Want to know how to do your very own Pinterest audit? Then you’re in the right place! In this blogpost, I’m breaking down everything you need to know about Pinterest audits, including:

• What a Pinterest audit is
• Why you need a Pinterest audit
• How often you should do a Pinterest audit
• 3 Signs you MUST do a Pinterest audit ASAP
• Whether you can do a Pinterest audit yourself or if you should hire someone 
• What steps to include in a Pinterest audit 
• A free checklist for your Pinterest audit

What is a Pinterest Audit?

A pinterest audit is a review of your Pinterest account and strategy. It looks at all of the different components that make up your account and content to determine what changes need to be made in order to make the biggest impact.

It’s the best way of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of your Pinterest strategy! 

Audits are an absolute necessity and something every serious Pinterest user should add into their yearly calendar. 

Why Do You Need a Pinterest Audit?

Pinterest audits are so important for a number of reasons (which we’ll go into shortly) but it all boils down to this: 

There’s no point in putting time and effort into Pinterest if you’re not taking time to review and adjust. That’s like throwing something at a wall and hoping that it sticks. Strategy is absolutely critical to Pinterest success. 

These are the 5 main reasons why a Pinterest strategy is crucial:

1. You’ll see what’s not working – so you can stop putting time and effort into it and focus your resources elsewhere on things that are moving the needle
2. You’ll see what is working – so you can produce more of this content in order to accelerate growth 
3. You’ll see where you can improve – so you can maximise results in future
4. You’ll understand new updates and features – so you can apply them and make the most of them early on whilst Pinterest is prioritising them 
5. You’ll create a plan to use Pinterest purposefully – so you feel confident in your next steps moving forward and aren’t on the treadmill of creating without purpose

How Often Should You Do a Pinterest Audit?

There’s no set rule for how often you need to do an audit. 

However, I’d recommend completing one at least twice a year. I would expect that alterations and adjustments should be made at least every six months. If you really want to keep on top of things, you can do a smaller ‘mini-audit’ every quarter or even every month. This shorter but more frequent audit can feel less daunting and often helps people to feel like they’re on top of everything! 

There are certain signs that an audit should be made a priority ASAP!

3 Signs You Need to Do a Pinterest Audit

1. You’ve changed (or added to) your product or service offerings
2. You’ve changed your target market 
3. Pinterest has added new features or updates

Each of these things should be a big sign that it’s time to audit your account, so that you’re following best practices and properly marketing yourself on Pinterest!

Can You Do an Audit Yourself?

To a certain extent – yes!

There’s certainly nothing stopping you from performing an audit on your own account. But it’s important to bear in mind that if you’re not well versed in Pinterest, you might miss things. 

Sometimes it can be worthwhile to get a professional Pinterest strategist to audit your account. Their trained eye is likely to pick up things that you might miss, and they’re accustomed to going through Pinterest accounts with a fine-toothed comb! I offer Pinterest audits as part of my strategies and you’ll find many other Pinterest managers do the same. 

That being said, I know that paying for a professional audit might not be possible for everyone, so I want to share exactly how you can do one on your account! 

Making these small adjustments can have an enormous impact on your account, so if you haven’t already done an audit – I’d suggest getting started soon!

Free Pinterest Audit Tools

Before we get started, I want to provide you with a couple of free tools to make your Pinterest Audit run as smoothly as possible. You can access both of them by clicking here!

Free Pinterest Audit Checklist:

This free checklist includes all of the points in this blogpost, making it easy to scan through and see what you need. Make sure to download it and print it off, so that you don’t have to scroll through this entire blogpost every time you want to do an audit. You’re a busy person and audits take time – let’s not waste more of it by having to google every time you start a new audit!

Free Keyword Google Sheet:

If you haven’t already, you’ve got to check out my free Ultimate Guide to Pinterest Keyword Research. Keywords are a huge part of a Pinterest audit and this guide will tell you everything you need to know!

I’ve also created a free Pinterest Keyword Google Sheet, to help you stay organised and keep track of the keywords that you’re targeting on Pinterest!

What an Audit Should Include:

1. Identifying Correct Keywords
2. Optimising you brand profile
3. Cleaning up boards
4. Learning Pinterest updates
5. Reviewing Pins
6. Pinning times

Step 1: Identifying Correct Keywords

It’s vital that you do this before anything else in your audit, as it hugely impacts the effectiveness of the next steps! 

You need to identify the correct ranking keywords for your brand – even if you’ve done keyword research in the past!

Keywords have a tendency to change depending on the time of year, cultural influences, and changes in your brand, products, and services. So, it’s important to do fresh keyword research as part of your Pinterest audit.

If you want to learn more about how exactly I do keyword research (or you’re confused as to what keyword research is!), check out this Free Ultimate Keyword Research Guide!

Step 2: Optimising Your Pinterest Profile

Take a good look at your profile and consider if anything needs a refresh or change. This could include a number of things, such as:

• An updated profile picture
• An updated cover photo
• Checking that your name is consistent with other social media accounts 
• Adding new keywords to your profile description
• Ensuring that your profile description clearly states your mission
• Checking that your website is linked correctly 
• Check that your Instagram, Youtube, and Etsy are linked correctly
• Checking that Rich Pins are set up correctly

Step 3: Cleaning Up Your Pinterest Boards

It’s easy for our Pinterest boards to get messy after a while and this hugely impacts how optimised our Profile is for search engines. Here are some questions to ask yourself when auditing your Pinterest boards:

• Does every board fit your niche?
• Does every board title use keywords?
• Does every board description use keywords? 
• Do you have a board that’s just your own content?
• What new boards do you need?

Step 4: Learning Pinterest Updates

Spend some time doing research on what new updates and features Pinterest has added since you last did an audit. From here you can add these into your strategy to make the most of the platform. 

Pinterest posts their latest updates and features on their newsroom site – so make sure to check it out during your audit! 

Step 5: Reviewing Your Pins

This is one of the most time consuming but arguably the most important step of a Pinterest audit – reviewing pins! 

This means taking a look at your pins from the past however many months and carefully analysing them to strategise for the future. You’ll want to consider:

• Which pins are performing the best?
• Why exactly are they performing the best?
• How can you recreate this? 
• Which pins are not performing well?
• Why is this?
• How could you create new pins for this content that would perform better?
• Which pins are getting the most clicks to your website?
• Which pins are getting the most views? 
• How much traffic is Pinterest sending to your website? 
• Are you using keywords effectively in every pin you post?
• What days and times are best for pinning?

And there you have it – your Pinterest audit is complete! You’re now in the best position possible to nail Pinterest marketing and grow your brand online! 

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