Why are my Pinterest monthly views decreasing? (& What to do)

Why are my Pinterest monthly views decreasing? What happened?

Have you ever seen your Pinterest views go 📉down and thought this? (Or yelled it out loud?) 

Maybe it went down like this… 

Pinterest *had* been going okay for you. Maybe you hadn’t truly found your rhythm with it YET, but you WERE starting to see some results. Most notably, your “Monthly Views” number was pretty impressive. 

But then one day you popped over to your profile… and your ‘monthly views’ number had taken a big NOSEDIVE! 

“Why???” you thought. You hadn’t done anything differently. 

(Or sometimes this nosedive happens if you’ve been doing Pinterest for a looooooong time, right? When that’s the case, it can be even more disconcerting.)

Either way, your monthly views are down. And it’s discouraging. Maybe even stressful. 

So what should you do? 

In this blog post, I’m going to tell you EXACTLY what to do – in 3 steps. And I promise – if you follow this advice, you will be feeling better about this fast. 

Ready? 

First, What are Pinterest monthly views?

According to Pinterest’s Help Center Article, Monthly views are “The number of times your published Pins and Pins saved from your claimed domain or accounts were on screen in the last 30 days.” 

So basically, it represents the reach of (a) your Idea Pins and (b) standard and video pins that link to your claimed website. 

And yes, it is the number that appears publicly on the top of your Pinterest profile. (More on that later…) 

To be crystal clear, here’s a screenshot of the “monthly views” metric I’m talking about: 

(Note yours might be lower than mine. That’s okay! I’ve been doing Pinterest marketing for my business for a long time. Or maybe yours is higher… in which case: Go, You!)

Why do I have 0 monthly views on Pinterest? (Quick note) 

Before we dive in to the “why” part, I want to make a quick point of differentiation here.

If you landed on this post because you’re wondering “Why do I have 0 monthly views on Pinterest?”… What you are seeing is almost certainly a Pinterest glitch.

And it will likely resolve itself within a day or two – with no action needed on your part.

Why? Because in 2022, we’ve been noticing that – intermittently – this “0 monthly views” glitch keeps happening. When it does, it lasts 2 or 3 days. I imagine it’s because Pinterest is tinkering with how they calculate this number.

But if you are seeing an actual goose egg here, don’t fret. It’s not you. It’s Pinterest. And it’s temporary. 

BUT, if you’re NOT seeing a “0,” then read one for the answer to… 

Why are my Pinterest monthly views decreasing?

Okay, now that we’re on the same page about what this metric is… let’s address the question you came to get answered: Why are my Pinterest monthly views decreasing? 

I mean, if you’re adding pins, shouldn’t this number go UP – not down? 

And the answer is… Not really. 

Actually, it’s VERY normal for Pinterest monthly views to go up and down – a lot. 

I know. This may seem strange, so let’s dig into that a bit more, and talk about…what to do (3 Steps) if your Pinterest monthly views are decreasing.

Step 1. Realize that it’s 100% normal for ‘Pinterest monthly views’ to go down – and up – and down – and up.

As I started to explain above, it is common for this number to fluctuate. 

Most Pinterest creators and marketers I know see this number see-saw. Up, down. Up, down. Up, down. (And while it can feel a little 🤢, I have a solution for that below, so take a deep breath!) 

Meanwhile, it’s ALSO normal for us (as creators and marketers) to EXPECT this “up and down” to NOT be the case. 

Why? Because it’s sort of human nature to think… “Okay, I’m putting effort into this. So I should see the numbers go up, up, up.🎈Slowly maybe, but up. A little each day, in a steady upward climb…” 

And in fact, some numbers on Pinterest (like your ‘followers’ number) should do exactly that.  

But not your monthly views. 

Why? I’ll explain in the next step…

Step 2. Come to terms with this: Many factors that play into the ‘Pinterest monthly views’ number are waayyyy OUT OF YOUR CONTROL.

(If you’re a Type A like me, that phrase – OUT OF CONTROL – probably isn’t your favorite 🤣, but stick with me…) 

The “monthly views” metric is influenced by external factors like… 

• Seasonality of content… (For example, if you’re a health coach, Pinterest searches for your topics probably shoot up in the last days of December and early January. But then they may plummet in March. *Not much you can do about whether / when people are searching for health stuff, right?) 
• The “normalizing of a viral pin” … (If you have a pin go viral… meaning it gets more than 3x greater reach than most of your others… that’s GREAT! Yay, you! But viral pins don’t stay viral forever – by definition. When that pin “normalizes,” it *will* affect your monthly views. Meaning: They will go down.) 
• General fluctuation in Pinterest usage … (For example, summer is historically slower on Pinterest. Fewer people spend time on the platform, and they spend fewer hours on it. But autumn brings more users, and even more leading up to the holiday seasons. Another example: Cultural factors. More people spent more time online – and on Pinterest – when the world was “closed.”) 

And… have you noticed something? There’s not too much you can do about any of these three things. ☝🏽

So, what DO you have control over? 

Ahhhhhh… You’re asking the right question. Let’s address it in Step 3. 

Step 3. Set some goals around numbers you have more influence over. 

So… what’s a Creator to do? Bottom line: I suggest you set some goals that you have more control over. 

For example… 

• Do you want to double or 3x your followers by the end of the year? 
• Increase your engagement rate by a point or two?
• Get more saves in the next three months than you did in the last three? 
• Become consistent with creating 2 idea pins per week – for the next four months?

Now, to be fair… These types of metrics are still not ENTIRELY in our control. (Nothing on any “social” platform really is.) 

👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼 But we know (or can learn) tactics and strategies
to influence these things. 

Unlike with the monthly views number, our actions can have more impact on things like followers, engagement rates, saves…

For example, we can use calls to action (CTAs). We can add value to the details drawer as a tactic for getting more saves… (Those are just a couple of tactics that come to mind. There are many more.)

(I teach those tactics – and a lot more – in my newest course, Idea Pin Brilliance. If you want to learn them, you can click here to learn more and enroll.) 

In summary… I get it. The Pinterest monthly views number is hard to ignore.

It’s front and center. Whenever you’re on your profile, it’s staring right at you. 👀Everyone else can see it, too. (Yup. That’s why a lot of people call it a “vanity number.”) 

But it’s not always the most impactful on your actual results. 

So… The thing to do is to set some other (BETTER!) goals. And then make a plan (including using specific tactics and strategies) to hit those goals! This will help you focus on metrics that are more meaningful – AND that you have more control over. So no more 🤢.