How to Fix a Pinterest Validation Error

Nothing brings your Pinterest workflow to a grinding halt faster than the vague, frustrating “validation error” message when you try to save a Pin from your website. This guide breaks down precisely what causes this roadblock and gives you actionable, step-by-step instructions to troubleshoot and fix it for good, whether you're using WordPress, Shopify, or another platform.

What Exactly is a Pinterest Validation Error?

In simple terms, a Pinterest validation error means Pinterest's system tried to read the data on your webpage to create a Rich Pin, but it couldn't find the information it needed or found information that was incorrectly formatted. When you save a URL to Pinterest, it doesn't just grab a random image, it looks for specific code snippets, called meta tags, in your website's HTML to pull the title, description, and preview image for the Pin.

When these tags are missing, broken, or conflicting, Pinterest's validator throws up its hands and gives you an error. The goal is to make your content easy for Pinterest to read. This is essential for creating Rich Pins - the enhanced Pins that automatically sync information from your website, making your content more useful and clickable.

Common Causes of Pinterest Validation Errors

While the error message itself can be cryptic, the root cause almost always falls into one of these categories. Understanding them will make troubleshooting much easier.

• Missing Meta Tags: Your webpage might not have the necessary Open Graph (OG) tags that Pinterest requires to pull data for Rich Pins. This is the most common reason for a validation failure.
• Incorrectly Formatted Meta Tags: The tags might exist, but contain errors. Maybe the image URL is wrong, the product price is formatted incorrectly, or there's a typo in the tag itself.
• Conflicting Plugins or Apps: If you use a CMS like WordPress, you might have multiple SEO or social sharing plugins trying to add their own meta tags. This creates duplicate tags, which confuses Pinterest's validator.
• Image Dimension Issues: The image specified in your `og:image` tag might be too small or have the wrong aspect ratio for Pinterest. Pinterest prefers vertical images and will sometimes reject pages if the designated Pin image is a tiny, horizontal favicon.
• Website Caching: Sometimes, you’ve already fixed the problem, but your website's caching plugin (or your hosting provider's cache) is still showing Pinterest the old, broken version of the page.
• Access Blocked by robots.txt or Firewall: In rarer cases, your site's settings might be actively blocking Pinterest’s crawler (known as the "Pinterestbot") from accessing your page to read its data.

Your Step-by-Step Guide to Fixing the Validation Error

Ready to get this sorted? Follow these steps in order. Most validation issues are resolved in the first couple of steps, so don't get overwhelmed. We'll start with the diagnosis and then move to the fix.

Step 1: Use the Official Rich Pin Validator

Your first and most important tool is Pinterest's own Rich Pin Validator. This tool is designed to tell you exactly how Pinterest sees your URL and what data it's able to find (or not find).

1. Navigate to the Rich Pin Validator.
2. Enter the URL of the webpage that's giving you the error.
3. Click "Validate."

The validator will return a verdict. If it's a success, your Rich Pins are approved and your error might be an isolated glitch. More likely, it will show an error message. Pay close attention to the details it provides. It might say something like "The `og:image` tag is missing" or "We could not find any data." This messaging is your first big clue about what you need to fix.

Step 2: Inspect Your Page's Meta Tags

Now that the validator has given you a hint, it's time to look at your site’s code to confirm the problem. You don't need to be a developer to do this! Just visit the webpage giving you an error, right-click anywhere on the page, and select "View Page Source" or "Inspect."

This will open a new tab with your website's HTML. Don't panic! You're only looking for a few specific lines of code in the `` section near the top. Press `Ctrl + F` (or `Cmd + F` on a Mac) to search for "og:".

You need to find the essentials. A healthy set of tags for a blog post looks something like this:

<,!-- Open Graph / Facebook -->,
<,meta property="og:type" content="article">,
<,meta property="og:url" content="https://yourwebsite.com/your-blog-post/">,
<,meta property="og:title" content="Your Awesome Blog Post Title">,
<,meta property="og:description" content="A compelling summary of your blog post, usually around 160 characters.">,
<,meta property="og:image" content="https://yourwebsite.com/uploads/your-pinterest-image.jpg">,
<,meta property="og:site_name" content="Your Brand Name">,

Here's what to check for:

• Are the tags there? If you can't find any `og:` tags, you've found your problem. Your site isn't generating the necessary info for Pinterest.
• Are there duplicates? Do you see two separate chunks of `og:` tags? That’s a sign of a plugin conflict. One is often overriding the other or sending mixed signals to Pinterest.
• Is the information correct? Look at each tag. Is the 'content' for `og:title` actually your post title? Is the `og:image` URL a direct link to the image you want shared on Pinterest? (Tip: Copy and paste the image URL into a new browser tab. If the image doesn't appear, the link is broken).

Step 3: Fix Common Meta Tag Issues

Once you've identified the problem from Step 2, you can move on to fixing it. Here are the most common corrections you'll need to make.

