Pinterest Is Bringing Guided Search To Desktop Users In The Next Few Weeks

Pinterest wants to be the search engine that helps people find things that they didn’t even know they were looking for. Two months ago, the company rolled out Guided Search on mobile devices and billed it as a revolutionary way for its users to consume and browse Pinterest, which CEO Ben Silbermann called the “world’s […]

Chat with SearchBot

Pinterest wants to be the search engine that helps people find things that they didn’t even know they were looking for. Two months ago, the company rolled out Guided Search on mobile devices and billed it as a revolutionary way for its users to consume and browse Pinterest, which CEO Ben Silbermann called the “world’s largest human created collection of things.”

The initial rollout was mobile focused because 75% of Pinterest usage is on phones and tablets. Today, Pinterest announced that it will push Guided Search to the desktop for English users during the next few weeks.

The main difference between Pinterest’s Guided Search and standard search engine results is that users are served category suggestions as they explore. So when Pinterest users look for BBQ chicken recipes, they are served a carousel of options –baked, crockpot, grilled, marinade, wings, etc. — that they can click into. It’s search aided by the curation of Pinterest’s dedicated users, who as of late April had created 750 million Pin boards and 30 billion Pins.

The new desktop interface also puts the search dialogue box in a more prominent position, moving it from the top left to the center of the page.

pinterest-guided


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Martin Beck
Contributor
Martin Beck is Third Door Media's Social Media Reporter, covering the latest news for MarTech and Search Engine Land. He spent 24 years with the Los Angeles Times, serving as social media and reader engagement editor from 2010-2014. A graduate of UC Irvine and the University of Missouri journalism school, Beck started started his career at the Times as a sportswriter and copy editor. Follow Martin on Twitter (@MartinBeck), Facebook and/or Google+.

Get the must-read newsletter for search marketers.