hi Susan,

      I don’t use a brand hashtag anywhere and really don’t see a need for it. Nor do I understand why you would tag yourself in the description? Your account name is already a clickable link attached to the pin. It seems a touch spammy. What was the reasoning behind this?

      If you want to use a hashtag, I’d recommend doing what Pinterest says and use one or two highly relevant ones.

      Reply
  3. Mellisa Louise says

    August 29, 2017 at 11:13 AM

    Always wondered about hashtags on Pinterest. I use a few but haven’t really noticed if it made my stats better or worse. It’s good to know they might be more useful in the future though.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      August 29, 2017 at 2:20 PM

      Pinterest has made a complete turn from their previous recommendation. Hope you see a change for the better!

      Reply
  4. Chris Syme says

    September 1, 2017 at 6:17 AM

    Good info Louise. The thing I like to remember about Pinterest is that it is not as much a social media channel as it is a search engine. I think keywords are much more powerful than hashtags will ever be there. I try and make sure the titles of pins and boards have at least one keyword in them that people will be using to find my info. Keywords function the same on Pinterest as they do on Google–both single words and long tail searches can be relevant. Just my two cents.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      September 1, 2017 at 8:57 AM

      I agree that keywords are incredibly powerful on Pinterest, and have been for the past few years.

      The fact that Pinterest is recommending the use of hashtags makes me wonder if they’ll continue to prioritize keywords.

      Reply
      • Kristi Kirk Trent says

        December 22, 2017 at 2:09 PM

        Hi Louise! Hi Chris! Yet another in an endless series of helpful posts, Louise. Thank you 🙂 I want to be sure I understand you correctly. To clarify: Keywords and #hashtags are mutually exclusive? A #hashtag is not just a keyword with an additional sorting/search function? If I include #OKC in a description but omit ‘OKC’ without the pound sign, my pin will not show up in a search for ‘OKC?’

        Reply
        • Louise Myers says

          December 22, 2017 at 4:33 PM

          Hi Kristi,

          I’m not sure that Pinterest is sure exactly how this works yet! It’s still so new to them. There may be some overlap between keyword and hashtag searches. Not certain.

          In any event, I recommend using both keywords and hashtags that people are actually searching for. “OKC” seems like a brand acronym and I’m not sure how many people would know of it.

          Reply
          • Kristi Kirk Trent says

            December 27, 2017 at 4:21 AM

            Hi Louise! All of this change has left me so discombobulated! I sincerely appreciate you taking time to reply. I’ve wondered about the use of keywords vs #hashtags on various platforms for some time, actually. I’ll take your advice and use a mix of both on Pinterest. Thankfully, it seems they have a generous character limit. (20 #hashtags!? LOL)

            ‘OKC’ is an acronym and popular #hashtag for ‘Oklahoma City.’ If you live here, you definitely search for it. But I see how it could easily be obscure for non-locals. Thank you for the heads-up.

            ~ Kristi Kirk Trent

          • Louise Myers says

            December 27, 2017 at 10:02 AM

            Got it! I thought it was specific to your business. Makes sense to me now 🙂

  5. Marina Barayeva says

    October 2, 2017 at 6:04 PM

    Thank you for the post, Louise!

    Why do you think hashtags may badly affect the brands?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      October 4, 2017 at 9:44 AM

      Glad you liked it, Marina!

      Possible spam, and that tags lead people away from your Pin. The best Pins and most frequent Pinners will probably win at hashtags.

      Reply
  6. Nzekwe Godswill says

    November 1, 2017 at 9:07 PM

    hi.. it is very good and helpful article.
    thanks for sharing, Thanks a lot

    Reply
  7. Susan says

    December 13, 2017 at 12:05 PM

    Hi louise,

    I’ve used 4-6 hashtag per-pin.. there also some pins that i didn’t put hastag on it. But i see no significant difference between with or without hashtag. Funny thing is, everytime i put common hashtag for my products like #christmasgift #holidaygift #metalflower etc, it won’t appear on that hashtag result no matter how many times i re-pin the picture to freshen the pin or clicked the hashtag, I even tried to search it from different Pinterest account but still my pin won’t appear on the result. But it will likely appear on an uncommon or more specified hashtag like #daisies #ironrose or a typo #christmastgift. It is kinda frustated me off.. so now I’m working more on keywords on the description than the hashtag.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      December 14, 2017 at 7:45 AM

      Definitely work more on keywords. But also be aware that just bc *you* don’t see your Pin in the hashtag feed doesn’t mean others won’t. You might reread the section “Why aren’t my Pins showing up in the Hashtag Feed?”

      Reply
  8. Gavin Evans says

    March 14, 2018 at 10:33 AM

    This is really very useful as the previous best practice on using Pinterest that I have recently read made no mention of hashtags whatsoever. I am pretty new to this platform so am trying to arm myself with the best information possible. Thanks very much!

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      March 14, 2018 at 11:11 AM

      There’s definitely lots of outdated info around. Best of luck on Pinterest, Gavin!

