Pinterest is such an amazing search engine (yes, it IS a search engine just like Google) and it’s become the go-to to visual inspiration among basically the whole world. But because of it’s popularity, our boards can easily become a cluster of a mess. There’s no point in saving things if you can’t even find them later, so why not take a rainy afternoon and give your Pinterest boards some organizational love? Here’s how!
1. Take Inventory Of Current Boards
Just like organizing your closet, the first step is to declutter your existing Pinterest account. You probably have old stuff that you’ll likely never look at again, so let’s get rid of those to make navigation a little easier.
- Archive Unneeded Boards. You may have old boards like “First Birthday Party” or “Bathroom Remodel” but those days have been long-gone for years. Pinterest has added an Archive feature for you to remove old boards from your main page without actually deleting them. This is way better than deleting because they won’t take up space but can still be recovered if needed.
- Note any boards with very little pins. You can merge these boards with other boards if that make sense to do.
- Note your most-revisited boards. You can add these to a scrap sheet of paper.
2. Assign Your Top 5 Boards
Your Top 5 Boards are the ones you revisit most often. Typically these include recipes, cleaning hacks, and how-to’s/educational pins.
How To Assign Top Five Boards:
- Navigate to your main Pinterest profile page (where you see all your boards).
- Using your written list from Step One, click and hold one of your chosen Top Five boards, then drag it to the very top of the board list. Make sure you drag it to open white space, not over the top of the first board. If you drag it over a board, it will combine them.
- Pinterest will ask you if you want to rearrange the order of your boards. Confirm that yes, this is what you want to do. Repeat for your other 4 chosen boards.
This process will put your Top 5 chosen boards at the very top of your list, making them easy and quick to find. It’s especially helpful if you have lots of boards on your account.
3. Add Sub-Categories As Needed
Pinterest has another great feature that allows you to add subcategories to large or broad boards. This is such an incredible addition that makes your Pinterest account easier to navigate. I use subcategories in my Recipes and Home Decor Inspo boards and they keep me from having to have 10 different recipe boards cluttering up my account’s main page.
How To Add Sections To A Pinterest Board
- Navigate to your main Pinterest profile page (where you see all your boards).
- Click the board you want to add subcategories to, or create a new board if preferred.
- Once you have the board open, click the (+) sign in the top left corner.
- A drop-down menu will appear. Click Add Section.
- Name your section, then click add. (Example: Breakfast section within Easy Meals board)
Now you can either drag existing pins to your new section or add to it in the future. To add new pins to a section, when you click Pin It and choose the board that houses your sections, it will open a secondary menu for you to choose which section you want to add the pin.
4. Follow Brands And Bloggers You Love From Instagram and Facebook
Almost all brands and bloggers have Pinterest accounts, and if you love the content they share on social media, you’ll likely love their Pinterest content even more. Pinterest is typically the top traffic-driver for bloggers and brands (mine included!) so their Pinterest accounts are often updated multiple times a day. This is the best way to keep up with your favorite blogs because all of their content will be collected there.
How To Find and Follow Your Favorite Brands And Bloggers
- Search their social media handles or first and last name in the Pinterest search bar.
- When you see them (usually they will have the same profile photo as they do on social media) visit their Pinterest account page and click Follow.
- If you can’t find them, send them a DM on the social media platform you follow most often, or contact them via the Contact page of their website. They will gladly send you a link to their account.
Start by following me on Pinterest here!
If you don’t want to follow all boards the brand or blogger has, you can actually visit their main profile page and Follow only the boards that interest you. If you click Follow, you will follow all boards they have, but if you Follow only certain boards, your feed won’t show the categories they have that you aren’t interested in.
5. Create New Boards That Fit Your Current Lifestyle
If you have an older Pinterest account, you probably have a lot of older boards and pins. And even if you didn’t archive those boards, they still may not reflect who you are today. Start by making sure you have these ten essential boards, then add in other niche boards that suit you specifically.
Ten Boards Everyone Needs On Pinterest
- Recipes (with sections for meal categories)
- Cleaning Hacks
- Organizing Inspo
- Personal Style (with sections for clothing, makeup, hair, etc)
- Home Inspo (with sections for each room of your home)
- Life Hacks
- Good Reads (articles you want to read later)
- Health & Fitness (whatever suits your lifestyle)
- Hobbies/DIY (whatever you like to do for fun)
- Cheer-Up (a collection of whatever makes you smile when you’re down; mine is loaded with cute animals)
Extra Things You Can Do To Organize Your Pinterest Profile
If you want to go above and beyond and really up your Pinterest organization, try these extra steps to really make your Pinterest account work for you.
- Create a board for each of your kids and allow them to spend some time once a week pinning bedroom inspo, activity ideas, and educational things they want to revisit. I highly suggest getting your kids into using Pinterest so you can get a feel for what they really care about, but I don’t suggest setting up an account for them until they are in their teen years.
- Follow Group Boards. Group boards are boards that have more than one collaborator. A lot of these boards have many bloggers that contribute pins all within one specific category. This is great for finding new people to follow. You can find group boards by searching “____ group boards” and filtering to Boards. You’ll know it’s a group board because the bottom-right side of the board preview will have a circle with multiple profile photos in it.
- Fine-tune your Home Feed. The pins that show up in your home feed are based on the boards you currently have. If you have a board for a baby shower but you don’t want to see baby shower pins in your home feed, you can remove that category from your preferences. To do this, click the three dots in the top righthand side of your profile and click the Tune Your Home Feed button. Then just switch the boards off that you don’t want to see often in your feed. You won’t lose your boards or pins, you just won’t see related pins in your feed.
- Search your own pins. If you have a massive amount of pins, especially in one board, it would take forever to find what you’re looking for by scrolling through the board. Use the search bar and filter to “your pins” to only see things you have pinned in the past.
Ready To Organize Your Pinterest Account Now?
Grab a cup of coffee, pop on your comfiest sweatpants, and snuggle up under your favorite blanket. Settle in on a rainy afternoon and start fine-tuning your Pinterest profile. I do suggest doing this on a computer versus your phone or tablet, just because moving boards and pins is hard to do on a phone. But if you don’t plan on rearranging your boards, you can do it on your phone.
Comment below with your top-used Pinterest boards! I’d love to see what you are pinning most often! And make sure you follow me on Pinterest so you can stay up to date with all my blog posts without even having to check the site!
