How to See the Pinterest Ads Your Competitors Run

Every promoted pin is a small public confession. When a brand pays to show a pin, it is telling you what it thinks will sell, who it wants to reach and which keywords are worth money. If you sell anything on Pinterest, or plan to run ads, studying those promoted pins is one of the fastest ways to learn.

The problem is that Pinterest does not give you a simple way to browse competitors' ads. This guide shows how to find them, what to look for and how to turn them into better pins and campaigns of your own.

Why study competitors' Pinterest ads?

Organic pins show you what the audience likes. Ads show you what businesses are willing to pay for. That is different, and very useful:

• Proven offers. Brands usually stop paying for ads that lose money. An ad you keep seeing is probably working.
• Creative direction. You see the images, videos, headlines and calls to action that real advertisers chose.
• Market map. You learn which brands compete for your keywords, including ones you have never heard of.
• Lead ideas. For agencies and freelancers, brands that advertise are brands with a marketing budget.

Where Pinterest ads appear

Promoted pins appear mixed into the normal results: the home feed, search results and related pins. They are marked with a small label such as "Promoted by" or "Sponsored", and sometimes "Paid link".

Two things to know:

1. Ads depend on who is looking. Targeting uses location, interests and keywords, so two people can see different ads for the same search.
2. You need to be logged in. In our testing, searches made while logged out of Pinterest showed no promoted pins at all.

Method 1: Manual search (free, slow)

The free way:

1. Log in to Pinterest.
2. Search for a keyword your customers would use, for example "linen dress" or "meal prep containers".
3. Scroll slowly and look for the "Promoted by" label under pins.
4. Click each ad, note the brand, the creative and where it links, and take a screenshot.
5. Repeat for each keyword.

It works, but it is slow, easy to miss ads, and you end up with a folder of screenshots that is hard to compare.

Method 2: PinBee advertiser analysis (fast)

PinBee is a Pinterest extension that shows the hidden stats on every pin. PinBee Pro also detects promoted pins as you browse and groups them by advertiser.

How to use it:

1. Install PinBee and activate Pro (Yearly includes a 3-day free trial).
2. Log in to Pinterest and search for your keyword.
3. Let the results load, or use auto-scroll to collect more.
4. Open the Tools menu and click Ads.

You get a list of every advertiser found in your results, with how many promoted pins each one runs and the pins themselves. Ads are captured even if you choose to hide them from your feed, so you can keep a clean view and still research them.

Everything you scan is saved in PinBee's Library, where an Ads view shows all advertisers across your research. You can export the list to CSV for a spreadsheet.

What to look for in competitors' ads

Collecting ads is the easy part. Here is how to read them.

The creative

• Format: video or static image? Lifestyle photo or product on a plain background?
• Text overlay: what promise does the headline make? Is it a benefit ("Sleep cooler tonight"), a price ("Under $30") or curiosity ("The pan chefs actually use")?
• Branding: is the logo visible, or does the ad blend in like an organic pin?

The offer

• Discounts, free shipping, bundles, quizzes or free guides.
• Which products they choose to advertise. These are often bestsellers or high-margin items.

The landing page

Click through and see where the ad leads: a product page, a collection, a blog post or a lead magnet. This tells you a lot about their funnel.

Repetition over time

One ad on one day means little. The same advertiser showing up for the same keyword across weeks suggests that campaign is profitable. Repeat your searches every week or two and compare.

Combine ads with organic data

The best insights come from comparing paid and organic results for the same keyword:

• If the top organic pins (sorted by saves) and the ads share a style, that style clearly works.
• If ads look very different from what the audience saves, there may be room for a better creative.

PinBee shows saves and a viral score on organic pins next to the ads you collect, so you can compare in one place. Learn how to read those numbers in our guide to Pinterest metrics.

Use ads for lead generation

If you are an agency, freelancer or Pinterest manager, the advertiser list is a lead list. These brands:

• Already invest in Pinterest.
• Have a visible marketing budget.
• Might benefit from better creatives or organic strategy.

Open an advertiser's profile and use PinBee Pro's account analysis to see their best organic pins and profile details. That gives you a concrete, personalised reason to reach out. Our Pinterest competitor analysis guide explains how to analyse accounts properly.

Rules to respect

Researching public ads is normal market research. A few lines not to cross:

• Do not copy creatives. Ad images, videos and copy belong to their owners. Take ideas and principles, not assets.
• Do not misrepresent yourself when contacting advertisers.
• Respect privacy when building lead lists, and follow the email rules in your country.

The bottom line

Your competitors' Pinterest ads show you which offers, creatives and keywords are worth paying for. You can find them manually, or let PinBee Pro collect every promoted pin in your searches and group them by advertiser in seconds.

Get PinBee and start with a free search today. Upgrade to Pro, with a 3-day free trial on Yearly, when you want advertiser analysis.