How to Connect Pinterest to WordPress

Thinking about driving serious traffic to your WordPress website? Pinterest is a visual search engine goldmine that can send waves of new visitors your way, long after a post is published. This guide breaks down exactly how to connect Pinterest to WordPress, verify your site, and set yourself up for strategic, traffic-driving success.

Why You Absolutely Should Connect Pinterest to WordPress

Before jumping into the setup, it helps to know what a powerful move this is. Linking these two platforms isn't just a technical step, it’s a strategic decision that gives you access to a massive audience searching for ideas, products, and inspiration. Here’s what you gain:

• Access to Pinterest Analytics: Once you claim your site, you unlock detailed analytics for any Pins linked to your domain, no matter who Pinned them. You get to see which content resonates, how many clicks you're getting, your top-performing Pins, and audience demographics. This is incredibly valuable for refining your content strategy.
• Activating Rich Pins: This is a big one. Rich Pins automatically pull extra information from your blog posts - like the headline, author, and description - directly onto the Pin itself. It makes your Pins more informative, professional, and clickable, leading to higher engagement. Claiming your site is the first step toward getting them enabled.
• Increased Brand Presence: Every Pin from your verified site will feature your profile picture and a "Follow" button right below the Pin, encouraging users to follow your account and strengthening your brand visibility across the platform.
• Boosted Trust and Authority: A small globe icon with a checkmark appears next to your website URL on your Pinterest profile, signaling to users that you are a legitimate, verified creator. This little icon goes a long way in building trust with your audience.

How to Claim and Verify Your WordPress Website on Pinterest

Claiming your website is the foundational step. It’s how you officially tell Pinterest, "Hey, this WordPress site is mine." Pinterest gives you three main ways to do this. We'll walk through each one, from the simplest to the more hands-on approaches.

First, get your unique verification code from Pinterest:

1. Log into your Pinterest business account.
2. Click the down arrow in the top-right corner and go to Settings.
3. In the left-hand menu, select Claimed accounts.
4. Click the Claim button next to Websites.
5. A window will pop up with three options. We will focus on the first two options, "Add HTML tag" and "Upload HTML file," as they adapt easily to WordPress.

Now, let's look at how to use that information on your WordPress site.

Method 1: Add the HTML Tag Using an SEO Plugin (The Easiest Way)

If you already use a popular SEO plugin like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, or All in One SEO, this is by far the easiest method. These plugins are built to handle this exact task and have a dedicated field for verification codes.

Let's use Yoast SEO as the primary example, as it's one of the most common plugins available.

1. From the popup on Pinterest, choose the "Add HTML tag" option. Click to copy the entire meta tag. It will look something like this: <,meta name="p:domain_verify" content="YOUR_UNIQUE_CODE"/>,
2. Now, log into your WordPress dashboard.
3. Navigate to Yoast SEO > Settings in the left sidebar.
4. Click on the Site connections tab.
5. You'll see a field labeled "Pinterest verification code." Paste the content part of your meta tag here. That's just the long string of letters and numbers inside the quotation marks, not the whole tag.
6. Click Save changes.
7. Head back to the Pinterest pop-up window, paste your website's URL into the box, and click Verify. Pinterest will check your site for the code.

That's it! Your site should be verified within a few hours, though it can sometimes take up to 24 hours.

Method 2: Add the HTML Tag to Your Site's Header Manually

If you don't use an SEO plugin or prefer to keep your plugin list lean, you can add the HTML tag directly into your theme's header file. This feels a bit more technical, but it’s straightforward if you follow these steps carefully.

A Quick Word of Caution: Editing your theme's core files directly can be risky. One mistake could break your site. It’s always best practice to use a child theme for customizations like this. If your theme updates, your changes won't be erased. If you aren't using a child theme, proceed with caution and consider a plugin like "Insert Headers and Footers" for a safer alternative.

