The pins you see when browsing through your main page on Pinterest are interesting and all, but sometimes they’re a little repetitive or not useful, and maybe you sometimes find you’re looking for something a little more specific. Fortunately, there are simple-to-use tools available to you that make it easy to find whatever strikes your fancy!
How to search on Pinterest
Pinterest employs a unique system called “guided search.” If you don’t find exactly what you’re looking for on your first try, your search terms are stored as keywords. From there, you can add/remove keywords (either your own or ones that Pinterest suggests) until you narrow down your search enough to find what you’re looking for.
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Go to www.pinterest.com in your web browser and log in.
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Click in the search bar next to Pinterest’s logo (it’ll say “Search”) and type in what you’re looking for. As you do so, Pinterest will suggest keywords, boards, or users that match your search terms.
A suggestion with a picture beside it represents either a board or a user. If you click on one, it will take you directly to that board, or to that user’s main page.
A suggestion with nothing beside it is a keyword. Clicking it will take you to a results page, where you can further refine your search (more on this in the next step). You can also do this by pressing “Enter” on your keyboard to use your exact search terms as a keyword.
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If you click on a keyword or search for your exact search terms, a results page will appear. You can click the four buttons above the results to filter them by:
— All Pins: all pins that contain your search terms
— Your Pins: all pins on your boards only that contain your search terms
— Pinners: all users on Pinterest whose names contain your search terms
— Boards: all boards whose names contain your search terms
Now, look at the search bar itself. Notice that your search terms have been turned into keywords (“shoes,” in this example). You can add more keywords to refine your search by clicking in the search bar, typing more terms in, and pressing the “Enter” key (or clicking a keyword suggestion in the drop-down menu that appears); or by clicking one of the suggestions directly below the search bar.
You can also remove an individual keyword by clicking the “X” beside it in the search bar, or remove all keywords at once and start a fresh search by clicking the “X” at the rightmost edge of the search bar.
When you add or remove keywords, Pinterest will update your results accordingly.
How to browse boards on Pinterest
Maybe you’re not looking for anything in particular, and just want to explore what Pinterest has to offer, in the hopes of discovering something neat. In that case, here’s what to do.
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Go to www.pinterest.com in your web browser and log in (if you haven’t already).
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Click the categories button (
) next to the search bar, and click on a category that you want to browse.
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You will now see pins that have recently been added to boards on Pinterest designated with that category. Click one of the suggestions under “Related Interests” to continue browsing.
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This will show you recently added pins that contain the term(s) you chose, or whose board name contains the term(s) you chose. You can click Follow to have these kinds of pins show up on your main page, and you can also see who has followed this topic recently (click on their picture to go to their main page).
Again, you can click on one of the suggestions under “Related Interests” to narrow the topic you want to look for, or to look for something else similar.
That’s pretty much all there is to searching and browsing for things you actually want to see on Pinterest! It’s that easy, and can be such a great resource to you for finding inspiration about the things you really care about. If you want to learn more about all of the site’s great features, take a look at our other step-by-step tutorials in the rest of our Pinterest course. We can teach you how to use boards and how to pin. We also have great articles on how to change your account settings, and how to contact customer service if you’re having any issues. Be sure to check them – and the rest of our course – out!