      Reply
  9. Margaret Melville Hugo says

    April 11, 2018 at 4:12 AM

    I am wondering if one can or should add # to other people’s content as it might bring people to your own boards? I have recently discovered Tailwind & it has got me thinking in so many new directions & you have the option to change the pin description.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      April 11, 2018 at 6:47 AM

      My opinion is that it’s a little shady to use / edit others’ content for your own gain.

      Reply
  10. BIRGIT OTTOSEN ANDREASSEN says

    April 26, 2018 at 8:43 PM

    HOW CAN U TELL IF YOU HAVE EARNED ANY MONEY YOU SURE KNOW HOW MUCH YOU SPEND ADVERTISING THAT’S NO SECRET I PAY OVER 100 DOLLARS A WEEK PLUS SO IT WOULD HELP TO KNOW IF I AM MAKING OR BREAKING THE BANK AS A PENSIONER THAT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW PLEASE LOUISE CAN YOU HELP ME THERE PLEASE LOUISE THANK YOU.

    WARM REGARDS

    BIRGIT

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      April 27, 2018 at 11:49 AM

      Hi Birgit,

      I don’t advertise so I can’t help you with this.

      Reply
  11. Kelly says

    May 15, 2018 at 8:13 PM

    Thank you for taking time to put this hashtag information together Louise!

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      May 16, 2018 at 9:37 AM

      You’re welcome, Kelly.

      Reply
  12. No Name says

    August 15, 2018 at 6:27 AM

    Hi Louise, thank you for a good blog. However, I don’t know what’s wrong, but I can’t see the list of blue colored and hyperlinked hashtags rolling down with the number how many times they are being used in the description box like in your screenshot. And in search results, where my pins do appear, it seems like only the hashtags used in the beginning of description are hyperlinked on others pins, but as you said it’s better to place them at the end, but they are not hyperlinked. Has there been some changes in Pinterest since that?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      August 15, 2018 at 4:41 PM

      Yep, not sure what’s going on with this but *for the most part*, they’re no longer hyperlinked. Probably some changes afoot. I suspect they’ll return.

      The numbers still come up for me most of the time. This is in the Pin description when I Save a new Pin. I do not see this when editing a Pin description.

      Reply
  13. Jennifer Hanford says

    August 26, 2018 at 11:02 AM

    Hi Louise, this information is very useful. I am experimenting with hashtags on pins and have only been using the relevant ones that pop up automatically as suggestions. I’ve noticed recently that some of them are no longer auto-populating (example, #lunch and #easyrecipes). Is it okay to use hashtags that are relevant but not auto-populating to help drive traffic to our site? I am unable to find anything definitive on this.

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      August 30, 2018 at 9:27 AM

      Yes, that feature is buggy anyway. I don’t find it helpful even when it works! Will be updating this post as time permits.

      Reply
  14. Mom says

    October 29, 2018 at 3:12 PM

    I just started to promote my travel blog and nothing is going on yet, hope these hashtags will enlight the way to my funny website, thank you for sharing these informations. Is there any other way to rich more followers at Pinterest?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      October 29, 2018 at 7:46 PM

      There’s definitely a lot involved in Pinterest marketing.

      Reply
  15. Karen says

    November 28, 2018 at 2:48 AM

    I can’t add hashtags below my image I want to post now even on my computer and the #”s don’t auto populate anymore below with popularity . Has this changed recently?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      November 28, 2018 at 9:13 AM

      It’s still working for me in Chrome for Mac. I tried 4 different ways to save and it worked on all of them.

      Reply
  16. cedric says

    December 31, 2018 at 11:31 AM

    I created a pinterest account 3 weeks ago and just found out about the hashtags. I have my own ecommerce store with my own images (not always as sometimes I use the supplier photos).
    If I put 500 keywords including 20 hashtags…my pin will not show in any hashtags. I have to put 10 to 15 words maximum in my description before the hashtag (a hack I found it to update the description and make it longer).
    Also, I can publish each day one pin by hashtag…if I had 2 pins with the same hashtag, only my first pin will show with this hashtag.
    Anyone knows if this is normal or if it is because my account is new ?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      December 31, 2018 at 8:30 PM

      It’s probably normal. Pinterest doesn’t want you to take over a hashtag by adding it to dozens of pins a day. Also, it’s no longer a strictly chronological feed.

      I recommend using way less than 20 hashtags though!

      Reply
  17. Kathy Dady says

    February 21, 2019 at 8:33 AM

    Two questions: Firstly, is there value in putting hashtags in Board descriptions? If so, should these be within the sentence structure or at the end of the description?

    Secondly, as I’ve just learnt about hashtags, can I hashtag my posts retrospectively (items for sale)? Will they show up on peoples’ latest feed using the newly added hashtags? Hope that makes sense. Thank you for any advice given.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      February 21, 2019 at 11:56 AM

      Hashtags in Board descriptions? There doesn’t seem to be a benefit at this time, however if you’re rewriting the description anyway, you can add a few at the end.

      Can I hashtag my posts retrospectively? I wouldn’t bother, as they seem to only surface new pins.

