If you are wondering how to add Rich Pins to your Pinterest account, look no further as in this lesson, I will explain how to set up and add rich pins in no time at all!

How to add Rich Pins on Pinterest

Why Are Rich Pins Important?

Making sure you have Rich Pins enabled is both free and easy and something that you should ensure you do if you use Pinterest! 

Having Rich Pins set up means that your website name and the description from the page the Pin is from, also gets included with Rich Pins.

This means that extra information is included on the Pin and this can help you to drive more traffic to your site.

In other words, it helps to get other Pinterest users to know more about the Pin and it incites greater click-through traffic to your site. Take a look at our Pinterest blog board to see some examples.

Pinterest Rich Pins example
Rich Pins example

Adding Rich Pins on WordPress

If your website uses WordPress, then getting rich pins set up is extremely easy and, within a few minutes, we can have you all set up! 🙂

So fasten your seatbelt and let’s get this done for you!

Having Rich Pins enabled means that you have a better chance to stand out from the crowd and from our experience on other sites we have helped to develop, rich pins really make a difference!

Step 1: Install the Yoast SEO Plugin (Free)

If you are not already using the Yoast plugin, you should be! It is an excellent tool that you can use for FREE (get Yoast plugin here).

You only need the FREE version. This plug-in is extremely useful for helping you to easily set up rich pins.

Step 2: Enable Open Graph Meta Data

Next, you need to go to the plug-in on your WordPress dashboard. Then click “Social”, then the “Facebook” tab, and finally, select “Add Open Graph metadata” to “enabled”

Setting Open Graph on WordPress to enable rich pins on Pinterest

Note: If you are using an old version of Yoast or, for whatever reason, and cannot see the “Add Open Graph metadata” button on the “Facebook” tab in the “Social” media section of Yoast.

Then go instead to the “Features” tab in Yoast and ensure that you have the “Advanced settings pages” set to “Enabled”.

Note: Just to be clear, you do NOT need an Open Graph ID as it asks for on the above screen. You ONLY need to click the ‘Enabled‘ button so that it turns purple for the ‘Add Open Graph Meta Data‘ option.

Step 3: Rich Pins Validator

Final step – almost there! – Now go to the Pinterest Rich Pin Validator and simply enter the URL for ANY page on your website in the box (it does not matter which) and then click the “Validate” button.

How to validate Rich Pins

Once it says “Your Pin’s been validated!” click on “Apply”. That’s it. All done!

Just wait and within days you will find that your pins on your Pinterest account automatically begin to show extra information on them, such as the pin description and website URL.

Adding Rich Pins to Shopify

The process is even easier if you are a Shopify user. Provided you have a Pinterest Business Account set up and provided you link the Pinterest up in your Shopify account, any images you pin (or are pinned) from your Shopify store, will automatically be rich pins.

In the past, it was necessary to add special meta tags to your Shopify store (something many Shopify owners were not technically sure how to do). Now though it is extremely easy with the Shopify and Pinterest partnership.

Step 1: Adding a Sales Channel

  • Go to your Shopify dashboard and next to “Sales Channels” click the plus button (see image below)
  • Then scroll bar the sales channels until you see a Pinterest option. Click “add” next to the Pinterest listing.
Validating Shopify to add Rich Pins
  • You will now be asked to connect your Pinterest Business account with Shopify. Do NOT stress if you only have a personal Pinterest account, because you can easily change a personal Pinterest account to a business one.
  • Once you have a Business Pinterest account, click the “Connect to Pinterest” button (see image below) and
How to add rich pins to Shopify
  • If you are already logged into Pinterest in the same browser window (a browser meaning Firefox, Google Chrome etc), then your Pinterest ID will show on screen as you click “Connect to Pinterest” and you need to click to “Authorise App”.
  • Otherwise, it will guide you to log into your Pinterest account and you can then authorize the app.
  • In order to authorize the app you will have to accept the terms and then, hey presto you are done. Your Shopify and Pinterest will be linked. You might need to allow up to 48 hours for the accounts to be correctly linked, but you are done!

How to Add Rich Pins to Wix

In Wix, there is no way you can set up Rich Pins at present. I will update this page if this changes.

If you are serious about building your online business, I would recommend considering moving towards paid hosting so that you have more flexibility for developing your site (it is worth reading my recent post on the How to Avoid these 10 Beginner Blogging Mistakes we Made When we First Started).

If you are really on a tight budget though I completely understand the desire to use free hosting. We started off this year.

Paid hosting though can be only £6 a month (or about USD$10) and you will have much more flexibility if you install WordPress and can manage things such as Rich Pins much more easily.

Join Promarketingonline.com on Pinterest

Adding Rich Pins to Squarespace

If you are using Squarespace, follow this link to Squarespace support where the latest guide on setting up Rich Pins on that platform is explained.

Final Thoughts and Resources

Pinterest updates things from time to time and how to set rich Pins can change. I update this page regularly though and they worked the last time I updated this page.

If you still have an issue enabling rich pins though, I want to help you so, please do one of the following:

  • Add a comment below and I will try and help
  • Email me
  • Or check these extra resources

Shopify and rich pins – from the Shopify site

Paul & Valeria