Pinterest's role as a traffic driver reached new heights in July, and social media marketing campaigns using the site can boost visibility by sharing content on the platform.

A report from Shareaholic found that Pinterest’s value as traffic source has increased following a downward trend earlier this year. In July, Pinterest contributed 1.38 percent of all traffic to Shareaholic clients’ sites after 1.19 percent in June. Should Pinterest continue to direct users to sites, its value as a social media marketing tool becomes more apparent.

According to the report, Pinterest’s 1.38 percent was surpassed only by Facebook in terms of social network-driven traffic. Facebook rose to 6.06 percent in the month, after 5.65 percent in June. Meanwhile, Twitter contributed just 0.82 percent.

Earlier this week, Pinterest finally removed the invite-only barrier it maintained since launching in March 2010. This could drive the site’s value as a critical part of social marketing strategies, as it continues to build on its strong performance this summer.

Shareaholic pointed out that Pinterest may soon become more valuable than Yahoo for directing traffic, with the declining search portal ending July at 1.47 percent. Bing was even less appealing it seems, ending the month at 1.08 percent, its lowest total of the year, according to Shareaholic.

As is typical, Google led the way in July, directing 44.76 percent of traffic, and direct visits were second at 19.99 percent.

For marketers using SEO, developing strategies to withstand Google’s frequent algorithm updates remains the best option given the site’s continued dominance of the search market. Brafton recently highlighted a report from comScore that found Google’s search share stayed above two-thirds of all queries in June.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.