5 Common Pinterest Pin Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)

Most underperforming pins share the same fixable problems. Here are the five mistakes we see most often — and exactly how to correct them.

1. Text too small to read

The problem: Headlines that look fine at full size become illegible at feed thumbnail size.

The fix: Design at actual display size. If you cannot read the headline on a phone screen without zooming, increase font size or shorten the text.

2. No clear call to action

The problem: The pin looks nice but does not tell the user why they should click.

The fix: Add a benefit-driven headline. "Get the Free Printable" or "See the Full Tutorial" gives users a reason to tap.

3. Linking to the homepage instead of the post

The problem: The pin promotes a specific recipe or article but links to your site's homepage.

The fix: Always link to the exact URL of the content the pin represents. Pinterest penalizes mismatched pin-to-URL pairings.

4. Pinning once and forgetting

The problem: A single pin for a blog post gets buried within days.

The fix: Create 3–5 unique pin designs per post and schedule them across several weeks. Fresh pins to the same URL are encouraged by Pinterest's algorithm.

5. Ignoring Pinterest Analytics

The problem: Creating pins without checking what actually drives clicks.

The fix: Review analytics monthly. Identify your top 5 pins by outbound clicks, note what they have in common (color, headline style, topic), and replicate those patterns.

Fixing even two or three of these will noticeably improve your Pinterest results within a few weeks.

Avoid mistake #1 — unreadable text — by previewing pins in the Pixlory Pinterest pin generator before you publish.