Correcting Your og:image

The `og:image` tag is the most frequent source of errors. Pinterest has specific requirements for images it pulls.

• Aspect Ratio: Pinterest strongly prefers vertical images. A 2:3 aspect ratio is ideal (e.g., 1000 x 1500 pixels). Square (1:1) or horizontal images may work but can lead to funky formatting or a lower-priority display.
• File Size: Keep your image files under 20 MB.
• URL Type: The image link must be a direct path to the image file (ending in `.jpg`, `.png`, or `.gif`), not a link to an attachment page or a script.

Checking Other Key OG Tags

• `og:type`: For a standard blog post, this should be set to `article`. For a product page, it should be `product`. For the homepage, `website` is appropriate.
• `og:title`: This should be your clear, compelling page title. Make sure it isn't empty or filled with random code.
• `og:description`: This provides the description text for your Pin. Make sure it’s well-written and accurately reflects the page content.
• `og:site_name`: This tells Pinterest the name of your overall website. It's great for branding consistency.

Step 4: Clear All Respective Caches

Even after you fix the code, Pinterest might still see the old version of your page because of caching. You need to make sure the updated version is live and visible.

1. Website Cache: If you use a caching plugin on your website (like W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket, or LiteSpeed Cache), go to its settings and find the option to "Purge All Caches" or "Clear Cache."
2. CDN Cache: If you use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloudflare, log in to your account and purge the cache from there as well. Specifically, purge the URL that you're trying to validate.
3. Pinterest's Cache: Go back to the Rich Pin Validator and enter your URL again. Even if it was showing an error just minutes ago, re-entering and hitting "Validate" forces Pinterest to fetch a fresh version of your page, effectively clearing its own cache for that link. This often solves the issue instantly.

Platform-Specific Troubleshooting Tips

How you fix your meta tags depends heavily on the platform your website is built on. Here’s a quick guide for the most popular ones.

For WordPress Users

If you're on WordPress, the meta tag problem is usually caused by an SEO plugin. The good news is that these same plugins also make it easy to fix.

Using an SEO Plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math:

• Most modern SEO plugins handle Open Graph tags for you automatically. However, you need to tell them what image to use.
• Find the Social Tab: On your post editor screen, scroll down to the Yoast SEO or Rank Math meta box. Look for a section or tab named "Social."
• Set the Pinterest/Facebook Image: Inside the social tab, you will find an option to upload a specific image for Facebook and Pinterest. Always upload a properly sized vertical image (1000 x 1500 pixels) here. This directly sets the `og:image` tag just for social platforms, without changing the images inside your actual blog post.
• Fill in the Social Title &, Description: You can also set a custom `og:title` and `og:description` here if you want your pin text to be different from your page title and meta description.

Troubleshooting Plugin Conflicts:

• If you have Yoast SEO, a social sharing plugin (like Social Warfare or AddtoAny), and your theme is also trying to add `og:` tags, you’ll run into trouble.
• To solve this, decide which plugin you want to control your meta tags - this should almost always be your primary SEO plugin (Yoast/Rank Math). Then, go into the settings of your other social or theme plugins and find an option to disable their Open Graph meta tag output. This eliminates duplicates and cleans up your site’s code.

For Shopify Users

Shopify automatically generates most of the crucial meta tags for you based on your product and page details. The `og:title` will be your product title, and the `og:description` will be your product description.

The `og:image` tag, however, defaults to your *featured product image*. If your featured image is square or horizontal, it may cause validation issues or lead to poorly optimized Pins. To fix this:

• Set a Pinterest-Optimized Featured Image: The simplest fix is to make sure the primary (first) image for your products is a vertical, 2:3 aspect ratio image. This works beautifully for Pinterest, but may not be ideal for the look of your store collections pages.
• Edit Your Theme Code (Advanced): For a more robust solution, you can specify a meta alternate-image URL field inside a custom page template (`product.liquid`). This requires some comfort with editing Liquid code, but it gives you total control over what image Pinterest sees without compromising your on-site presentation. This modification typically involves adding logic to your theme's `meta-tags.liquid` or `social-meta-tags.liquid` snippet to check for a specially tagged "Pinterest image" and use that for the `og:image` tag if one exists. If you’re not comfortable with this, consider hiring a Shopify expert for this small but valuable change.

Final Thoughts

Fixing Pinterest validation errors comes down to methodical troubleshooting. By using the official validator to diagnose the problem and then inspecting your Open Graph meta tags to make corrections - especially the `og:image` tag - you can solve the issue almost every time. Check for plugin conflicts, clear your caches, and you'll be on your way to creating stunning, effective Rich Pins.

Working through these technical hiccups is part of building a solid social media presence, but it’s time taken away from content creation and strategy. This is exactly why we built Postbase with a rock-solid, reliable scheduler that handles today's content formats - like video Pins - without the headaches. Once your website is validating perfectly, our clean visual calendar helps you plan, schedule, and publish your content across all your platforms, so you can focus on growing your brand instead of debugging code.