Overview

Pinterest is a visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more. Connect Pinterest to Branch to attribute clicks and installs, forward conversion events via Pinterest's Conversions API, and configure Postbacks.

For more information about integrating ad partners in general, visit our Ad Partner Integration Guide.

Note: this guide is for new Branch

Please note that this guide is about integrating Pinterest in the new Branch experience. For information on Pinterest in legacy Branch, visit our legacy guide.

Partner capabilities

Capability	Details
Company type	Non-SAN ad network
Deep linking	Supported
Attribution	Click-through attribution, View-through attribution
Ad campaign types	Acquisition campaigns, Retargeting campaigns
Ad formats	Contact Pinterest for details
Click types	Server-side click
Supported platforms	iOS, Android
Link wrapping	Not supported
Cost ingestion support	Not supported
Pricing models	CPC, CPM, CPA, CPV, CPL

Before you begin

To set up the Pinterest integration, you need:

• Ad partner integrations enabled for your Branch account. Availability varies by Branch plan. See Branch pricing or contact your Branch representative.
• A Branch account with access to Configuration > Ad Partners and admin permissions to enable and configure integrations.
• The Branch SDK implemented in your app (iOS | Android) with event tracking configured.
• Admin, Analyst, Audience, or Campaign Business Access to your Pinterest Ads account.
• Active campaigns running in Pinterest Ads Manager.

Enable Pinterest

To begin, navigate to Configuration > Ad Partners > Pinterest.

Pinterest requires an Ad Account ID and Conversion Token from your Pinterest Ads account before postbacks can be activated. Follow the steps below to retrieve these credentials and connect Pinterest to Branch.

Step 1: Retrieve your Ad Account ID

1. Log in to your Pinterest Ads Manager account.
2. Navigate to Ads > Account Overview.
3. Locate and note the Ad Account ID in the URL: ads.pinterest.com/advertiser/{ad_account_id}/

Step 2: Retrieve your Conversion Token

1. In Pinterest Ads Manager, navigate to Account Overview > Conversions.
2. If you don't have a Conversion Token yet, select Set up API in the Conversions API section, then select Generate new token.
3. Copy your Conversion Token using the copy icon.

Step 3: Connect Pinterest in Branch

1. Select Partner settings to open the Manage account dialog.
2. Under Postback Credentials, enter the Ad Account ID and Conversion Token from steps 1 and 2.
3. Select Save.

After saving, postbacks for the standard event set will activate and the Status tab will confirm Ad Linking and Attribution are enabled. Clicks and Impressions will show Needs Setup. This is resolved when you place your Branch tracking links in your Pinterest campaigns (see Set up tracking links).

(Recommended) To configure the optional PAM for Publishers privacy setting, select Partner settings to open the Manage account dialog and enable the toggle. When enabled, PAM for Publishers removes advertiser-specific user identifiers from postbacks for users who haven't opted in via Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, prioritizing identifiers provided directly by Pinterest.

Set up tracking links

Pinterest requires Branch tracking links to be placed in your ad creatives to record clicks and impressions. Pinterest uses server-side clicks, so the %24s2s=true parameter must be included in all tracking links. Place the following in your Pinterest Ads Manager when setting up your ad creative:

Field	Value
Impression Tracking URL	Your Branch impression tracking link. Must include %24s2s=true. See Link formatting for the full link structure.
Click Tracking URL	Your Branch click tracking link. Must include %24s2s=true. See Link formatting for the full link structure.
Destination URL	A Branch link with tracking disabled. Placing a standard Branch link here causes double attribution. See Create a Branch Link with tracking disabled.

Create a Branch Link with tracking disabled

If you place a standard Branch link in the Pinterest Destination URL field, Branch may attribute the resulting conversion twice, once from the Click Tracking URL and once from the destination link redirect. To prevent this, create a Branch link with tracking disabled to use as the Destination URL.

1. Create a Branch link as normal in Ads > Links or using the Branch link builder.
2. Enable the Do Not Track setting on the link, or append %24disable_tracking=true to the link URL.
3. Place this tracking-disabled link in the Destination URL field in Pinterest Ads Manager.

Link formatting

Use the following formats for your Pinterest tracking links. Replace [yourapp.app.link] with your Branch domain. Pinterest populates the macro parameters in curly braces automatically when serving your ads.

Click Tracking Link

https://[yourapp.app.link]?%243p=a_pinterest&%24aaid_sha1={sha1_advertising_id}&%24idfa_sha1={sha1_advertising_id}&%24s2s=true&~ad_set_id={ad_group_id}&~ad_set_name={ad_group_name}&~campaign={campaign_name}&~campaign_id={campaign_id}&~click_id={click_id}&~creative_id={creative_id}&~creative_name={creative_name}&~secondary_publisher={publisher}

Impression Tracking Link

https://impression.[yourapp.app.link]?%243p=a_pinterest&%24aaid_sha1={sha1_advertising_id}&%24idfa_sha1={sha1_advertising_id}&%24s2s=true&~ad_set_id={ad_group_id}&~ad_set_name={ad_group_name}&~campaign={campaign_name}&~campaign_id={campaign_id}&~creative_id={creative_id}&~creative_name={creative_name}&~secondary_publisher={publisher}

