Pinterest search ads explained: the 2026 formats and specs

Pinterest is best understood as a search engine that happens to be social. By Pinterest's count, people run 80 billion searches on it every month, over half of them commercial, and 96 percent of text searches do not mention a brand. Few platforms reach people this early in a decision. Pinterest spent 2025 and 2026 building its advertising around exactly that.

Top of Search ads

Placed within the first ten results of a search and among related Pins, Top of Search ads entered beta in September 2025 in every market where Pinterest sells advertising. Pinterest's case for them: 45 percent of clicks land in those first ten results, the format beat standard campaigns on click-through by 29 percent, and Wayfair saw its click-through climb 237 percent in two weeks.

Visual Search Ads

The newest format, announced on 17 September 2026, places ads in search results and in Pin close-ups, the full view that opens when someone taps a Pin. Visual Search Ads are aimed at lower-funnel goals and work with Performance+. Pinterest said eligible advertisers across all its ad markets would get access to the beta in the weeks after the announcement.

Catalogues and shopping formats

• Catalogues: a retail catalogue takes up to 20 million products, supplied as a TSV, CSV or XML file or a Google Sheet. You need a business account, a claimed website and the Pinterest tag in place first.
• International shopping: since June 2026, a single campaign or ad group can span several countries, with translation and currency conversion handled automatically.
• Local inventory ads: these feature products stocked near the shopper. Pinterest reports 1.7 times higher online conversion rates, and says attaching a promotion lifts conversions by 18 percent.
• Direct Links: a button sends the click straight to the advertiser's site, and for eligible ads this is the default.

Where shopping ads actually run is not something Pinterest spells out clearly by country. For a Gulf campaign, get confirmation from DMS, its regional partner, before your plan relies on them.

Search features for users

• Pinterest Assistant lets people pair Pins with spoken or typed questions. It had reached most US users by mid 2026, and Pinterest puts the share of its queries with commercial intent at about 80 percent.
• Ask Pinterest is an experimental shopping app. It opened to a limited group of US users in June 2026.
• Restyle takes a photo of someone's own room and redesigns it. It is in beta in the US and Canada.

None has been announced for the Gulf, but together they show where Pinterest search is heading: a conversation that ends at a product.

Specifications

• Standard image: PNG or JPEG. The recommended shape is 2:3, at 1000 by 1500 pixels.
• Title and description: titles run to 100 characters, but the feed displays only the first 40. Descriptions can reach 800 characters.
• Standard video: anything from 4 seconds to 15 minutes and up to 2 GB, though 6 to 15 seconds is the recommended length.
• Carousel: between two and five images, either 1:1 or 2:3.
• Collections: a lead image plus as many as 24 smaller ones.
• Idea ads: 9:16 is recommended.

Building ads that get found

• Front-load the title. The terms people really search for belong in those first 40 characters, because the feed cuts off everything after them.
• Show the product being used, in a 2:3 frame, rather than only against a white background.
• Treat the catalogue as a living document: complete, current, and carrying prices, stock status and any promotions.
• Speak to Arabic-speaking shoppers in Arabic. Titles and descriptions should exist in both Arabic and English, and Pinterest has offered Arabic since 2021.

If your catalogue and creative need getting ready for Pinterest search in both Arabic and English, we would be happy to help you work out where to start. Get in touch with ALXO.