3 Easy Steps to Add Rich Pins

by Alli

After a few months of almost pulling my hair out, my blog is finally verified for rich pins.  Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!  I have a song for everything!

Rich Pins - 3 Easy Steps

What are rich pins?  They are pins that include extra information, along with your site, right on the pin.  

For instance, if you pin a recipe from your sight and someone clicks the pin, the ingredients are listed right there on the pin!

There are 5 types of rich pins:  movie, recipe, article, product, and place.  You can read more about rich pins here.

Here’s an example of my rich pins:

Rich PinsRich Pins for Pinterest

Why did it take me so long to get rich pins?  When I tried to follow the instructions from Pinterest, I almost gave up.  First of all, there was that nasty “C” word – coding!  I’m a girl who happens to love a good party, but I’m not a coder!  I do admire all of you computer coders out there and I’m a little jealous!

Secondly, I couldn’t make head nor tails of the explanation and I consider myself one smart cookie!

Then what happened?  I found an easy, peasy, surefire way to get verified for rich pins for self-hosted WordPress without using code at all!  Could I keep this secret to myself?  Of course not!

3 Easy Steps to Add Rich Pins

1.  You must have a business Pinterest account.

That’s an easy fix!  And I’m not going to reinvent the wheel when you can find a great step-by-step tutorial right here!

2.  Download the Yoast SEO Plugin

If you’re like me, you probably already have it installed.  It was one of the first plugins I activated when I started blogging.

Hover over the SEO on your dashboard.

Click on Social

Rich Pins

 

Make sure the “Add Open Graph meta data” box is checked.  Don’t forget to click save! 

richpins1

 

3.  Go to the Rich Pin Validator here!

Enter the URL from a valid blog post (not your home page URL) and click validate.

Rich Pins

Right up under the box where you entered your post URL, another box will pop up that reads, “Your Pin’s been validated, Apply now.”  Click on apply now.  Pinterest will review your application and send your final approval via email within a couple of weeks. Here’s my email approval!

rich pins

Helpful Hint:  The first few times I entered a post URL in the rich pin validator, I got nothing, just a dark gray screen for a moment and no validation.  I probably entered a URL 5  times or more before it “took.”  I don’t know why, but if that happens, keep trying.  It will eventually work!

Once that one post URL is verified and approved, you never have to do it again – all of your posts will be rich pins!

Now wasn’t that easy?  No coding required!

Helpful Pinterest Hint:  When you pin pictures from your post, make sure you add a good description to the picture.  I hate to repin a pin that only has the size of the picture underneath.   

 

 

58 comments

Christine August 12, 2014 - 7:51 am

Great tips!! I love this blogging group because of posts like this! We are always constantly learning (at least I am!!) Thanks for sharing! PS, I know really want those onion rings and it’s only 7 something in the morning, lol!

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 8:41 am

I’m really wanting the corn on one of our other member’s post and it’s way too early for corn! 🙂

Reply
Christine August 20, 2014 - 10:53 am

Your instructions were so easy to understand! I finally remembered to go back and do this today!! Thanks for sharing this!!

Reply
Alli August 21, 2014 - 6:51 am

I’m just glad to help out, Christine! When I find an easier way to do something, I just have to share.

Reply
Jen @ West Street Story August 12, 2014 - 9:21 am

Oh, thank you Ali! I had turned my back on getting rich pins because it seemed so complicated. But, you made it look so easy. I will be pinning this to work on later (how ironic, huh?)

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 11:06 am

I was about to just say no to rich pins, too! Whew!

Reply
Ricci August 12, 2014 - 10:03 am

I need to make my Pinterest account a business one sooooo bad!! I just keep forgetting to do it! LOL! I will definitely bookmark this so I can have rich pins as well!!

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 11:05 am

You really do need to change it to business. 🙂 Pinterest always ranks 1st or 2nd on driving traffic to my site.

Reply
Bethany August 12, 2014 - 10:12 am

Great tips!

