Pinterest has introduced Visual Search Ads, a new advertising format designed to help brands reach consumers as they search visually for products, compare options, and make purchasing decisions. Announced on September 17, 2026, during the company’s annual Pinterest Presents advertiser summit, the new offering combines visual search technology with advertising placements across Pinterest Search Results and Pin closeups.
The launch capitalizes on Pinterest’s growing visual discovery activity. According to the company, users conduct more than 80 billion searches per month, the vast majority of which are visual, and more than half of which have commercial intent. The new advertising format allows brands to bid for prominent placements and direct interested consumers to their websites.
Visual Search Ads are powered by Pinterest Intelligence, the company’s AI-enabled technology for understanding images, products, consumer preferences, and shopping intent. The system uses these signals to connect advertisers with users who are actively searching for ideas, comparing products, or considering purchases.
Unlike conventional keyword-based search advertising, Visual Search Ads are designed to incorporate the visual context of a user’s search activity. By combining keyword relevance with Pinterest’s visual understanding capabilities, advertisers can place their products in front of consumers at moments when they are evaluating potential purchases.
The new format supports lower-funnel advertising objectives and integrates with Pinterest Performance+, the company’s AI-powered performance advertising suite. Visual Search Ads will become available in beta to eligible advertisers across all Pinterest advertising markets in the coming weeks.
Pinterest is also expanding Performance+ with Priority Products, a capability that gives advertisers greater control over which products receive promotional emphasis. Businesses can prioritize particular products during seasonal campaigns, promotional events, and product launches while retaining the automation benefits of Performance+.
Another addition is self-service A/B testing, allowing advertisers to experiment with different campaign strategies and measure their effectiveness. The capability supports testing across creative assets, targeting strategies, and Performance+ campaigns, helping marketers refine their advertising investments based on measurable results.
For businesses focused on mobile customer acquisition, Pinterest introduced App Promotion, a dedicated advertising objective designed to generate app installations. The capability is currently available in global beta to qualified advertisers.
Pinterest reported that one participating advertiser achieved up to an 85% improvement in cost per installation compared with previous approaches. That result came from an alpha test involving a single U.S. enterprise advertiser and does not necessarily represent results that other advertisers will achieve.
Beyond advertising, Pinterest is expanding its consumer-facing AI capabilities with Restyle, a new feature that allows users to upload photographs and visualize potential changes to their surroundings. The feature is launching in beta in the United States and Canada.
Restyle allows consumers to use photographs to reimagine spaces, experiment with design ideas, and compare different options in their homes. The feature is intended to help users move from discovering inspiration to evaluating how potential purchases and design choices might work in real-world settings.
Together, Visual Search Ads, expanded Performance+ capabilities, App Promotion, and Restyle reflect Pinterest’s broader strategy of integrating artificial intelligence across product discovery, advertising, and shopping.
For advertisers, the developments create additional opportunities to connect with consumers during the discovery and purchasing process. For users, the new tools are intended to make visual inspiration more actionable by helping them explore products, compare alternatives, and visualize potential purchases.
KEY QUOTES:
“Traditional search advertising has long relied on keywords, but in an AI-driven world, people are expressing themselves in much richer ways. Visual Search Ads allow marketers to tap into this new and rapidly growing form of AI-powered search with a prominent placement at the critical decision points where people see, save and decide.”
“Powered by Pinterest Intelligence – our AI-enabled visual understanding of images, products, taste and intent – we make those signals actionable for advertisers through visual search.”
Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest
