Is Pinterest traffic better than Google search?
Short answer: Not at all. At least for me.
My approach remains Google first, Pinterest second.
What does anyone mean by “better traffic”?
Each of us defines it differently, but let’s break it down to the various attributes of website traffic.
Ease to attract:
Winner: Google
On the face of it, Pinterest seems like the easiest traffic to get. It’s kinda true, but here’s the thing. You still need to publish content on your blog which you might as well optimize for Google, then chase the Pinterest top-up traffic with that content.
Speed:
Winner: Pinterest
In my experience, Pinterest traffic comes a’knockin’ faster to new content than Google search.
Consistent and evergreen:
Winner: Google
While it’s true pins can drive tons of traffic for a long time, it’s not quite as consistent or long term as Google. Yeah, there are always exceptions but in the aggregate, Google wins.
Potential volume:
Winner: Google
While Pinterest has a lot of users, it’s a drop in the bucket to Google users. Potential Pinterest traffic doesn’t come close to potential Google traffic. I’d be a fool to forsake Google traffic for Pinterest only.
Quality:
Winner: Google (by a smidgen)
By “quality” I mean time-on-site and ad revenue from both traffic sources. For my site, time on site is slightly better with Google search, but it’s very slight. Same with revenue… Google is a tad higher but not much.
It boils down to both sources being quality traffic.
Google + Pinterest = Awesome
The way I see it is a Google-centric strategy makes Pinterest an easy traffic top-up. Once you have all that Google-lovin’ content, it’s very little additional effort/cost to chase down Pinterest traffic.
In other words, if you focused on Pinterest only, you still need to publish content on your site to drive traffic to. If you’re publishing blog content, you might as well optimize it for Google. Then with a tad additional effort, you can tap Pinterest.
If Google is the top dog, why bother with Pinterest?
That’s an easy answer.
The time and effort involved to pin once your blog content is publish is minimal. You just need a pin (or few pins), some text (as in 2 to 4 sentences) and you’re done. That’s a lot less work than publishing a Google optimized article.
With a tad bit of effort, you easily leverage your investment in Google optimized content.
My Pinterest traffic makes up 17% to 20% of total traffic.
Currently, my investment in Pinterest traffic is maybe 10% of budget.
10% budget yielding 20% results is great.
I also believe my Pinterest traffic will continue growing faster.
Pinterest traffic is a result of a minimal incremental effort that can yield very good traffic results.
Convinced?
If you’re in a Pinterest-friendly niche, you should be.
Next…
Grab my Pinterest Magnate course which steps you through everything I do to drive 300,000 monthly visitors to my niche blog.
Jon Dykstra is a six figure niche site creator with 10+ years of experience. His willingness to openly share his wins and losses in the email newsletter he publishes has made him a go-to source of guidance and motivation for many. His popular “Niche site profits” course has helped thousands follow his footsteps in creating simple niche sites that earn big.
Pinterest traffic is nice, but for my site completely valueless. Bounce Rate is like 90%, User sessions: 1,06..
Really nice post. Sometimes Pinterest deliver more quality organic traffic than Google, but only sometimes. This post deserve to be shared.