How do I set up bidding for Pinterest Ads?

Setting up bidding for Pinterest Ads is a crucial part of optimizing performance—whether you're trying to drive clicks, impressions, conversions, or sales. Pinterest gives you control over how much you're willing to pay for your ad objectives, and choosing the right bid strategy can make or break your ROI.

Here's a complete guide on how to set up bidding for Pinterest Ads:

🎯 1. Choose Your Campaign Objective First
Your bidding options depend on your campaign goal. Pinterest offers several objectives:

Objective   Optimized For   Bid Type
Brand awareness   Impressions (CPM)   Manual or auto CPM
Video views   Video views (CPV)   Manual or auto CPV
Consideration (traffic)   Clicks to your site (CPC)   Manual or auto CPC
Conversions   Sign-ups, purchases, etc.   Manual or auto CPA
Catalog sales   Product sales from a data feed   Dynamic bidding
📌 Start with "Consideration" (traffic) or "Conversions" if you're looking for ROI-driven performance.

🛠� 2. Set Your Bid Strategy in Ads Manager
When creating a campaign in Pinterest Ads Manager, you'll reach a step for bidding under the Ad Group level.

Choose from:
✅ Automatic Bidding (Recommended for Beginners)
Pinterest adjusts your bid to get the most results at the best price.

Great for learning or when unsure of what your bid should be.

Helps spend your daily budget efficiently.

🎯 Custom (Manual) Bidding
You set a maximum amount you're willing to pay per action (click, impression, conversion).

Good for advanced users or when you know your target CPA/CPC.

💰 3. Bid Types by Objective
Objective   Default Optimization   Suggested Manual Bids (Estimates)
Awareness (CPM)   Cost per 1,000 impressions   $2–$5 CPM
Video Views (CPV)   Cost per 1 view (2 sec min)   $0.05–$0.30
Traffic (CPC)   Cost per outbound click   $0.10–$2.00
Conversions (CPA)   Cost per conversion   Varies by product, AOV, and industry
Catalog Sales   Dynamic retargeting or manual   Based on conversion goals
💡 Pinterest recommends a bid high enough to enter auctions and gather learning data, but not so high that you overspend.

📈 4. Best Practices for Manual Bidding
Start conservatively with a mid-range bid, then adjust based on performance.

Use Pinterest's bid suggestions (shown during setup) as a guide.

Monitor your average CPC, CTR, and conversions to adjust bids up/down.

If you're not spending your full budget, increase your bid slightly.

📌 Example: If your CPC target is $1.00, start with a $0.85–$1.20 bid and adjust every few days.

🔄 5. When to Use Auto Bidding vs. Manual Bidding
Scenario   Recommended Bid Strategy
You're testing new campaigns   Automatic bidding
You're scaling known performers   Manual bidding
You're budget-conscious   Manual with low-start bids
You want Pinterest to optimize   Automatic bidding
🔧 Auto-bidding is great when Pinterest's machine learning can drive better results than manual estimates.

📊 6. Monitor & Optimize Your Bids
Regularly review these metrics in Ads Manager:

CTR (Click-through rate)

CPC (Cost per click)

CPA/ROAS (For conversion goals)

Spend vs. budget

Adjust Bids If:
Too few impressions or clicks → Increase your bid

High CPC but low conversions → Lower your bid or improve creative

Not spending your daily budget → Raise bids slightly or widen targeting

🚀 7. Bidding Tips for Scaling
Once you have consistent performance, gradually raise bids alongside budgets (no more than 15–25% at a time).

Try bid caps with Pinterest's custom goal-based bidding to maintain profitability.

Run A/B tests to find the best bid levels per audience or creative.

✅ Quick Recap: Setting Up Pinterest Bidding
Step   Action
1️⃣   Choose campaign objective (Traffic, Conversions, etc.)
2️⃣   Select automatic or manual bidding during ad group setup
3️⃣   Set your bid (CPC, CPA, CPM, or CPV) based on goals
4️⃣   Monitor performance: CTR, spend, conversions
5️⃣   Adjust bids gradually based on results
6️⃣   Scale winners with higher bids and budget