Reply
Logan Can August 12, 2014 - 10:17 am

This is awesome! Do you know if it works for Blogger blogs as well?

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 11:04 am

No, this way works only for WordPress. You’ll have to insert a little coding for blogger. But I found several step-by-step tutorials out there to follow.

Reply
Tiffany August 12, 2014 - 10:18 am

Wow! Thanks so much for sharing this… I had no idea…

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 11:03 am

You’re welcome, Tiffany! I’m just glad it’s so easy! I hate coding! 🙂

Reply
Tiffany August 12, 2014 - 11:10 am

Oh trust me I avoid Coding at all costs…that’s like the plague to me..LOL

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 11:36 am

Glad I’m not the only one!

Reply
Skye @ Planet Jinxatron August 12, 2014 - 10:27 am

That is so good to know for people using WordPress. I find the rich pins so helpful when I’m looking at a recipe on Pinterest, to see if I have everything to make it or if I have to go shopping!

(And thanks for making the beginning of your post so lighthearted, it gave me a laugh I really needed this morning!)

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 11:02 am

You’re welcome! Like you, I love the way the recipes open up and I can see all the ingredients for shopping. And you know it’s a real link and not that dreaded link to nowhere.

Reply
Skye @ Planet Jinxatron August 12, 2014 - 11:04 am

Oh, that is another good point – rich pin = proof that pin is not a dead end!

Reply
Louida August 12, 2014 - 10:35 am

Thanks for the tips Alli but I’m still on Blogger so this may not work for me.

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 11:00 am

You’ll have to do a little coding on Blogger. Sorry! But there is a few good step-by-step tutorials out there.

Reply
MJ @ Daisy & June August 12, 2014 - 10:44 am

I have this and I have yet to implement it because I didn’t really understand it! Thanks for breaking it down!

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 11:00 am

You’re welcome!

Reply
Anna @ Northern Homestead August 12, 2014 - 1:07 pm

Thank you for this so much! I am too no good with codes. This might just help me to get it.

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 2:27 pm

Anna, I’m no good with codes, either! I think I’ve only had to code a couple of times and that was almost too much for me! Let me know how it goes.

Reply
Anna @ Northern Homestead August 14, 2014 - 3:46 pm

Did it today, thanks so much for an easy tutorial!

Reply
Alli August 15, 2014 - 8:08 am

Yes!!! Wasn’t that easy?

Reply
Nancy @ Neatly-Packaged August 12, 2014 - 2:47 pm

Alli you always have the best stuff on your blog!! Thank you so much for showing the step by step process 🙂

http://neatly-packaged.com/

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 8:13 pm

Thanks, Nancy. I try to share what I learn with others, especially when it comes to no codes! 🙂

Reply
Shirley Wood August 12, 2014 - 6:45 pm

Alli, I just added Yoasts to my blog a few weeks ago and got rich pins! I couldn’t agree with you more about following those Pinterest directions. They say those things as if it is just so easy, don’t they! I would go back to it from time to time, never successful, then give up!
Yoast is great! So glad you shared.

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 8:12 pm

Sounds like we got rich pins about the same time! I kept going over and over the directions from Pinterest and just couldn’t get it. So gladd it was easy peasy!

Reply
Reginia Cordell August 12, 2014 - 7:39 pm

This is really useful information. Pinterest is a great traffic driver. What app or site do you use to put text on your pictures.

Reply
Alli August 12, 2014 - 8:10 pm

I use Picmonkey Royal. It’s really easy!

Reply
Amy A August 12, 2014 - 9:38 pm

Great tips! I’m on Blogger, so not using plug ins, but have several friends on WP who would be interested in this and I’ll be sure to pass it along.

Reply
Alli August 13, 2014 - 6:49 am

I’ve seen great tutorials for adding rich pins to Blogger. Rich pins add so much to set your pins apart from the rest.

