Easily claim your WordPress website with Pinterest without using ANY code – like I just did! Guys, I just claimed my website on Pinterest, and so wanted to share the EASY way! For those of us who aren’t super techy-savvy I thought I’d create this quick how-to.

When you follow these steps, there’s no need to go into your website’s header code or php, and absolutely no uploading an html file (unless you want to of course)

That’s right,  you can use simple, free WordPress plugins to verify your website with Pinterest – without coding knowledge or uploading HTML files or manually adding code to your header. 

This is what worked for me! This easy solution I outline is for WordPress users. I have a WordPress website that’s hosted on Siteground and I have my domain through GoDaddy.

Oh, and always remember to consult directly with Pinterest if you run into any issues. This here is Pinterest’s dedicated page about claiming your website and it’s updated regularly. So always go there if something doesn’t work, or the info on my site doesn’t apply.

Prefer to watch this as a video tutorial? Check out my YouTube video below.

I can also personally vouch for Pinterest’s AMAZING help team. Whatever’s going on in the world, they’ve consistently been helpful, responsive and they really understand the issue at hand. So, don’t be shy to reach out directly. They’re there to help!

OK! So I’m going to assume you’ve set up your Pinterest account and now you’re ready to claim your website. Note: if you want to use your account for business (use Tailwind to schedule pins, see your analytics, advertise on Pinterest etc!) then you’ll need a business account.

Want to learn more about marketing your business on Pinterest? I have the complete guide for Pinterest biz beginners, linked below!

READ MORE  How to use Pinterest for business - 13 steps for beginners

Looking to get started with WordPress? I have a step-by-step guide here, especially for new business owners!

Get a Pinterest business account first then update to your desired URL!

One word of warning! Most Pinterest biz users will have a desired URL, one that matches their brand. For example, the Pinterest handle that went alongside the website I had was https://www.pinterest.com/beastlocal/ You’ll want to check that the one you want is available first.

I did make a mistake when I set up this account. When you create a Pinterest account, it starts off as a personal account. Then you have the option of ‘adding a business account’. Note the word ‘adding’, not simply converting the personal account – something we’re used to from Instagram.

So, make sure you set up the personal account > then add a business account > then change the URL of that newly-set up business account to the one you want. Otherwise, the business account will be a randomly generated username. This happened to me, and the only way of rectifying it was to contact Pinterest’s (amazing) help!

This is what I was faced with:

how to avoid setting up multiple pinterest accounts by mistake
Yikes! I had accidentally created multiple Pinterest accounts instead of upgrading the one I wanted!

I’m honestly not too sure what happened, but in the confusion I set up multiple personal accounts instead of upgrading the one account I actually wanted (with my desired URL) to business! Everyone makes mistakes and it was an easy one to fix with a little help.

When you set up your Pinterest business account correctly, you’ll know because it’ll ask you for the business name in the set-up screen below. It’ll also ask you for your website, so enter that now.

How you know if you have a business or personal account on Pinterest
When you set up your business Pinterest account, it’ll ask you for your business name and website

How do I know if my account is a business or a personal one?

It sounds super basic, but this tripped me up while setting up my Pinterest for business. I thought I had a biz account when I in fact had a personal one. That’s because a personal one lets you add a website, so I got a bit confused. Here is a screenshot showing a Pinterest account I owned when it was a personal account…

screenshot of a personal account on Pinterest
This is what a brand new personal account looks like on Pinterest in 2020

and here is the same account once it was converted into a business account just moments later, with the website now claimed:

screenshot showing a business Pinterest account and learning how it's different from a personal account
This is the same account now upgraded to business – it looks similar but with a few differences

1. On your profile page (pinterest.com/yourusername) you’ll see ‘Business’ in the top left! That’s a pretty big giveaway. 😉

screenshot from Pinterest showing an easy way to check if you have upgraded  your account from Personal to Business
The easiest way to check if your Pinterest account is a business or personal one!

2. When you go into your ‘edit profile’ section that you see from the homepage, you’ll see more confirmations you have a biz profile:

Under the 'edit profile' section of Pinterest is where you can check if you have your business account set up correctly
Edit Profile > details about your business profile.

The above screenshot shows you explicitly that you do have a biz profile! And the screenshot below allows you to change your business type, under the ‘Account settings’ tab.

Head to your Account Settings under 'profile' on pinterest to check business account, or to change business type - screenshot
Account settings > Business type is another surefire way of checking the status of your Pinterest account

It’s easy when you know how but so easy to get thrown off like I did.

Once you’ve set up your Pinterest business account

Navigate to your Pinterest page, so it’s www.pinterest.com/yourusername

Then hit ‘edit profile’ shown below:

screenshot showing how to edit profile on pinterest page
Hit ‘Edit Profile’ on your Pinterest homepage

Next, to access where you claim your domain, hit ‘Claim’ as shown in the screenshot below!

screenshot from Pinterest.com showing how to claim your website when upgrading to business account
Hit the ‘Claim’ button (I’ve already claimed mine, but you get the idea!)

Then you’ll be given some code, called the meta code. It’ll look like this:

Claiming a website on pinterest - what to do when you have add html tag or upload html file
The two options will come up – add HTML tag, or upload HTML file.

Choose ‘Add HTML tag’ and click ‘next’. This is the less tech savvy option. And don’t worry, I have the easiest way possible to do the verification.

