Have you heard of the Pinterest spam filter? If you’re a Pinterest manager or someone that markets their business online, then the answer is more than likely “yes!” And it’s such a pain isn’t it? You’re just minding your own business, posting your regularly scheduled content and BAM your impression drop to nearly zero out of nowhere! Where did you go wrong? Why did this happen? How can you fix it? Keep reading to find out!

What is the Pinterest Spam Filter?

The Pinterest spam filter is exactly what it sounds like—a spam filter. It does its’ best to keep all of the bots, fake accounts, and scammers off of Pinterest. Recently, Pinterest altered their spam filter to be a LOT more strict. So now, it’s way easier to get caught up in it even if you aren’t a fake account or a spammer.

What can I do to avoid it?

There are a ton of ways that you can avoid the spam filter! Here are my top 5 tips:

1. If you’re working with someone that is in a different country, be sure that you are posting for them with a VPN. It can appear pretty suspicious if an account that claims to be a business in Australia is “pinning” on a daily basis from halfway across the world in the UK! I personally do NOT work with anyone outside of the US, so I haven’t had to do this; however, if you are someone that works with people outside of your country, a simple google search will help you get one set up!

2. Don’t post to the same URL more than once per day if you’re trying to avoid the Pinterest spam filter! Much like pinning the same exact pin over and over again to one board multiple days in a row, pinning to the same URL more than once per day can also get your account flagged. If you’re an older more established account, it’s okay to post pins that refer back to the same URL every day of the week; however, if you’re a newer account, it is recommended that you post pins that refer back to the same URL every other day maximum.

   1. Pro-tip: You can make sure that none of your pins that link back to the same URL are posted on the same day by utilizing the Interval scheduler.

   2. Pro-tip #2: If you have a ton of blog content back-logged, use this new rule as a way to put out more diverse content each week. For one of my client accounts, I’ll create one new blog post per week. Then I will pin referring back to that URL M, W, F, & SN + another blog post that same day. On T, TR, & SA I will schedule pins referring back to 2 different URLs and so on. This way I will have at least 2 fresh pins going out per day on her account.

3. Don’t use hashtags. Pinterest has said themselves that they do NOT like hashtags anymore and that there is NO benefit to using them on the platform. If you do use them, this could contribute to a spam flag on your account!

4. Limit the amount of re-pins on your account. This doesn’t just mean other people’s content either! Did you know that every time you schedule a pin to more than one board or all relevant boards, every time it is posted after it posts to that first board, it is considered a re-pin? If you didn’t, now you do! So instead of scheduling the same pins over and over again, try pinning more fresh content.

   1. Pro-tip: Per Levee Road studio’s Schedule Smarter course (I highly recommend investing in it), you can make one pin design register as a “fresh” pin after posting it to the first board by editing your design in Tailwind or altering the design slightly so that it appears to be a NEW image within Pinterest’s algorithm. This way, you don’t have to create 40 fresh pins a week, you can create 7 (one per day) and create duplicates of the design that are slightly altered or cropped to pin to other relevant boards. Depending on the amount of relevant boards you choose to schedule these 7 pins out to, you could be pinning up to 70 fresh pins a week with 7 pin designs!

5. If you find that you ARE caught up in the spam filter, get in touch with Pinterest support. E-mail support about the account you suspect is caught in the spam filter and keep pestering them until you get a response from a HUMAN. They will typically work with you once they realize that you are, in fact, not a bot!

Thanks so much for reading and I hope that these tips have helped you feel a bit better about getting caught up in the Pinterest spam filter! It doesn’t have to be the end of the world and it IS a solvable & avoidable problem. If you don’t have time to care or learn about all of this pinning non-sense but you still want to market you business on Pinterest, you’re more than welcome to outsource that task to me! If you want to hire me as your Pinterest manager, click here to fill out a client application!

Want Pinterest tips and updates weekly? Click here to follow me on Instagram. And keep an eye out for my HUGE Black Friday sale on Pinterest 1:1 coaching, my “How to Become a Pinterest EXPERT” Workbook, and strategy calls. Coming soon!