Pinterest has unveiled Visual Search Ads, a new ad format that places advertisers directly in Pinterest Search Results and Pin closeups, the company announced at its annual advertiser summit, Pinterest Presents.

The format lets advertisers bid for a top response and link users directly to their site, targeting the moment users are actively searching and comparing options. Pinterest said users conduct more than 80 billion searches on the platform each month, and that the majority of those searches are visual while more than half carry commercial intent.

“Traditional search advertising has long relied on keywords, but in an AI-driven world, people are expressing themselves in much richer ways,” said Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest. “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.”

Visual Search Ads are built to support lower-funnel objectives and work alongside Pinterest Performance+, the company’s existing AI-powered advertising suite. The format will roll out in beta to eligible advertisers across all Pinterest ad markets in the coming weeks.

Additional Performance+ and Consumer Tools

Pinterest also announced several updates alongside the new ad format. Performance+ is adding “Priority Products,” which gives advertisers more control over which products get emphasized during specific moments, such as a seasonal launch or promotion, while still running on automation. The company is introducing self-serve A/B testing, letting advertisers test creative, targeting, and Performance+ strategies on their own.

For advertisers focused on mobile growth, Pinterest is expanding “App Promotion,” a dedicated objective for app installs, into global beta for qualified advertisers. Pinterest said one advertiser using the objective saw up to an 85% improvement in cost per install compared to prior methods.

On the consumer side, Pinterest is launching “Restyle” in beta in the United States and Canada. The tool lets users upload a photo to reimagine a space and compare design ideas within their own home.

The launch comes as Pinterest’s advertising business has posted sustained growth. The company reported Q2 2026 revenue of $1.18 billion, up 18% year over year, alongside 640 million global monthly active users, up 11%, and the platform’s 11th consecutive quarter of double-digit user growth. In that earnings release, Ready credited AI directly for the momentum, saying it is “trained on our unique human curation of style and taste, making Pinterest more personalized and actionable for users, while improving performance for advertisers and creating more opportunities to monetize over the long term.” Visual Search Ads extend that AI push into a dedicated ad placement built around the platform’s search volume.

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