Pinterest is improving the search experience on desktop by adding the new Guided Search, which it first introduced on mobiles in April.
Social pinboarding service Pinterest is bringing its enhanced search feature, Guided Search, to desktops so users can discover the unreached corners of the social network. The feature, which debuted on mobile apps earlier in April, comes as one of the biggest features for PC users to help them sift through ideas from other pinners on the site. Guided Search will pick up the keywords and allow users to filter their searches with precise information.
Pinterest announced the new addition Wednesday, in the company's official blog post as its massive database of more than 30 billion pins continues to grow.
"Now when you search for something, descriptive guides will help you sift through all the good ideas from other Pinners," Pinterest Software Engineer Yuliang Yin wrote in a blog post. "Scroll through the guides and click any that look interesting to steer your search in the right direction. You might be surprised where you end up!"
With Guided Search, users can type the closest related term to the searched item and narrow down the list using categories and keywords. For instance, when a user searches for "BBQ," Pinterest will now list options like "BBQ Chicken," BBQ Party," and "BBQ ideas." Users can find what they are looking based on Pins, boards and other pinners, TechCrunch reports.
In addition, Pinterest has added the search bar front and center to speed up the query search. The new feature will be available to all English-speaking users in the next few weeks and also bring support to other languages soon.
Pinterest is also deeply investing in the improvement of its service. The company hired two former Apple executives to lead its engineering and design departments. Michael Loop, the former Mac OS X engineer, and Bob Baxley, former design chief of Apple's Online Store, will take lead positions at the Pinterest Engineering and Product Design and Research groups, respectively.
The addition of Guided Search to desktop is a sensible move as users may find it difficult to find what they are looking for while going through over 30 billion pins and 750 million boards.
