Pinterest Ads Management For A Search Engine That Looks Like A Feed

Keyword targeting, catalog and shopping ads, and Performance+ where it earns its place, and a senior lead who plans the season before it starts. You own the ad account, the catalog, and every Pin.
Komplex is a Pinterest ads agency based in Austin, Texas, with a presence in New York City and Reykjavik. We are a Google Partner and have run Pinterest since ads there were called Promoted Pins. It is the paid half of Pinterest marketing for home, kitchen, skincare, footwear, and ecommerce brands. Our senior led team manages keyword and interest targeting, catalog and shopping ads, Performance+, and the Pinterest tag and Conversions API from one account. Pinterest is one channel in our wider paid social plan, and it can also be the only one.
Google Partner
Founded In 2014
You Own The Account
No Long Contracts

People Search Pinterest Months Before They Buy, And They Type What They Want

Pinterest looks like Instagram and behaves like Google. Someone types kitchen island lighting or wedding guest dress or gift for a runner, saves what they find, and comes back to it for weeks. That is search intent, with a planning horizon no other social platform has. Most agencies run Pinterest like a feed anyway: broad audiences, brand creative, a budget that starts the week the season does. Then they report that it did nothing. We run it like the search engine it is. That means keywords, a clean catalog, and a calendar that starts early enough to be there when the saving begins.
Isometric illustration of a marketer reviewing keyword research as Komplex ranks number one in search results.

Why Pinterest Rewards The Brands That Plan Early

A Pin saved in September gets clicked in November, and the campaign that put it there was cheap because nobody else was bidding yet. Pinterest's own trend data shows the seasons arriving months ahead, and the accounts that win use it. We build the keyword plan around the calendar and load the catalog before the search volume moves. The budget scales when the saves turn into clicks, not before.
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Pinterest Ads Management Services

Pinterest is keyword work, catalog work, and calendar work, in that order. All eight of these sit inside the retainer.

Pinterest Ads Audit

We start by reading the account, with nothing touched. Keyword coverage, the catalog's health, Performance+ settings, creative age, the tag and Conversions API, and the seasonal plan. Keyword coverage is usually the first fix, because every other line in the account waits on it.

Keyword And Interest Targeting

Keyword lists built from what people type into Pinterest, with match types set on purpose and negatives loaded. Interest targeting layered on top for reach, never used alone.

Catalog And Shopping Ads

Pinterest reads the Google Shopping feed you already have. We set the product groups, keep the two catalogs matched, and check feed health so a Pin never shows a stale price.

Creative And Pins

Vertical Pins that read as an idea rather than an ad, with the product in context and the text on the image doing the work. Refreshed by season, because a Pin outlives a feed ad by months.

Performance+ Beside Manual

Pinterest's automated campaigns and creative get a seat beside the manual ones and keep it only while they win. Never the whole plan, and never before the account has the conversions to guide them.

Bidding And Seasonality

ROAS and cost per action bids set from margin, with the budget built around the calendar. Early for the saves, heavy for the clicks, and cut before the season ends.

Conversions API And Tag

The Pinterest tag in the browser and the Conversions API on the server, matched so an order counts once and checked against the store. Bidding then learns from real orders.

Reporting And Optimization

Reporting on the schedule you choose, by keyword and product group: spend, cost per result, saves, and what changed. Between reports the keyword lists get pruned and the calendar gets adjusted.

Start With Your Catalog Link

Send us the link to your catalog and read only access to the account. We show you which Pinterest searches you already qualify for, what the catalog is missing, and where the calendar starts. Nothing changes in the account until you decide.
THE CONTROLS WE SET BY HAND

Eight Pinterest Controls We Set Before The First Dollar

Pinterest Ads Manager sits halfway between Google Ads and Meta, and its defaults lean toward reach. Eight controls carry most of the difference between a Pinterest account that pays and one that drifts, and we set all eight ourselves.

Keyword Targeting

Bids on the phrases people type into Pinterest search, with match types and negatives. The control most Pinterest accounts never use, and the one that turns the platform into search.

Interest Targeting

Reaches people by what they save and browse. Useful for reach and for the placements outside search, dangerous alone, so we layer it under keywords.

Catalogs And Shopping Ads

Product Pins built from the feed, with product groups for the campaigns. The feed is shared with Google Shopping, so the fixes are made once and carried to both.

Performance+ Campaigns

Pinterest's automated campaign type for targeting, bidding, and budget. Earns its place per account, beside manual, once there are enough conversions to guide it.

Performance+ Creative

Lets Pinterest generate backgrounds and variations for product Pins. Useful for volume on catalog ads, switched off for the creative that carries the brand.

Pinterest Trends

Pinterest's own search trend tool, showing which phrases are rising and when the seasons arrive. We build the keyword plan and the calendar from it.

Conversions API And Pinterest Tag

Orders the tag misses to browser limits and consent banners arrive through the server instead, matched so nothing doubles. Live and checked before the first bid.

ROAS Bidding

Bids that chase a return rather than a click, set from margin by product group. Used where the account has the order history and manual bids where it does not.

Not Sure Which Of These Your Account Uses?