Parameter	Description
%243p=a_pinterest	Identifies Pinterest as the ad network. Static value included in your Branch link.
%24aaid_sha1={sha1_advertising_id}	SHA1-hashed Android GAID. Required for Android attribution.
%24idfa_sha1={sha1_advertising_id}	SHA1-hashed iOS IDFA. Required for iOS attribution.
%24s2s=true	Required. Tells Branch this is a server-side click or impression from Pinterest.
~ad_set_id={ad_group_id}	Pinterest macro for ad group ID. Maps to Branch's ~ad_set_id.
~ad_set_name={ad_group_name}	Pinterest macro for ad group name. Maps to Branch's ~ad_set_name.
~campaign={campaign_name}	Pinterest macro for campaign name. Maps to Branch's ~campaign.
~campaign_id={campaign_id}	Pinterest macro for campaign ID. Maps to Branch's ~campaign_id.
~click_id={click_id}	Pinterest macro for click ID. Maps to Branch's ~click_id. Click tracking link only.
~creative_id={creative_id}	Pinterest macro for creative ID. Maps to Branch's ~creative_id.
~creative_name={creative_name}	Pinterest macro for creative name. Maps to Branch's ~creative_name.
~secondary_publisher={publisher}	Pinterest macro for publisher. Maps to Branch's ~secondary_publisher.

Configure attribution

By default, Pinterest uses your global app attribution settings. To set attribution windows specific to Pinterest, enable the Override global app settings toggle on the Attribution windows tab.

For more information, follow Configure attribution in the general Ad Partner Integration Guide.

Configure postbacks

Connecting Pinterest automatically activates postbacks for INSTALL, REINSTALL, OPEN, PAGEVIEW, WEB_SESSION_START, INITIATE_PURCHASE, PURCHASE, VIEW_ITEM, VIEW_ITEMS, ADD_TO_CART, COMPLETE_REGISTRATION, ADD_TO_WISHLIST, START_TRIAL, SUBSCRIBE, RESERVE, SEARCH, INITIATE_STREAM, and COMPLETE_STREAM. Branch maps these to Pinterest's Conversions API event types as follows.

Pinterest event	Branch event
app_install	INSTALL, REINSTALL
app_open	OPEN
page_visit	PAGEVIEW, WEB_SESSION_START
initiate_checkout	INITIATE_PURCHASE
checkout	PURCHASE
view_category	VIEW_ITEM, VIEW_ITEMS
add_to_cart	ADD_TO_CART
signup	COMPLETE_REGISTRATION
add_to_wishlist	ADD_TO_WISHLIST
start_trial	START_TRIAL
subscribe	SUBSCRIBE
lead	RESERVE
search	SEARCH
watch_video	INITIATE_STREAM, COMPLETE_STREAM
custom	{custom_event_name}

Pinterest recommends enabling Send all events on the Postback config tab so that Branch forwards all in-app conversions to Pinterest. This allows Pinterest to report the full value the platform is driving to your app.

To add postbacks for additional events or to customize behavior, follow Configure postbacks in the general Ad Partner Integration Guide.

Create a Branch Ad Link

Create a Branch Ad Link to use in your Pinterest campaigns. Branch uses the link to attribute clicks and impressions and deep link users into your app. Placing the Branch Ad Link in your Pinterest campaigns will resolve the Clicks and Impressions: Needs Setup status shown on the Status tab.

Follow Create Ad Links.

Verify your data

After your integration is connected and events are flowing, you can verify data is reaching Branch:

• In Branch Liveview: confirm that events from your app appear in real time. This is the fastest way to confirm SDK events are firing. Filter for ad partner (3p) = a_pinterest.
• In Branch Analysis dashboards: review attributed installs and events where Ad Partner Name = Pinterest.
• In Pinterest: confirm that forwarded events are appearing in your Pinterest Ads attribution reporting.

Troubleshoot

Link formatting issues

If clicks or impressions are not being attributed to Pinterest, verify the following in your tracking links:

• %24s2s=true is present in both the Click Tracking URL and the Impression Tracking URL. Without this parameter, Branch cannot register server-side events from Pinterest.
• Advertiser IDs are mapped correctly: {idfa} for iOS and {google_advertising_id} for Android. If these macros are missing or incorrectly formatted, Branch cannot match clicks to conversions on a per-device basis.
• The Destination URL uses a tracking-disabled Branch link, not a standard Branch link. A standard Branch link in the Destination URL field will cause double attribution. See Create a Branch Link with tracking disabled.

GEO_CONFLICT

Pinterest's Conversions API applies a GEO_CONFLICT anti-fraud validation. If the geographic location in the click or impression event differs significantly from the location in the conversion event, Pinterest may flag or reject the conversion. This is expected behavior and does not indicate a problem with your Branch integration.

If you see higher-than-expected GEO_CONFLICT rejection rates, verify that your Branch SDK is correctly capturing the user's device location. Elevated rates can also occur when users connect via VPN or when there are geographic mismatches between ad serving and device data.

Data mappings

Campaign data

Branch populates the following fields from Pinterest campaign data.

Branch field	Partner data
~advertising_partner_name	"Pinterest" (static)
~campaign	campaign_name
~campaign_id	campaign_id
~ad_set_name	ad_group_name
~ad_set_id	ad_group_id
~creative_name	creative_name
~creative_id	creative_id
~click_id	click_id
~secondary_publisher	publisher