Appearances track how widely a pin is distributed — showing up in search results, related pin sections, boards, idea pages, and more.
It’s not just about how often a pin is saved anymore… it’s about how often it’s seen and surfaced by Pinterest.
Saves just tells us how often a pin is found on boards.
Appearances layers on a new data point by telling us how often it appears as recommendations to users.
Another way of saying it:
Saves measure user action: how often people add a pin to boards.
Appearances measure algorithmic action: how often Pinterest surfaces that pin across its ecosystem.
We first started exploring this after Pinterest removed the “saves” count. Carly and I realized this could be a new alternative — a metric that reveals true algorithmic distribution.
Think of Appearances like SEO backlinks.
Each time Pinterest features your pin somewhere, that’s like earning another backlink. The more backlinks (a.k.a. appearances) a pin has, the more powerful it is.
Every time PinClicks finds a pin, we log where we found it and when we found it. That means over time we can track:
• How quickly a pin spreads across Pinterest
• How long it stays in rotation
• Which surfaces (search, related pins, boards, idea pages) it dominates
This data may eventually help identify:
• Viral pins in real-time (fast-rising appearances)
• Evergreen pins (steady appearances over time)
• High-distribution boards (boards whose pins appear frequently across Pinterest)
• Strong accounts (creators consistently generating distributed pins)
Over time, this will be rolled into our Pin Score algorithm, giving a clearer picture of Pinterest distribution health — not just engagement.
We believe Appearances could become the most valuable leading indicator of how Pinterest’s algorithm views, tests, and trusts your content.