1. From Pinterest, copy the full HTML tag again.
2. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance > Theme File Editor.
3. On the right side of the screen under "Theme Files," find and click on the Theme Header (header.php) file.
4. Look for the closing <,/head>, tag. It's usually near the top of the file.
5. Paste your entire Pinterest HTML meta tag on a new line just before the <,/head>, tag.
6. Click Update File to save your changes.
7. Return to Pinterest, enter your URL, and click Verify.

Method 3: Upload the HTML File to Your Site's Root Directory

This method sounds complicated but is actually quite simple. It involves uploading a specific file provided by Pinterest into the main folder of your website. You’ll need access to your site’s backend, either through your hosting provider's cPanel or an FTP client.

1. On the Pinterest verification pop-up, select the "Upload HTML file" option.
2. Click Download to save the file to your computer. It will have a specific name, like pinterest-xxxxx.html. Do not rename it.
3. Log in to your web hosting account and open the File Manager from your cPanel.
4. Navigate to the root directory for your WordPress site. This is usually called public_html or is named after your domain. You should see folders like wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes here. This is the correct place.
5. Click the Upload button and select the HTML file you downloaded from Pinterest.
6. Once the file is uploaded, go back to Pinterest, enter your URL, and click Verify. Pinterest will look for that specific file at your domain and complete the verification.

Automatically Add a Pinterest "Save" Button to Your Images

Once your site is connected, the next step is making it incredibly easy for your readers to share your content. You want a "Save" button to appear whenever someone hovers their mouse over an image on your blog.

While some themes offer this functionality, the most reliable way to add Pinterest save buttons is with a WordPress plugin.

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New.
2. Search for "Pinterest save button" or "social sharing." You'll see several popular and highly-rated options. Choose one that is well-maintained and has good reviews.
3. Click Install Now and then Activate.
4. After activation, find the plugin's settings, usually in your main WordPress Settings menu or as its own menu item.
5. Inside the settings, you can customize the button's appearance, shape, size, and where it appears. Be sure to enable it for your blog posts and pages. Most plugins let you choose whether the button shows on hover, or is always visible below your images. On-hover is generally less intrusive and a great default choice.
6. Save your settings, and you're done! Visit one of your blog posts to see your new "Save" button in action.

Sharing Your Blog Posts and Growing Your Account

Connecting your site and adding buttons is the setup. Now, true growth comes from consistently sharing your content on Pinterest. Here are a few best practices to turn your WordPress content into a traffic-generating machine:

• Create Vertical Pin Images: For every WordPress post, design at least one or two tall, vertical images specifically for Pinterest. An aspect ratio of 2:3 (e.g., 1000 x 1500 pixels) is ideal as it takes up more screen space on mobile feeds. Use tools like Canva to easily create stunning templates.
• Write SEO-Friendly Descriptions: Don't just upload an image. When you share a link, write a detailed description filled with relevant keywords that people would use to search for your content. Think like a user and describe what problem your blog post solves or what inspiration it provides.
• Enable Rich Pins: After claiming your site, go to Pinterest's Rich Pin Validator. Enter a link to one of your blog posts, and click "Validate." If your site's SEO plugin provides the right metadata (most do), you can apply to have Rich Pins enabled. This adds that professional layer of context to all your Pins.
• Pin Consistently: Pinterest rewards consistent activity. Instead of sharing ten posts in one day and then going silent for a week, aim to Pin a little bit every day. This keeps your content flowing into the feeds of your followers and a fresh stream of signals to the Pinterest algorithm.

Final Thoughts

Connecting your WordPress site to Pinterest is a gateway to leveraging one of the most powerful content discovery platforms online. By claiming your domain, adding share buttons, and following best practices, you create a seamless bridge for your content - and your audience - to flow between your blog and the platform where they seek inspiration.

While the plugins discussed handle the on-site connection beautifully, the recommendation to Pin consistently is a separate challenge. To keep our own content pipeline full across all our social platforms, we plan, schedule, and analyze everything in Postbase. Being built from the ground up for visual content like Pins and video makes planning out a month's worth of content in a visual calendar feel organized and effortless, not like a chore.