Be sure to save your Pinterest meta tag somewhere safe

OK! With that code you’ve copied, make sure to paste this in a document or notes app. Why? Well, it’s tough to find it later and you may need it for future verification purposes on other platforms.

If one verification method fails, you change website completely, or you need to for whatever reason find your meta tag, Pinterest will not let you access this. I think it may be a bug, but this is what happens when you go to https://www.pinterest.com/website/confirm/ after you’ve claimed your website:

when you go back to pinterest to view your meta tag for verification purposes, it's empty
When you go back to get the meta tag after verification was successful, the tag is empty

Claiming your website with Pinterest via Yoast SEO plugin

Option 1

Now, you need to go into the dashboard of your WordPress website. You’ll need to add the Yoast SEO plug-in which you can download here. You may need to search ‘Yoast’ on the plug-ins directory. Note: do not download the paid version. You do not need it.

screenshot of yoast pinterest and social verification tools for wordpress sites
Use Yoast to verify your website with Pinterest’s meta tag

Once you’re on the social page, you’ll see a tab called ‘Pinterest’ and an area for you to add your ‘Pinterest confirmation’. Paste the entire HTML tag there, and Yoast will take care of the rest.

screenshot showing how I very simply verified my website for Pinterest using Yoast SEO plug in, social tab
Using the Pinterest’ tab of Yoast SEO plugin is a simple way of verifying your website for Pinterest

And that’s it! Now you’ll go back to Pinterest and confirm that you’re ready for the verification process to begin. This is usually super quick! In fact, as I can looking at the screen I received the notification that the site was now verified.

Claiming your website with Pinterest via Jetpack plugin

Option 2

This is another method that’s very similar to the Yoast one, but this one has a step that may catch some out. Let me take you through it:

First off, open Jetpack which is another WordPress plug-in that has many site performance functionalities. There is the ability to verify your site with Google, Bing, Yandex and Pinterest.

Hit ‘Jetpack’, then ‘settings’ (top right) and then within ‘settings’, hit ‘traffic’.

Scroll down to the very bottom, where it says ‘verify site ownership with third party services’. The option is switched off as a default, so you will need to allow toggle it to ‘on’.

Then you’ll see a box for you to add your Pinterest verification meta code!

Where to add your Pinterest verification meta tag to your website using Jetpack
Add the Pinterest meta tag where it says ‘Pinterest’

There is one small thing you have to be aware of, though. When you copy the code, it will not have a space before the “/> when you copy it . So be sure to add the space in, so instead of it ending ….bf37d85e”/> it should be ….bf37d85e “/> with a space before the closing tag.

When you’re done, submit it to Pinterest!

When you’re done adding the meta tag, however you go about it, let Pinterest know and it’ll send its crawlers out.

the final step of submitting your site for Pinterest verification - takes 24 hours
The final step – submitting your site.

A final note about website verification

You can make it live just for a few minutes which is usually all it takes for Pinterest to verify. Officially however, Pinterest advises it can take up to 24 hours. Or, save this page (or pin to Pinterest) so when your site is live you know what to do!

Sit back and wait for the confirmation email

For all of these verification services, your site will need to be live and public. That means it won’t work if you have a ‘coming soon’ page or maintenance page up because you’re working behind the scenes.

Feel free to step away and close the Pinterest tab at this point. They’ll just email you when their crawlers have picked up the code that is now in your website’s header thanks to Yoast. Allow 24 hours!

screenshot of email showing a successful website verification ownership with Pinterest
Email screenshot from Pinterest saying that website verification was successful! 🎉

And that’s it!

Now your website is verified with Pinterest, you can go ahead and start tracking the pins you create! You’ll be able to see how many shares, repins etc you’re getting, plus more through your Google Analytics too. The screenshot below is from the Pinterest account of my local service business and it’s performing pretty well.

With a Pinterest business account, you can now track and automate!

You can also use authorized third-party apps such as Tailwind which I’ll talk more about in the future! This was the key to my success for my above account.

Then, all you have to do is start designing your own pins! For more on that, check out my guide and video below.

READ MORE  How to create Pinterest pins for your business FREE using Canva

Pin a graphic to your Pinterest board to bookmark this blog post! Follow @zoelarkinphoto on Pinterest!

Claiming your website on Pinterest is easy even if you have no technical or coding knowledge of your WordPress website! My guide to claiming your website the pain-free way takes you through which WordPress plugins you should use to take the friction out of figuring out meta tags when you are ready to claim your website for your Pinterest business account. No coding knowledge? Don't know how to access your website's header code? No worries! Happy pinning! | zoelarkin.com
How to verify your website for Pinterest using WordPress plugins | zoelarkin.com
How to quickly and easily verify (claim) your website on Pinterest using simply WordPress plugins! This is the easiest way by far to verify your website when you sign up for a Pinterest business account. All you are using are free plug-ins so there's no uploading of files to your website's directory, simply paste in the meta tag code into the field in the plug-in. When you follow these instructions you will make the process of verifying your site with Pinterest easy and quick | zoelarkin.com
Verify your website for Pinterest business account – the non-techy way | zoelarkin.com

Zoe Larkin

I’m Zoe, a wedding photographer based in San Francisco! My style is candid, capturing authentic moments for my couples all over the Bay Area and Northern California. Creating content is my passion! Follow along the blog and Insta!

Easy way to verify website on pinterest

Claim your WordPress website on Pinterest – the easy way

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