How to Use Pinterest Trends for Keyword Research

By Haku · Updated August 2026 · 5 min read

Pinterest Trends is a free tool that shows what people search for and when. Used right, it tells you which keywords are rising and exactly when to publish seasonal pins.

What Pinterest Trends is — and what it isn't

Pinterest Trends is Pinterest's own free tool for exploring what people search on the platform and how that interest moves through the year. It's genuinely useful because the data comes straight from Pinterest search, not from a third party guessing. But it's important to be honest about one thing up front: Trends does not give you exact search-volume numbers. The curve you see is a relative index — it shows how interest for a term rises and falls over time and how two terms compare to each other, not how many people typed that phrase last month.

That's not a flaw so much as a different job. For a platform where content is planned around seasons and events, that timing signal is often the more valuable one — as long as you don't mistake the shape of the line for a volume figure.

1. Open Pinterest Trends and enter a seed term

Go to trends.pinterest.com and set your country first — interest patterns differ a lot between regions. Type a broad seed term for your niche (say fall recipes or spring garden) and Pinterest shows its search interest over roughly the past year. Start wide; you'll narrow down as you spot the terms that are actually moving.

2. Read the seasonality curve

The graph's real value is the shape, not the height. Look for where interest starts climbing and where it peaks. Searches for seasonal topics tend to build weeks ahead of the event, and a fresh pin itself takes a few weeks to circulate — so you want to publish before the curve peaks, not on the day it does. The weeks on the upslope are your publishing target; our best time to post on Pinterest guide goes deeper on timing.

3. Compare several terms side by side

Trends lets you plot multiple terms on one chart. This is where relative data shines: even without exact numbers, you can see which phrasing is bigger and which is trending up versus flattening out. Enter three or four variations and let the curves rank them. Favour terms that are rising — a smaller but growing term is often a better bet than a large one that's fading.

4. Mine rising and related terms

Below the graph, Trends surfaces related and currently-trending keywords. These are gold, because they're real phrases people are typing right now — not something you invented. Copy the ones that fit your niche: a rising related term becomes a pin title almost as-is, and its variations feed your descriptions with language searchers actually use.

5. Turn findings into pins — and validate them

Take a winning term and build a title, description and board around it. Here's where Trends works best in combination with two other free signals, because none of the three is complete on its own:

• Pinterest Trends tells you timing and direction — which season, and rising or falling.
• Pinterest autocomplete (start typing your term in the search bar) tells you the exact long-tail phrasings people finish that search with.
• The free PinRank keyword tool expands a seed into dozens of long-tail variations at once and scores your draft pin, so you're not copying autocomplete one letter at a time.

A quick worked example: suppose Trends shows fall recipes climbing from late August toward an October peak. Rather than publish one pin titled "Fall Recipes," you'd check autocomplete for phrasings like fall recipes crockpot, then run the seed through the tool for a full spread of long-tail ideas. Trends told you to publish in late August; autocomplete and the tool told you exactly which titles to write. That's the workflow: keyword research for the phrasing, Trends for the calendar.

Honest limitations of Pinterest Trends

Because it's built on relative data, Trends can't judge a niche on volume alone, and very small or brand-new terms sometimes show as flat simply because there isn't enough data to plot a clean line. That's exactly why you validate every finding against autocomplete and the keyword tool before committing a batch of pins — the three signals cover each other's blind spots, and none of them asks you to guess.

FAQ

Is Pinterest Trends free?

Yes, completely free — you only need a Pinterest account.

How early should I pin seasonal content?

Start 30–45 days before the event, since Pinterest search interest builds well ahead of the date.

Does Pinterest Trends show exact search volume?

No. Trends shows relative interest over time — the shape of the curve and how terms compare to each other — not a number of monthly searches. Use it to judge timing and direction, then validate the actual phrasing with autocomplete and the free keyword tool.

How far ahead should I act on a rising trend?

As soon as you see a term clearly climbing, since a new pin usually needs a few weeks to circulate before it gains traction. Aim to publish on the upslope — typically 4–6 weeks before the curve peaks — rather than waiting for interest to top out.