Pinterest Business Account

What you're building: a standalone Pinterest business account for the client, with the website claimed and starter boards live. Pinterest works like a search engine, not a social feed — Pins keep surfacing for months and years, so every name, board, and description is an SEO field.

⚠️ Big 2025–2026 change — read before training anyone: Pinterest removed "linked business accounts" (a business profile attached to a personal login). Old guides describing that option are dead. Every business account is now a standalone login with its own unique email. Agencies manage client accounts through Pinterest Business Manager (Part D), not by account-linking.

⛔ Before you start — you must have ALL of these

Convert vs create fresh: if the client has a personal Pinterest account with on-topic boards/followers, convert it (everything carries over: Pins, boards, followers). If the history is off-topic, create fresh. Converting makes the profile public and reversible (analytics are lost on reverting).

Part A — Create (or convert) the business account (10 min)

Path 1 — New account

1. Go to pinterest.com/business/create.
2. Enter the business email, a strong password, and age → click Create account.
3. Walk the guided setup one screen at a time: business name → language/country → website → business description/category → goals/ads-interest screens (answer or skip).

👀 You should see: a fresh business profile with your business name at the top and an empty board grid.

📸 images/04-step-a.png — the business signup form and the finished empty profile.

Path 2 — Convert an existing personal account

1. Log in on desktop → click the ▼ chevron (top right) → Settings.
2. Left menu → Account management.
3. Under Account changes, click Convert to a business account → Convert account.
4. Complete the same business-details screens as Path 1.

👀 You should see: the profile now shows business features — an Analytics and Ads menu appear in the top navigation.

Step 1 — Complete the profile (both paths)

Settings → Edit profile:

1. Profile photo: the logo.
2. Name: "Brand Name | primary keyword phrase" (the name field is searchable).
3. Username: brand name, max 30 characters — becomes pinterest.com/username.
4. About: paste the approved bio — front-load keywords; state what you do and who it's for.

Part B — Claim the website (10 min + possible wait)

Claiming is not optional. It gets the client: analytics on every Pin from their site (even Pins other people save), their name + profile photo + Follow button on all those Pins, and it's the prerequisite for Rich Pins, shopping, and the Verified Merchant Program.

Step 2 — Open the claim screen

Settings → look for Claimed accounts (some accounts show Link to Pinterest) → next to Websites, click Claim.

👀 You should see: three verification options.

📸 images/04-step-2.png — the claim dialog with three methods.

Step 3 — Pick ONE method

👀 You should see (success): "Connected" with a green checkmark, and the website showing on the profile with a globe icon.

🚩 "This site is already claimed": each domain can only be claimed by one Pinterest account — find who claimed it (old agency? old account?) and release it there first.

Shortcut: Shopify's Pinterest app claims the site automatically.

Step 4 — Rich Pins (2 min, on-site)

If the site has proper metadata (Yoast/Rank Math on WordPress; Shopify/WooCommerce products do this natively), Pinterest picks up Rich Pins (Article/Recipe/Product — live price and availability) automatically from claimed sites. Test any page URL in the debugger at developers.pinterest.com/tools/url-debugger/.

Part C — Boards and first Pins (15 min)

Step 5 — Create 5–10 boards

For each core service/product category:

1. Profile → + → Board.
2. Name (max 50 chars): a phrase people actually search — "Small Bathroom Remodel Ideas," never "Our Stuff ✨".
3. Add a board description (up to 500 chars): what's on the board, keywords early, written like a sentence — no hashtag walls.
4. Building before launch? Toggle Keep this board secret and unhide when seeded.

📸 images/04-step-5.png — the Create board dialog.

Step 6 — Seed each board with Pins

Create Pins (+ → Pin) using:

• Images: 2:3 ratio, 1000×1500 px (other ratios underperform; taller than 1:2.1 gets cropped).
• Title: up to 100 chars — only ~40 show in feed, so lead with the keyword.
• Description: up to 500 chars — first ~50–60 visible; 2–4 natural keyword phrases; skip hashtags (they're dead weight on Pinterest now).
• Link: every Pin gets a working destination URL to a relevant page.
• Formats that exist in 2026: image, video (9:16 or 2:3, 6–15 s sweet spot, design for sound-off), carousel (2–5 images), collage. ⚠️ "Idea Pins"/"Story Pins" no longer exist — Pinterest merged them into regular Pins in 2023–24; strike the term from any training.

👀 You should see: each board with at least 3–5 Pins so the profile looks alive before anyone is sent to it.

Step 7 — Set the operating rhythm (hand this to whoever runs the account)

• Fresh Pins win: a "fresh Pin" = new image/creative, even for the same URL. Steady cadence (start ~3–5 fresh Pins/week, scale up) beats bursts. Use the native scheduler or a partner tool (Tailwind, Later, Buffer).
• Season 45 days early: Pinterest's own guidance — publish seasonal content ~45–60 days before the holiday/moment (users plan far ahead). Christmas content ships in October.
• KPI = outbound clicks, not impressions. And set expectations: Pinterest compounds over 3–6+ months — do not let the client judge it at week 4.

Part D — Agency access via Business Manager (10 min)

Since account-linking is gone, this is how agencies manage client accounts — the client owns everything; the agency connects as a Partner.

Step 8 — Both sides need Business Manager

On each business account: hamburger menu (top left) → Manage business → Business Manager. The Business ID shows at the top of the left panel under the business name.

Step 9 — Client adds the agency as a Partner

In the client's Business Manager:

1. Left nav → Partners → Add partner.
2. Enter the agency's Business ID.
3. Choose Share your assets with them.
4. Select the profile (and ad account, if any) and set permission levels (ad-account levels include Admin, Analyst, Finance, Audience, Campaign, Catalogs; profile permissions cover content/board management) → send.

👀 You should see: the agency listed under Partners with the granted assets.

📸 images/04-step-9.png — the Add partner dialog with the Business ID field.

Employees (client's own staff) are added under Employees → Add employee (role: Employee or Manager) — each person needs their own business account login.

E-commerce clients only: once the account is ~3 months old with a claimed site, a connected product catalog, and the Pinterest Tag firing, apply for the Verified Merchant Program (free verified badge + shopping distribution). Pure service businesses skip this.

✅ DO / ❌ DON'T

☑ Definition of Done

• Standalone business account created (or personal converted) on a client-owned unique email
• Profile complete: logo, keyworded name, username, bio
• Website claimed — green "Connected" checkmark; Rich Pins metadata tested
• 5–10 keyword-named boards with descriptions, each seeded with 3–5 Pins (2:3, linked)
• Posting rhythm + 45-day seasonal calendar handed to the account runner
• Business Manager set up; agency connected as Partner via Business ID with correct permissions
• (E-commerce only) catalog + tag noted for a Verified Merchant application at the 3-month mark
• All logins recorded in the client's password-manager entry
• 📸 screenshots captured at every marked step and saved to images/