Pinterest analytics shows you more than a dozen metrics. For a brand that sells something, three of them do most of the work: outbound clicks, saves and impressions. The rest are useful context, but if you only have half an hour a month to look at Pinterest, those three tell you whether people are finding your pins, wanting them, and leaving Pinterest to visit your site.
This post explains what each metric means, how to read them together, and a simple monthly routine that turns the dashboard into decisions.
The metrics, ranked for brands
Here are the main metrics in Pinterest analytics, in rough order of usefulness for a brand trying to drive traffic and sales.
| Metric | What it counts | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Outbound clicks | Clicks from a pin to a destination off Pinterest, such as your site | Whether Pinterest is sending real visitors |
| Saves | Times people saved your pin to a board | If people want your content; saves also extend a pin's reach |
| Impressions | Times your pins were shown on screen | Whether Pinterest is distributing your content |
| Pin clicks | Clicks to open a pin for a closer look | Interest in the pin itself |
| Engagement and engagement rate | Total interactions, and interactions divided by impressions | How compelling pins are relative to how often they are seen |
| Total and engaged audience | People who saw, or interacted with, your pins | Reach in people rather than views |
| Conversions (with the Pinterest tag) | Site actions like add-to-cart and checkout attributed to Pinterest | Whether Pinterest traffic buys |
Outbound clicks: the one to watch first
An outbound click means someone left Pinterest to visit your site. For most brands that is the whole point. Track the monthly total and the outbound click rate (outbound clicks divided by impressions), and sort your top pins by outbound clicks, not by impressions. A pin with modest impressions but strong outbound clicks is doing better work than a pin with huge impressions that nobody clicks.
It also helps to look at where outbound clicks land. If most of them go to a handful of product pages, those products are your Pinterest best sellers, and they deserve more pins, better images and fresh angles. If clicks are spread thinly across many pages, you may be pinning too broadly and could focus on the collections and products with the strongest margins or stock levels.
Check that these numbers roughly line up with Pinterest as a referral source in your store or site analytics. They will never match exactly, because each tool counts differently, but a big gap is worth investigating.
Saves: the leading indicator
Saves show that people want to come back to your pin. On Pinterest, saved pins keep circulating: they sit on other people's boards and can be shown to their followers and in search for months. A rise in saves this month often shows up as more impressions and clicks later. Pins with strong saves but weak outbound clicks may need a clearer reason to click, like a more direct title or a landing page that matches the image better.
Impressions: context, not a goal
Impressions tell you whether Pinterest is showing your content. They are useful for spotting trends, such as seasonal demand or a drop after you stopped pinning, but they are the easiest number to inflate and the least tied to sales. Rising impressions with flat saves and clicks usually means pins are being shown but are not relevant or appealing enough to the people seeing them.
A monthly review in about 45 minutes
Run the same routine at the start of each month and keep a simple spreadsheet so you can compare month over month.
- Set the date range to the last full month. Note impressions, saves, outbound clicks and outbound click rate in your sheet.
- Filter to your own pins. Pinterest lets you narrow analytics by content source and by claimed account, so you can separate pins you created from pins other people made of your site.
- Sort top pins by outbound clicks. List the top ten. Note the format, topic, image style and landing page for each.
- Sort top pins by saves. Compare this list to the first. Pins that appear on both are your best templates.
- Check top boards. Which boards drive the most engagement? That points to the topics worth more pins.
- Check conversions, if the Pinterest tag is installed. Which pins or products led to checkouts?
- Write three decisions for next month. For example: make four more pins in the style of the top performer, rewrite titles on two high-save low-click pins, and pin more to the strongest board.
Reading the combinations
Single metrics mislead. Reading them in pairs tells you what to change.
| Pattern | What it likely means | What to try |
|---|---|---|
| High impressions, low saves and clicks | Pins are shown to people who are not interested | Tighten keywords in titles, descriptions and board names |
| High saves, low outbound clicks | People like the idea but see no reason to visit | Add a clear promise in the title or overlay; check the link destination |
| High outbound clicks, low conversions | The landing page does not match what the pin promised | Link to the exact product or a closer-matching page |
| Everything dropping | Pinning stopped, seasonal dip, or product data issues | Check posting consistency, last year's same month, and catalog errors |
| Steady growth across all three | The system is working | Keep the routine and add more pins in your top formats |
A sample monthly scorecard
Keep the monthly record short enough that you will actually fill it in. One row per month, with these columns, is enough to see trends over a year:
| Column | How to fill it |
|---|---|
| Month | The full calendar month reviewed |
| Pins published | New pins you created that month, from your own records |
| Impressions | From Pinterest analytics, your own pins only |
| Saves and save rate | Saves, and saves divided by impressions |
| Outbound clicks and rate | Outbound clicks, and outbound clicks divided by impressions |
| Pinterest sessions | From your store or site analytics, Pinterest as the referral source |
| Top pin | The pin with the most outbound clicks, with a link to it |
| Decisions | The three changes you will make next month |
The Pins published column matters more than it looks. When numbers fall, the first thing to check is whether publishing slowed down. It usually explains the drop before anything else does.
Which content tends to drive outbound clicks
When you study your top pins by outbound clicks, look for patterns in what they point to, not just how they look. Pins that promise something specific on the other side of the click, such as a guide, a gift list, a recipe, or a product in the exact color shown, tend to earn clicks more reliably than pins that are simply attractive. That is one reason brands with an active blog often see stronger Pinterest results: every useful article gives people a concrete reason to leave Pinterest and read. If your site has little worth clicking through to, a regular blog program can give your pins better destinations.
Common mistakes when reading Pinterest data
- Judging pins after a week. Pinterest content often builds slowly. Give new pins a few weeks before deciding they failed.
- Chasing impressions. A month of record impressions with no change in outbound clicks is not progress.
- Comparing months without season. Pinterest usage follows planning cycles. Compare against the same month last year where you have the data.
- Ignoring pins made by other people. Pins of your products created by customers and bloggers show up in your analytics when your website is claimed, and they can tell you which products people naturally want to share.
Want someone else to run the numbers?
Our Pinterest SEO services include a monthly review of exactly these metrics, with a plain report on what moved and the pins, keywords and boards we are adjusting next, so the dashboard turns into decisions every month rather than a screen of numbers.