The free audit reads all eight settings in your account and marks the ones set against you.
FORMATS

Shopping Ads, Standard And Video Pins, Collections, And Performance+

Pinterest's formats differ mainly in how much of the product the Pin shows. Shopping ads and standard Pins carry most accounts, and collections, Idea Ads, and Performance+ get added as the catalog allows.

Shopping Ads

Product Pins from the catalog, with price and availability on the Pin. Where every ecommerce account starts, and the format that turns a saved idea into a checkout.

Standard And Video Pins

Single image and video Pins for the ideas people search for, with the product in context. Where the keyword campaigns run and where the brand creative lives.

Collections

A hero Pin with the products from it underneath. Built for rooms, outfits, and routines, and the format that suits home and beauty brands best.

Idea Ads

Multi page Pins that show a process or a look. Bought for saves and engagement, judged on the searches and shopping clicks that follow.

Performance+ Campaigns

Pinterest's automated campaign type across consideration, conversion, and catalog goals. It reaches more people and explains less, so it runs beside a manual campaign and keeps its budget only while it wins on new customers.

Showcase And Quiz Ads

Interactive formats for launches and gift guides. Reserved for the moments that deserve them and judged on what the engagement leads to.

Which Formats Fit Your Catalog?

Send the catalog link and tell us when your season starts. We will say which formats the catalog supports and when each one should go live.
Map My Formats

What Does A Pinterest Ads Agency Do?

A Pinterest ads agency runs a company's advertising inside Pinterest Ads Manager: shopping ads, standard and video Pins, collections, and Performance+ campaigns. The work covers keyword and interest targeting, catalog management, creative, and bidding built around the season. The Pinterest tag and the Conversions API feed the tracking, and every report is built on them. The business reaches people while they plan a purchase without running the account itself.

Komplex runs this from Austin, Texas, with people in New York City and Reykjavik. Pinterest usually shares a catalog with a Google Shopping account we already run, and one senior lead looks after both.

WHO RUNS PINTEREST ADS WITH US

Pinterest Ads For Kitchen And Home, Skincare, Footwear, And Ecommerce Brands

Pinterest pays for products people plan for: a room, a routine, an outfit, a gift. It punishes impulse products and anything without a picture. The four groups below sell the kind of product that gets planned for. Our accounts have covered kitchens and home improvement, skincare, footwear, and online retail.
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Kitchen And Home Design

The category Pinterest was built for. Keyword campaigns on the room searches, collections for the finished spaces, and a calendar that starts when the planning does, months before the order.

Skincare And Beauty

Routine searches, before and after Pins, and shopping ads on the catalog. The saves become repeat customers, so the reporting follows the cohort rather than the click.

Footwear And Apparel

Outfit and occasion searches with shopping ads from the feed and collections for the looks. Seasonal keyword lists loaded early, because the searches move before the weather does.

Ecommerce And DTC

Pinterest ads for ecommerce run on the catalog first, with Performance+ tested beside manual campaigns and new customer share tracked rather than blended returns.

THE NUMBERS

Why Pinterest Earns A Place For Planned Purchases

Pinterest is small beside Meta and quiet beside TikTok, and that is the point. The audience is planning rather than scrolling, the auction is less crowded, and most of the revenue comes from the US. Pinterest publishes the figures below in its own quarterly results, and each one is marked with its quarter.
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Pinterest reached 619 million monthly active users in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Pinterest's revenue reached $4.2 billion in 2025, up 16 percent on the year before.
About three quarters of Pinterest's revenue comes from the United States, from well under a fifth of its users.
Pinterest reports more than 80 billion searches on the platform every month, which is why keywords matter more than audiences here.
HOW WE WORK

Audit, Connect The Catalog, Build The Keyword Plan, Then Scale With The Season

The catalog comes before the campaigns because shopping ads are only as good as the feed. The keyword plan comes before the budget because Pinterest rewards the brand that is there when the saving starts.

Audit The Account

Keyword coverage, catalog health, Performance+ settings, creative age, the tag and Conversions API, and the calendar. Whatever blocks the next season goes to the top.

Connect The Catalog

The feed connected and cleaned, product groups built, the tag and the Conversions API deduplicated, and orders verified against the store.

Build The Keyword Plan

Phrases pulled from Pinterest Trends and search, tiered by season and intent, with negatives loaded and the creative matched to what each phrase means.

Scale With The Season

Budgets rise as saves turn into clicks, the Pins that stall get cut, and Performance+ keeps its share only while it beats manual on new customers.

See Which Searches You Already Qualify For

The audit comes first, at no charge. It grades the keywords, the catalog, the settings, and the calendar in your own account, and it marks the starting point.
Start With The Free Audit
FREE PINTEREST ADS AUDIT

Get A Free Pinterest Ads Audit

We go through your Pinterest Ads Manager account, the catalog behind it, and the searches your products could appear for. You get a list of the keywords you are missing, what the catalog needs, which settings should change, and when the season starts for you. There is no fee, you keep the findings whatever you decide, and the audit is the same one inside our free growth plan.
Your Pinterest ads auditFree
  • Keyword coverage against Pinterest Trends
  • Catalog health and product groups
  • Performance+ settings and readiness
  • Creative age and Pin formats
  • Tag and Conversions API dedupe
  • Seasonal calendar and budget timing
  1. 1
    Tell us about your business

    Your product, the month your season starts, the current Pinterest budget, and what a good quarter returns.

