The Blogging Brew

Rich Pins are popping up everywhere on Pinterest, and it’s slowly becoming the norm for bloggers to have them. They’re pins that include extra information—your website name and favicon—so pinners know exactly who they’re repinning from (aka you!). Whether you know it or not, you’ve probably seen them, and you can check out an example on my blog’s board. I got approved about a month ago and since then, my profile views and average monthly viewers have more than doubled! Setting up Rich Pins is extremely beneficial to your blog, and it only takes a few minutes to do!

Setting Up Rich Pins On Blogger

1. Adding Rich Pins on Blogger requires a bit of code, but nothing too complicated! First, go to Settings > Search Preferences > Meta Tags and edit the Description section to be “enabled”. Here you can add a short description of your blog, and when you go to edit your posts, you’ll see a new box in the options sidebar allowing you to enter a search description. This is a great place to write a brief summary of your post, although you can leave it blank and the first few lines of your content will show up instead.

2. Now go to Template > Edit HTML > and search for

<b:includable id='post' var='post'>

Underneath that, paste the following:

<meta expr:content='data:post.title' property='og:title'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.metaDescription' property='og:description'/>
<meta content='article' property='og:type'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.url' property='og:url'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.title' property='og:site_name'/>
<meta expr:content='data:post.timestampISO8601' property='article:published_time'/>
<meta content='YOUR BLOG'S TOPIC' property='article:section'/>
<b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'>
<meta expr:content='data:label.name' property='article:tag'/>
</b:loop>

Replace “YOUR BLOG’S TOPIC” with a word that sums up the content of your blog. For example, if you run a lifestyle blog, use “Lifestyle”.

3. Now that your code is all set up, head over to the Rich Pins Validator and enter a link for your most recent blog post. Click Validate, and once all of your information is correct, click Apply. If you have any issues with the installation, go back and check to ensure you placed the code in the right place.

4. That’s it! It can take as little as a few days or up to a month to be accepted—it took me about a week. Pinterest will email you and set everything up from there!

Setting Up Rich Pins For WordPress

1. Thanks to the beauty of plugins, setting up rich pins on WordPress is super simple! First, go install the Yoast SEO Plugin. It’s a search engine optimization plugin that can help your blog’s search engine rankings, and even if you don’t use rich pins, I recommend installing it! After you activate the plugin, go to SEO > Social > Facebook and make sure the “Add Open Graph meta data” box is checked.

2. Head over to the Rich Pins Validator and enter a link to one of your blog posts. Then click “Validate”.

3. Make sure all of your information is correct and apply. That’s it! It could take as little as a few days or up to a month for Pinterest to email you, so be ready to wait.

While you’re waiting to be accepted, consider upping your Pinterest game by joining a group board and gaining more blog exposure!