The news: As a visual discovery platform, Pinterest is a go-to location for consumers looking for new products, content, and ideas. Now, it's trying to redefine what high-intent search looks like—and claim that territory before competitors do.

In an interview with EMARKETER ahead of its Monday earnings report, Pinterest vice president of product marketing and ops Julie Towns said that traditional keyword search is outdated. She emphasized that visual, iterative discovery is the future.

• “We've been visual-first because, ultimately, people shop and discover with their eyes in the real world,” Towns said.
• She added that Pinterest is competing beyond social budgets and toward search and performance search-based budgets.

Pinterest will reach 22.6 million US social buyers this year, per our forecast, representing 9.7% of digital buyers.

Zooming in: Pinterest’s query volume and user behavior point to strong commercial intent.

• The platform fields 80 billion queries per month, most of which are visual searches, the company reported.
• Over 85% of traffic and users come to Pinterest directly, which Towns said is a unique starting point as consumer journeys flatten and agentic AI use rises.

Interpreting intent: Some user behaviors signal intent clearly—including the act of “saving” pins to boards—but Pinterest still has to determine what users want from a given search to deliver relevant results and recommendations.

This entails contextual models that look at click patterns and break down what exactly in a visual search a given consumer may be looking for based on explicit or implied interest.

For example, in an uploaded photo of a person walking down the street, the platform must figure out whether the user is interested in the outfit, makeup, or background details.

Looking ahead: Pinterest offers access to consumers who are in an undecided mindset, when they are open to discovering new brands and products. Towns said that’s crucial for brands trying to stay top of mind in an AI-driven digital landscape where discovery is being compressed and LLMs are guiding purchase decisions.

• 84% of purchases by global consumers worldwide are driven by preexisting brand bias, per WPP Media, reducing opportunities for brand awareness and exploration.
• To help increase the likelihood of consumers trying new products, brands can advertise on Pinterest to capture the attention of shoppers who are open to recommendations and influence.

Implications for marketers: A major opportunity lies in layering visual and intent signals on top of existing performance strategies—rather than replacing them outright—to manage the evolution of search behavior. To capitalize on discovery-based platforms like Pinterest, brands need to:

• Optimize for visual search with clear, product-forward imagery and multiple variants to support different possible intents.
• Lean into “saves” as a KPI to inform product development and messaging.
• Align with generative discovery by structuring content to be machine readable and context rich.