Search and Lens move front and centre

When you fire up your Pinterest app today, you may notice a small but very helpful new improvement.

Now, instead of having to open the Explore tab to search for ideas to try, you simply type what you’re looking for into the new search bar at the top of your home feed. You also have the Lens camera right there at the ready, so when you spot something out in the world that looks interesting, you can quickly tap open Lens to snap a photo and find related ideas.

To get search and Lens on your home feed, update your iOS app (coming to Android soon!).

More and more people are searching for ideas

We’re making it easier for people to search for ideas on their phones because that’s what an increasing number of people are coming here to do. Monthly mobile text searches are up 40 percent over last last year, and nearly 85 percent of all searches on Pinterest now happen on people’s phones.

Thanks to our visual discovery features, monthly visual searches have increased by nearly 60 percent over last year. And our search returns 20 percent more Pins, with nearly four billion ideas getting served up each and every day.

What makes Pinterest search so different?

More and more people are searching Pinterest for ideas because what they find here is different from everywhere else.

Traditional search engines are great for when people have something specific they want to know, like what’s the weather like today?

Pinterest is where people come when they’re not quite sure what they want yet. Maybe they’re looking for ideas for what to do today, or what to wear. They’re open to possibilities. And when they come across an idea that looks good, they can explore related ideas until they find exactly what works best for them.

This kind of open-minded searching is what makes Pinterest so unique. You don’t need to know what something’s called, or which brand made it. You can start your search broad then quickly narrow in on the specific solution that’s right for you. In fact, 73 percent of all Pinterest traffic comes from people who start off their search with just one to three keywords. And 97 percent of all searches on Pinterest don’t include a brand name.

So, if you’re someone like Jacob, who lives in Portland, Oregon and needed a new jacket for those chilly Northwestern nights, you can poke around and discover the right style for you (such as this casual Barbour coat that’s now Jacob’s go-to warm layer).

Even more behind-the-scenes improvements

Not only are search and Lens now right up top, we’ve also made some improvements behind the scenes, so your home feed is more useful than ever. 

Now the recommendations you find in your home feed are fresher than ever, updating instantly based on what you're saving and searching for on Pinterest.

To help make sure you see a good variety of ideas in your feed, we’ve also been working to zap repeat Pins. As of today, we’ve managed to almost totally eliminate exact duplicates.

Together we hope all of these new improvements make it even easier to find the next idea you want to try!

Kate Allchin, UK Content & Community Manager, is currently using Pinterest to search for Tiny Houses