• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, May 3, 2016

Buying into the deep-linking hype, Pinterest just bought mobile ad platform URX. Per the acquihire (that is, buying a company primarily for its staffers) URX co-founder and CEO John Milinovich is joining Pinterest as product manager.

Milinovich -- who worked on Google Analytics before starting URX -- boils deep-linking down to one word: discovery.

“Discovery is one of the largest problems on the Web,” Milinovich said on Tuesday. In response, “URX was founded to create seamless, interconnected mobile experiences by helping people discover content inside apps.”

That’s basically what deep-linking is all about -- making it possible for mobile publishers and app developers to offer desktop-like content searching and discovery, which should translate to more traffic and ad opportunities.

The URX deal could be an indication that Pinterest is looking to bolster its mobile ad business.

Coincidence or not, in February Pinterest hired Google exec Jon Kaplan to head its global sales operation. Google is obviously a big proponent of the powers of deep-linking -- along with being Milinovich's former employer.

Looking forward, deep-linking appears to be one of several tricks up Pinterest’s sleeve. Indeed, the image-based social network reportedly expects to rake in $3 billion in revenue in 2018. If accurate, that would be dramatically higher than the roughly $100 million in revenue Pinterest reportedly took in last year.

Pinterest just enlisted Millward Brown Digital to help show marketers the real power of its Pin-based network.

Following the lead of Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest also recently began inviting every small and medium-sized business in the country to join its self-serve ad platform.