Reply
Paris at My BIg Fat Happy Life August 12, 2014 - 10:12 pm

Love this! Thank you so much for the step by step instructions! I’m pinning

Reply
Alli August 13, 2014 - 6:48 am

Thanks, Paris!

Reply
Mercedes {Beyond Beauty Lounge} August 12, 2014 - 11:39 pm

I finally figured this out for blogger and now I’ll be moving to word press. Pinned this for later, I’m sure I’ll need to refer back, thanks.

Reply
Alli August 13, 2014 - 6:48 am

Thanks for pinning, Mercedes!

Reply
Artney August 13, 2014 - 12:02 pm

I detest coding so easy-peasy works for me! This is some great info. Thanks for sharing!

Reply
Alli August 13, 2014 - 2:13 pm

I detest it, too, Artney! I’ll do just about anything to avoid it.

Reply
Emily @ Love, Pasta and a Tool Belt August 13, 2014 - 2:50 pm

Thank you for this post! I’ve pinned it. I am also not a coder. Anything with code scares me haha!

Reply
Alli August 14, 2014 - 4:30 am

Coding scares me, too, Emily, especially if I have to go in and place code in the middle of a whole page of code. I’m terrified that I might have to erase it and then erase something that is supposed to be there. 🙂

Reply
Shana Sutton August 16, 2014 - 8:49 pm

Thanks!!! this is a great tutorial!!! Can’t wait to try it!!!

Reply
Alli August 17, 2014 - 8:51 pm

You’re welcome!

Reply
Elizabeth August 17, 2014 - 11:02 am

Thank you! I need to do this! I am so glad I have a tutorial right here! Pinning!

Reply
Alli August 17, 2014 - 8:50 pm

You’re more than welcome! Glad it helped!

Reply
Bev August 18, 2014 - 8:20 pm

This is a fantastic and super helpful post! Thanks, Alli!

Reply
Alli August 18, 2014 - 8:47 pm

You’re more than welcome, Bev!

Reply
Jennifer September 4, 2014 - 5:26 pm

Hi,

I just had to give you a big thank you for this post. I just followed your steps and got my pin validated! Now I’m just waiting to hear back from Pinterest. Hopefully there won’t be any issues.
I really appreciate you sharing this information because this likely would have taken me dozens of hours to figure out on my own, if I ever did 🙂
And thanks for mentioning that you had to enter a url a few times before “it took.” I had to enter one three times before I had success.

Thank you, thank you, thank you,

Jennifer

Reply
Alli September 4, 2014 - 6:02 pm

So happy I could help! You should hear back from Pinterest within a week or so. I won’t go into how long it took me to figure it out. 🙂

Reply
Kaila Yu January 13, 2015 - 12:53 pm

Thanks so much for this TIP it was SO fast and helpful! I was prepared to go into every single one of my previous posts and future posts as described in the instructions for Rich Pins by Pinterest but you saved me hours of work! Fingers crossed and waiting to hear about about my application! xo

Reply
Alli January 13, 2015 - 12:54 pm

So glad it was helpful!

Reply
Marie January 15, 2015 - 10:25 am

Hello !
Thanks so much for thiiiiis ! I think it will help me for my website & my pinterest !
I have only one question : this tip does work for products pins ?

Thank you again, have a good day !

Reply
Alli January 15, 2015 - 11:13 am

Yes!!

Reply
Jodi Danen November 12, 2015 - 3:51 pm

Hello!
Thanks for helping me get my site validated! However, I am stuck and can’t find any info on this. The only pin that is a rich pin is the one that was validated. The others are just regular pins. Any advise on what I did wrong?!

Thanks so much!!

Reply
Alli November 14, 2015 - 5:29 am

Sometimes it takes a little while before it kicks in, but it should. All of my recipes are now rich pins.

Reply
Llharpy.com August 10, 2018 - 8:45 pm

Então, regulamentar os nervos beneficia a escaveirar. http://Llharpy.com/User:RusselSturgeon

Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.