I came away from Pinterest Presents 2026 with one clear takeaway: Pinterest wants to help brands reach shoppers while they are still figuring out what they want, not just after they have decided.
Search advertising has traditionally been built around words. Someone knows what they want, types it into a search bar, and advertisers compete to show up in the results. But shopping does not always begin with a product name. Sometimes you know the look you want without knowing what to call it. You see a room, an outfit or a handbag and start exploring similar ideas. You may not have a brand in mind yet, but you are already making decisions.
That moment was at the center of Pinterest’s announcements on September 17. The company introduced Visual Search Ads alongside updates to Performance+, new testing capabilities and AI-powered consumer experiences. Together, they show how Pinterest is trying to connect visual discovery more directly to results advertisers can measure.
Visual Search Ads bring advertisers into the discovery process
The headline announcement was Visual Search Ads, a new format that places advertisers prominently within Pinterest Search Results and Pin close-ups. It pairs keyword relevance with Pinterest’s visual understanding of images, products and intent. Advertisers can bid for a prominent response and direct people to their websites as they explore their options.
Consider someone looking for living room inspiration. They find a Pin featuring a sofa they love, open it for a closer look and begin exploring similar styles. They may not know the manufacturer, the product name or even the right words to describe what they want. Visual Search Ads give a relevant brand an opportunity to appear during that exploration, before the shopper searches for a specific product or brand.
The scale of this behavior is worth paying attention to. Pinterest reports that its users conduct more than 80 billion searches per month, the vast majority of which are visual, with more than half classified as commercial. Those are Pinterest-reported figures, and they do not tell us how the new ad format will perform. They do, however, help explain why the company is investing in this part of the shopping journey.
Visual Search Ads support lower-funnel objectives, are compatible with Pinterest Performance+ and are expected to enter beta for eligible advertisers across Pinterest ad markets in the coming weeks. For brands, the question is where being present during visual exploration could add value beyond their existing search campaigns.
Performance+ is adding more ways to steer automation
Pinterest also announced updates to Performance+, its AI-powered advertising suite. One addition is Priority Products, which will give advertisers more control over which products receive emphasis during important commercial moments, such as seasonal launches, promotions or category pushes. New self-serve A/B testing will also let advertisers compare different creative, targeting and Performance+ strategies to see which approaches deliver the best results.
These updates address a familiar tension in paid media. Automation can help advertisers scale, but businesses have priorities that an algorithm may not fully understand on its own. A retailer might need to support a new collection, for example, even if its established products have a stronger performance history. Priority Products gives that retailer a way to communicate the commercial priority while continuing to use automated delivery.
That makes testing just as important as control. If an advertiser changes which products receive emphasis or adopts a new Performance+ setup, they need to know whether the change improves the outcome they care about. The new A/B testing capability creates a more practical way to answer that question instead of assuming automation will outperform the current approach.
Pinterest is expanding what performance means on the platform
The announcements also included App Promotion, a dedicated objective for app installs that is now in global beta with qualified advertisers. For app-focused brands, it provides a more direct way to pursue mobile growth on Pinterest.
More broadly, it reflects Pinterest’s effort to connect its established role in inspiration and consideration with measurable actions, from website visits and purchases to app installs. That does not mean every discovery interaction should be judged by an immediate conversion. It does mean advertisers have more ways to test how Pinterest contributes to the outcomes they are trying to drive.
AI is also changing the consumer experience
Beyond its advertising tools, Pinterest introduced Restyle, an AI-powered feature launching in beta in the U.S. and Canada. It lets people use a photo to reimagine a space, explore ideas and compare options in their own homes.
Restyle is a consumer feature rather than a new ad placement, but it fits the larger story I heard at Pinterest Presents. If someone can picture how an idea might work in their own space, they may find it easier to move from inspiration to consideration. For home and interiors brands, that also raises the value of product imagery that helps people understand how an item might fit their taste, needs and environment.
What advertisers should be thinking about now
Pinterest’s announcements point to three practical areas to explore.
First, revisit the role of search in your Pinterest strategy. As the Visual Search Ads beta becomes available, identify products that shoppers are likely to discover through appearance or style. Compare results with your existing Pinterest campaigns, looking at measures such as qualified website visits, conversion rate and cost per acquisition. That will help establish whether the new placement reaches valuable shoppers or simply shifts activity from campaigns already running.
Second, connect automation to commercial priorities. Priority Products could be particularly useful for retailers managing a launch, promotion or seasonal category. Start with a clear reason for emphasizing those products, then measure whether doing so improves the business outcome that prompted the change.
Third, build testing into the operating model. Self-serve A/B testing gives advertisers a way to evaluate creative, targeting and Performance+ decisions more systematically. As more campaign choices happen within automated systems, those comparisons become essential to understanding what is working.
None of these announcements guarantees better performance, and Visual Search Ads are still entering beta. Their value will depend on how they perform against each advertiser’s objectives. What makes them worth watching is the opportunity to reach people whose intent is already taking shape, even when they cannot yet put it into a search query.