      Reply
  18. Bob says

    February 27, 2019 at 12:16 PM

    Attempting to follow your example, I cannot get a count of hashtags on my pins (new or existing.) I’ve tried it in two different browsers, with and without the Pinterest app. Has Pinterest disable this feature?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      February 27, 2019 at 12:29 PM

      Just tried and it works for me. It won’t work on existing Pins at all. I see it pinning from Chrome, whether using the Save button that appears on the image, the Pinterest browser extension, or my social share button.

      Reply
  19. Tom Madewell says

    May 2, 2019 at 10:04 AM

    I have had success editing old pins to update or improve hashtags.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      May 2, 2019 at 8:36 PM

      Good to hear.

      Reply
  20. Kim says

    July 30, 2019 at 8:17 AM

    Thank you for a great article!! I did not even know you could use hashtags in Pinterest. Now I do!!!

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      July 30, 2019 at 3:10 PM

      You are welcome 🙂

      Reply
  21. Rosie says

    August 17, 2019 at 9:47 AM

    The option to add descriptions and hashtags has completely disappeared as of a few days ago. All pinterest allows me to do now is upload a photo. Has this happened to anyone else…?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      August 17, 2019 at 7:40 PM

      I haven’t heard this exactly, but the pin description when repinning on mobile is in a different position.

      I still have all the options when uploading a photo, as of yesterday.

      Reply
  22. Rosie says

    August 31, 2019 at 7:11 AM

    I’m still not getting the option to add hashtags or my own descriptions. I’m using the same laptop computer as always, and the same browser as always (Firefox). Nothing has changed at my end. I’ve now contacted Pinterest three times to get an answer to this issue, with no success – I get back completely irrelevant replies. Now at the point where I’m tearing my hair out, as it’s seriously affecting my business.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      September 1, 2019 at 8:54 AM

      There’s a problem with descriptions right now. Pinterest is experimenting with making them not visible, but says they still work for search optimization.

      Reply
  23. Orana Velarde says

    September 22, 2019 at 12:01 PM

    I have a question about hashtags in descriptions and rich pin descriptions.
    The description I write (along with the hashtags) doesn’t show up in the ACTUAL description. That is always the Rich Pin meta description. The description with hashtags shows up as a “share”. I don’t get it.
    Even if I EDIT the description, the rich pin meta description doesn’t change.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      September 23, 2019 at 10:01 AM

      I’ve had this same issue. Apparently Pinterest is changing things up. In some cases, people who have written to Pinterest had NO description showing at all, and were told this could not be restored, but the info is still “there” for search purposes.

      Reply
  24. Kelly says

    October 24, 2019 at 4:56 PM

    Thank you for this incredibly helpful post!

    Reply
  25. Lilian Chime says

    January 29, 2020 at 10:07 PM

    Does (spammy site name and link) site also allow me to get other application that is not seen in google play store? How does it work and will it be safe to install this to my phone? Is it safe and free of viruses? I just want to confirm and erase my worries. It seems that this will be very helpful for me, especially if I need some applications that I need for school. I hope someone can enlighten me here. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      January 30, 2020 at 12:49 PM

      No, I would avoid that type of site, just as I avoided letting you put a link to it here.

      Reply
  26. Ada says

    March 18, 2020 at 9:26 AM

    I downloaded pinterest app on.mobile to try the hashtag function
    I wrote as mentionned underdescription part the hashtag starting with # and the wanted word but it doesnt show any “link” (blue link)or reaction. Usuallyif enter hashtag words it llalso appear related hashtag words. But it doesnt. I tried with famous words sich has christmas etc..

    Does the hashtag still function on mobile? If yeshow..m.m

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      March 18, 2020 at 10:12 AM

      Pinterest is testing and changing up a lot of things right now. Sorry but it’s impossible to say from one day to the next what’s working, is under testing, is glitchy, or has been abandoned.

      I’ll update this post if Pinterest says anything definitive!

      Reply
      • Ada says

        March 19, 2020 at 7:58 AM

        thank you~~~~understand on it. ><

        Reply
  27. Seb says

    May 28, 2020 at 4:41 AM

    Thanks for the article,
    I am confused however by the image of your stats. You have 20K daily viewers on your Pinterest account, and 240K daily viewers on louisem.com ? Is that correct? So only a very small portion of the viewers you get on your website come from Pinterest?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      May 28, 2020 at 7:25 AM

      Yes, only a portion of my website traffic is from Pinterest.

      Depending on your niche, the age of your site, and how good you are with search engine optimization, this % will vary. Newer blogs in the cooking and craft niches will get a larger % of their traffic from Pinterest (if they use it well).

      As they become more established and work with SEO, they can grow their organic traffic from Google and other search engines, while maintaining and hopefully growing their Pinterest traffic as well.

      Some people focus on the %, but to me the important thing is the amount of traffic and that you keep growing.

      Reply
  28. Adrianne Jerrett says

    October 13, 2020 at 8:42 PM

    This is a super useful post. Thank you Louise . Unfortunately the hastag generator doesn’t work on my app. Maybe it’s an Android or location thing (I’m in New Zealand) ?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      October 14, 2020 at 9:18 AM

      This feature does seem to come and go. Pinterest is de-emphasizing hashtag use now.

      Reply

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