Pinterest Analytics: 4 Important Metrics To Track Every Month

If you’re a blogger, content creator or online business owner you’ll know what a powerful tool Pinterest is to drive traffic to your website.

The question is…

How do you know what Pinterest Analytics to keep track of for monthly Pinterest growth?

This is what I’m here to talk about today, tracking the right Pinterest metrics so you can have a high-level understanding of how you are performing each and every month.

👉 Before we get into the most important Pinterest metrics to track, make sure to download the free Pinterest Analytics Tracker…

4 Pinterest Analytics and Google Metrics To Review Every Month

In order to see how Pinterest is fully performing, you will need to look at data from Pinterest Analytics and Google Analytics.

1. Sessions (Google Analytics)

As defined by Google, “A session is a group of user interactions with your website that take place within a given time frame. For example, a single session can contain multiple page views, events, social interactions, and ecommerce transactions.”

• A session expires with 30 minutes of inactivity
• A session in Google Analytics is also referred to as a ‘visit’
• One user can have multiple sessions in any given day if they visit the site more than once, outside of a 30 minute period

Where to find Sessions:

In your Google Analytics 4 dashboard go to Reports/Acquisition/Traffic Acquisition. You can see I also have set this up to view session source too.

Make sure to select the entire previous month to get the full session count.

Why do Sessions matter?

Monthly sessions are important to review so you can get a monthly view of how your website/blog traffic is performing.

Also, a goal many website owners have is to grow their traffic so they can apply to specific advertising networks, like Mediavine.

Mediavine now has two programs:

1. Journey by Mediavine – 10,000 sessions are required to join this program
2. Mediavine – Standard program where they require 50,000 sessions

Therefore sessions are a great metric to review if you have a goal to join a larger advertising network so you can earn a monthly income.

2. Sessions From Pinterest (Google Analytics)

Sessions represent the number of user visits that Pinterest generated to your website, which is different than the total sessions generated in a given month.

Where to find Pinterest Sessions:

Click on reports in the dashboard menu. Then click on acquisition/traffic acquisition/session source. You will see a report that includes sessions from all sources.

To see ALL Pinterest sessions from different countries type ‘Pinterest’ into the search bar. Then you’ll see the total number of sessions, as circled in the diagram below.

Why do Pinterest Sessions Matter?

The reason to look at monthly Pinterest sessions is so you can compare this to the website/blog total sessions.

This way you can understand how Pinterest is growing on a monthly basis.

3. Outbound Clicks (Pinterest Analytics)

Outbound clicks are clicks back to your website, from a Pinterest pin. 

Where to find Link Clicks:

When logged into Pinterest, go to Analytics/Overview which can be found in the top left-hand corner.

Note: You must have a business account set up to view analytics.

Once you click on ‘overview’, you’ll see all key metrics highlighted at the top for the past 30 days. This is where you’ll find outbound clicks.

You’ll also notice that as you scroll you’ll be able to find metrics for outbound clicks in the following areas:

• Performance over time
• Top Pins
• Top Boards

You can also look at individual pin metrics by clicking on an individual pin and then selecting ‘see more stats’ just above the pin.

This takes you to individual pin metrics that allow you to review outbound click performance over time. You can change the dates to see further back – for example, 180 days.

Why do Pinterest Outbound Clicks Matter?

Outbound clicks matter most to bloggers and website owners, as this Pinterest metric shows how much traffic Pinterest is driving to our sites.

You are most likely on Pinterest to drive traffic, yes?!

So, make sure to review your total ‘Outbound Clicks’ number every month to see how your Pinterest marketing is performing over time.

4. Impressions (Pinterest Analytics)

Impressions are the number of times someone sees one of your pins on their screen.

For example, when people are scrolling on their phone every time your pins loads, even if they don’t stop to look at it for a long time – that’s considered an impression.

Where to find the impressions number:

As with outbound clicks above, you’ll find the impressions number in all the same places…

• Pinterest Analytics overview (Overall performance, performance over time, top pins, boards)
• Individual pins

You will also see a total number of impressions on your profile page (if you have a business profile).

Do Pinterest Impressions Matter?

100% yes.

Think of it this way – outbound clicks are what matters most (clicks to your website or shop), but in order to get those outbound clicks you need to get your pins in front of as many relevant people as possible.

