How to Claim WordPress Sites on Pinterest for Free

If you have a WordPress site, you might want to claim it as your own on sites like Pinterest. Claiming the site helps you get credit for it. Also, it can help you track your analytics if you have a Pinterest business account.

However, most of the guides make it sound more complicated than it is. I’ve seen a few myths:

1. You need Yoast SEO on your WordPress site. (I love Yoast, but the privilege of installing plugins is not free.)
2. You need a business account on Pinterest.

These are both nice things to have, but you don’t need them. I know this because I have neither.

This tutorial is from December 2020. If the sites change their setup after that, there may be minor differences.

A lovely blog post from Rachael Hope helped me put this together.

On Pinterest

First, go to your settings in Pinterest. (Click the carat next to your icon in the top right, open the menu, and click “Settings.”)

Next, look at the side menu on the left. Go to “Claim.” Click the “Websites” button.

Now, a pop-up window will appear with the words “Choose how you want to claim.” It has 3 options. We’re going to use the first option, “Add HTML tag.” Does the code scare you? Don’t worry. Just copy the code.

Next, you’ll need to visit your WordPress site.

On WordPress

First, get to your dashboard. You can do that by adding /wp-admin/ to the end of your URL. You can also do this by visiting your site and scrolling down to “WP Admin” at the bottom of your side menu.

The steps are different for a free site vs. a paid site.

Verifying Your Free Site

Check out the dark-colored menu on the left side of the screen. Near the bottom, you’ll see a wrench icon with the word “Tools.” Click it.

Next, scroll down to the “Website Verification Services” area at the bottom. Look for the box labeled “Pinterest Site Verification.”

Paste the HTML code in the box and click “Save Changes.” It might reformat the HTML and turn it into just a string of letters and numbers. That’s okay. (Mine looks like that too.) Next, you’ll need to go back to Pinterest.

Verifying Your Paid Site

You can go to Tools > Available Tools just like in the free site, but that won’t work. Instead, you’ll get a message under “Website Verification Services” to tell you to use Jetpack Settings.

(If you didn’t set up Jetpack yet, then go do that right now! It’s good for your site, anyway.)

You can click the link in “Tools” or go there via the menu. Go to Jetpack > Settings. On the top menu, hit the last option, “Traffic.” Scroll down to the bottom with the “Site verification” zone.

Paste in your HTML code and hit the “Save” button.

Finishing the Pinterest Claim

Do you still have that “Choose how you want to claim” widget open on Pinterest? Click the red “Continue” button.

Next, it’ll ask you to paste in your site’s URL. Visit your site, copy the URL, and paste it in. Then click the “Verify” button.

Next, Pinterest will check your site, looking for the HTML tag. Once it finds it, it’ll say that it’s connected.

Now you’ve claimed the site as your own!

Messing with HTML code might be scary for people who aren’t used to it. But don’t worry: just follow the steps and you can do it. It doesn’t have to be hard to claim a WordPress site on Pinterest. Now enjoy your Pinterest connection!