WordPress to Pinterest: The Complete Workflow

The short answer

You do not need a plugin to get WordPress posts onto Pinterest. You need a Pinterest business account, a claimed website, markup that Pinterest can read, and pins designed for each post. Plugins and tools only save time on those steps. This page walks through the whole path and links to a free tool for each part.

The workflow from post to pins

1. Open or convert to a business account.
2. Claim your WordPress domain.
3. Add the Save button so readers can pin your images.
4. Make sure each post exposes rich Pin data.
5. Design more than one pin per post, at 2:3.
6. Publish or schedule the pins, then review Analytics.

Step 1: claim your WordPress site

Claiming proves you own the site. Pinterest says it shows how often your content is saved, and Pins saved from your site display your profile picture, link to your profile and offer a follow option. The steps in a business account are Settings, then Link to Pinterest, then Claim next to Websites.

Pinterest lists four methods:

• HTML tag. Add the tag to the head section of your site. In WordPress that usually means a header and footer plugin or your SEO plugin site verification field, since editing theme files is easy to break.
• HTML file. Upload the file to the root folder of your server. A subfolder will not work.
• DNS TXT record. Add the record at your domain host. Pinterest says changes can take up to 72 hours.
• Google Merchant Center. Available only to some accounts.

Each site can be claimed by only one Pinterest account, and Pinterest says most marketplace stores, such as Etsy, eBay and Amazon, cannot be claimed. After you claim, you can remove the tag, file or record. Claimed sites show under Settings, then Claimed accounts, where Unclaim removes the connection.

Step 2: add a Save button

The Pinterest add on builder offers three types: image hover, any image, or one image. Choose one, test it on the sample image, then paste the first snippet where you want the button and the second just before the closing body tag. Pinterest says WordPress is supported and points to WordPress own instructions for adding the code.

Pinterest says images need to be at least 110 pixels in one dimension and 200 in the other, and at least 120 by 120 pixels for the hover button to show. Large vertical images in your posts are the ones readers are most likely to save, so design them for that.

Step 3: turn on rich Pins

Rich Pins pull extra data from your page. Pinterest lists three types: Recipe, Article and Product. For a blog the Article type adds the headline, description and author. You enable them by adding Open Graph or Schema.org markup in the head of each page. Pinterest says the data syncs within about 24 hours and that listicles and image heavy pages with little text do not count as articles.

Most WordPress SEO plugins already print Open Graph tags, so check what your site outputs before adding anything. The free Rich Pin Checker helps you see what Pinterest can read. If you ever need to turn rich data off for one page, Pinterest documents a meta tag for that: pinterest-rich-pin set to false.

Step 4: make several pins per post

One post can support many pins with different titles and images. Pinterest recommends a 2:3 ratio, or 1000 by 1500 pixels, and notes that taller ratios may be cut off in feeds. Titles can be 100 characters at most. For descriptions, Pinterest pin specs say 800 characters while the bulk upload page says 500, so treat 500 as the safe limit. More on that in the bulk pin creator guide.

• Paste a post address into the URL to pin tool to start from your own title and image.
• Use the blog post to pin set tool to make a matching group of pins from one post.
• Draft wording with the title generator, then edit it into your own voice.
• Keep UTM tags tidy with the Pinterest UTM builder.
• Follow the Pinterest SEO guide so titles and descriptions match what people search.

Step 5: publish and schedule

You have three honest options. Post by hand on Pinterest. Use native scheduling. Or use a tool that connects to the Pinterest API. The Pinterest scheduler guide compares them. Whatever you choose, space pins out over days rather than posting them all at once.

If you use the dashboard from Quick Pin Maker, you connect your Pinterest account with Pinterest login, then publish now or schedule, with a calendar and a queue. Scheduling is included in every plan. The Free plan allows 30 pins a month, Starter 200, Pro 600 and Business 2,000.

Scheduling and API limits

Pinterest does not say how its native 30 day and 10 Pin limits apply to bulk upload or to third party tools, so test on your own account before you promise yourself a month of automation.

WordPress plugins: coming soon

We are building two WordPress plugins. The free QuickPinMaker WordPress plugin is designed to add Save buttons, rich pin tags and domain verification. A WooCommerce version covers products. The Affiliate Links plugin is described on the WordPress plugins overview. None of them is released yet. Join the waitlist and we will email you once when the plugin is ready.