How to Set Up Your Pinterest Business Account Settings (Before You Pin Anything)
Before boards.
Before pins.
Before aesthetics.
Your Settings are the foundation of a Pinterest business account that actually works for growth, search, and long-term visibility.
In this post, I’m walking you through exactly what to touch and what to ignore by showing you what I'm actively doing, so your account is set up cleanly, intentionally, and without overthinking.
This is how I set up Pinterest for my own businesses and for the hundreds of founders I’ve supported. This is assuming you've taken step one in the previous post (start here post) and you've already made your account a business account and have claimed your website.
Step 1: Log Into Your Business Account Settings
- Log into Pinterest
- Click the down arrow in the top right corner
- Select Settings
You’ll see a left-hand menu with several tabs. We’ll go through them in the order that matters.
Notifications
Go to:
Settings → Notifications
📍 We want to turn things off that might take up attention but not be productive (protect your energy). I turn off the toggles under "shopping". Some clients of mine choose to turn off everything under "pin picks" and "boards and searches" but I like to see what's being recommended to me as it's more data and it doesn't feel distracting. This is up to you!
Privacy & Data (this is a personal one and I lean on the side of less sharing)
Go to:
Settings → Privacy & Data
📍 I have ALL of my privacy and data ad personalization turned OFF. I also have the Gen AI turned off.
Branded Content
Go to:
Settings → Branded Content
I have just "signed up" for branded content and I'm eligible. Mostly because the data it shares is data anyone can see. I'm not doing it to have paid content, I'm doing it because I believe when I submit content to be featured this year, I think having this on will help (more on this much later).
Security
Go to:
Settings → Security
Definitely have on two-factor authentication! You can always see where your pinterest has been logged in from.
Security
Go to:
Settings → Social permission
📍 I have the allow people to message me feature on and then left as the toggles are. Comments on pins is turned on (this isn't IG, so I'm not worried about managing an influx of comments). Shopping recommendations is turned on and video downloads is turned off.
Pinterest “Links” Tab: What to Set (and What to Skip)
Go to:
Settings → Links to Pinterest
➡️ connecting Instagram does try to automatically share or cross-post content to Pinterest (pay attention to setting up). It simply verifies the account and acts as a brand signal, helping Pinterest understand your broader ecosystem. Nothing is published unless you manually create or schedule a Pin, so you’re always in control of what appears on Pinterest.
-Claim IG account (for brand consistency)
-Once it's claimed it will create a "social" board and ask you to import content. Select "none" and then delete the social board.
-It will try to auto-publish from IG, turn this toggle OFF
Instagram posts shouldn’t automatically share to Pinterest because they usually don’t match Pinterest’s vertical format or keyword strategy. Auto-sharing can make your Pins harder to find and underperform in search. Pinterest works best when content is created intentionally for its platform. Content can be repurposed by not automatically shared.
➡️ You should already have claimed your website (so that should be claimed)
➡️ If you have a Shopify account, this should be connected. It connects your store so your products can appear as Product Pins with up-to-date pricing, availability, and links. It automatically syncs your product catalog but does not publish lifestyle or marketing content for you. You still control what else gets pinned and when.
➡️ Loja Integrada is a Brazilian e-commerce platform, similar to Shopify, used to create and manage online stores. Pinterest shows it because it’s one of the supported store integrations for syncing product catalogs. If you don’t run a Brazil-based store or use that platform, you can ignore it.
➡️ MikMak is for brands that sell products through multiple retailers and want Pinterest pins to show all “where to buy” options. You’d need it if your products are in multiple stores, not just your own site, and you want to be able to link to them all. If you sell only through your website or offer services, you don’t need it.
Leave ad accounts off for now (we'll get to that later).
Import Content (this can start to feel complicated, stay with me, we are going to keep it simple)
Go to:
Settings → Import Content
📍 For now, I'm just connecting my website in the RSS feed. I'm going to track how well this works and of course, I'll keep you posted on any changes I'm making, this live after all!
At this point, your Shopify should be connected if you have one. If you sell products using another website, you can use the catalog function to connect. If you don't sell products, don't worry about this part!
Everything else should already be set-up or can be left as the default! Again, this is what I've done and what I do with clients. I stay up to date on all Pinterest happenings, so as things change - this tutorial may be updated. Go check out other Pinterest tutorials and make sure to subscribe!
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