This is where impressions come in.

Having a growing number of impressions means that people are easily able to find your pin on Pinterest when they search for content. (To do this you need to follow Pinterest SEO best practices).

The more impressions you have the better chance you have of increasing outbound clicks. These metrics really do go hand in hand.

👉 Learn more about the importance of Impressions on Pinterest.

Other Pinterest Metrics Worth Noting

Followers (Pinterest Analytics)

When you release a new pin, Pinterest will begin to show that pin to your followers first – in their home feed.

Depending on how your followers interact with the pin (saves, closeups, links, comments, etc) will initially impact how Pinterest rolls out that pin to the rest of Pinterest (i.e. through search).

Note: As a general rule followers on Pinterest are no where near as important as on other social media platforms.

You can still be very successful on Pinterest with a lower follower count as Pinterest is a search engine first and foremost. So, if you make sure your pins and account are set up properly for search (keywords, etc) you will succeed.

Saves (Pinterest Analytics)

Saves are pretty self-explanatory – it’s any time someone saves your pin to one of their boards.

Saves are interesting to look at from an engagement perspective – as when someone saves a pin it indicates to Pinterest that…

a) They are interested in that specific type of content

b) They are interested in your content

Very often once someone saves one of your pins to their board they will be shown more of your pins the next time they are on their home feed. Saves therefore can expand your reach of other content to their person. So that’s a win/win!

How To Optimize Your Pinterest Marketing

First, make sure to DOWNLOAD the free Pinterest Tracker printable so you can start optimizing.

Now that You understand what Pinterest metrics to look at, what’s next?

You’ll want to take a deeper dive into why your Pinterest performed a certain way this past month.

Knowing what impacted your Pinterest performance, whether it was a good month or a bad month will enable you to optimize your Pinterest marketing for the upcoming month.

There are 3 key areas you want to focus on to improve your Pinterest success:

1. What worked
2. What didn’t work
3. What will you try next month?

Let’s dig into these focus areas in a little more detail…

1. What Worked

Now that you have worked through your Pinterest Analytics for the past month you’ll be able to take a good look into what performed well.

How do you determine what worked? 

Your first step to do this is to go back into Pinterest Analytics and look at your top performing pins…

Looking at this data is a good indicator of what has been working from the previous month. You can see your top pins that are driving traffic to your website and the source – whether you pinned the pin or if someone pinned it for you (form your website).

What else can you look at to determine what worked this past month?

• Any viral pins? Did any specific pins send loads of traffic back to your site?
• Your monthly views/impressions – are they increasing?
• Increase in overall website traffic (sessions and page views)
• Your revenue – did you know that the RPMs in Mediavine are way higher for Pinterest traffic than for Google?!

See for yourself…

Take note of the above to determine what you think performed well.

2. What Didn’t Work

The same way you determined what went well, do this to figure out what didn’t do well.

You can look at your Pinterest Analytics data to see if your total outbound clicks decreased.

Other good metrics to consider are viewing the total impressions for the month and the total engaged audience. Did these numbers go up or down?

What else can you look at to determine what went well this past month?

• The number of blog posts you published. If you published more than last month and traffic is down, why?
• Revenue – Look at your income streams and see if anything has decreased this past month

Also, look at high-level Pinterest and Google Analytics to see if anything is down.

3. What Will I Try Next Month?

This is where you have the opportunity to use this data and insights to optimize your Pinterest account.

Look at what worked and what didn’t work from the past month to determine how you will grow next month.

Make sure to think about your big goal for the month when planning what you will try. For example, is your goal to increase traffic, grow your email list, generate new leads, increase product sales?

Determine this goal and plan what your focus areas for the next month are.

Here are some ideas to help you narrow this down:

• Did you have a specific pin do really well last month? Create similar pins with different overlay text and image.
• Are your pins not really taking off? Do some Pinterest keyword research before you write your blog posts and write some killer pin descriptions.
• Try completely different designs life infographics, quotes, and lists.

I’d love to know…

What have been your biggest Pinterest wins this past month?

Share in the comments section below…

Related Pinterest Articles & Resources:

• Pinterest SEO Tips to Find the Best Keywords
• How To Create High Performing Pins
• Free Pinterest Pin Templates – Easy to Edit in Canva