  2. 2
    We read the account and the catalog

    Read only access to Pinterest Ads Manager and the catalog link. Nothing is changed, and an NDA is available if you want one.

  3. 3
    You get the scorecard and a call

    A written scorecard ordered by impact, followed by a call.

Ready To See Where Your Season Starts?

There is no fee and no catch, and the findings are yours.
PRICING

How Pinterest Ads Management Pricing Works

Komplex most often works on a base retainer plus a share of ad spend, and we are open to other formats if one fits you better. Pinterest is usually added to a Google Shopping or Meta retainer at a smaller increment. The catalog work is shared, and the budgets follow the season. Ad spend goes from your account straight to Pinterest and never passes through us. The fee is set after the free audit.
Agencies price Pinterest management the same three ways they price search. That means a flat amount, a percentage of spend, or a retainer with a smaller share on top. After a short initial term the engagement runs month to month, with no long contract.
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What Brands Say After Working With Komplex

Client logo 2 - Shark/Ninja
The Komplex team helped us reach new audiences and drive higher conversions.
Client logo 2 - Hush Puppies
Strategies that delivered results beyond our expectations.
Client logo 2 - Saucony
Their expertise helped us scale efficiently, attract more customers, and drive measurable growth.
Client logo 2 - Blayze
Komplex played a key role in growing our user base and optimizing our marketing efforts.

Common Questions About Pinterest Ads Management

Are Pinterest ads worth it?

For a product people plan for, yes: home, kitchen, beauty, apparel, gifts, and anything with a season. The auction is quieter than Meta’s and the intent is closer to search. For an impulse product with no picture, no, and the audit will say so before you spend.

How much do Pinterest ads cost?

You pay per impression, click, or action in an auction, and third party trackers put Pinterest’s cost per thousand impressions below Meta’s. Costs rise in the fourth quarter like everywhere else, which is why the calendar starts early. Our fee sits apart from that, in the models described under pricing.

How do you charge for Pinterest ads management?

Komplex most often works on a base retainer plus a share of ad spend, and we are open to other formats if one fits you better. Most clients add Pinterest to an existing Google Shopping or Meta retainer at a smaller fee, since the catalog work is already done. The fee is fixed after the free audit.

Should we run Performance+ or manual campaigns?

Manual first, until the account has enough conversions for Pinterest’s automation to learn from, then Performance+ beside it where it proves out. The automation casts a wider net and shows less of its work. It competes with the manual campaign on new customers, and the loser gets paused.

How do catalog and shopping ads work on Pinterest?

You connect a product feed and Pinterest builds product Pins from it. Shopping ads then show them with price and availability to people searching for that kind of product. The feed is the same one we run for Google Shopping, so the title and attribute fixes are made once and carried to both.

Does Pinterest need the Conversions API?

Yes, beside the tag. Browsers and consent banners drop a share of tag events, and Pinterest’s automation needs the full picture to bid well. We run both, deduplicate them, and verify orders against the store before any bid decision.

Who uses Pinterest now?

A broad planning audience that skews toward home, food, style, and beauty. Pinterest’s own reporting shows a growing share of men and younger users, and most of the revenue comes from the US. The audit checks whether your customers search there before we build anything.

Pinterest or Meta for a home or kitchen brand?

Both, in sequence. Pinterest catches the planning searches months out, and Meta retargets the people who saved and browsed when they are closer to buying. One senior lead runs both from one plan, so the budgets do not compete.

How early should we plan for the holidays on Pinterest?

Earlier than on any other platform, because saves start months before purchases and the early auction is cheap. We build the calendar from Pinterest Trends and load the catalog and the keywords ahead of the search volume. The budget scales when the saves turn into clicks.

Do you also manage our organic Pinterest account?

This page is about paid. Organic pinning and boards belong to our social media work, and the two share the same keyword research and catalog. Ads and organic Pins reinforce each other on Pinterest more than on any other platform.

Who owns the ad account and the catalog?

You do. The ad account, the tag, and the catalog sit under your business, and we work through access you can remove at any time. If we part ways, you keep everything, including the keyword lists and the reports.

Do you work with companies outside Austin, Texas?

Yes. We are in Austin, with people in New York City and Reykjavik, and most clients work with us from other parts of the US. Pinterest looks the same from Austin as from anywhere else, and a brand selling in several countries gets a keyword plan for each market.

Let's Look At The Searches Your Products Could Own

All we need is a catalog link and read only access to the account. If there is no account yet, the catalog link and your season's start month will do. The audit comes back with a keyword plan and a straight view of what Pinterest could return once the calendar is in place.
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Get in Touch

Let's discuss how we can work together to achieve your goals.      Provide your name, email and website, and one of our team members will reach out to learn more about your business, understand your unique needs, and explore how our tailored marketing solutions can drive your success.     We're excited to partner with you and help take your business to the next level.