Pinterest rolled out a new feature that includes verification. Users can verify the website of the person or website they are pinning from, which is great for bloggers. This is similar to Twitter’s verification where a check mark is shown, but is not reserved just for certain people.
Why would I want to be verified on Pinterest?
Verification on Pinterest helps show the website and confirm your website or blog is legitimate. One of the reasons why this is important is that anyone could set up a profile and simply put in any type of website they wanted. Verification shows authority.
How do I know someone is verified on Pinterest?
Verification on Pinterest is easy to spot. Before verification a small symbol indicating the website was there and you have to hover over it or click on it to see the address. Now, if someone is verified there is a red check mark with the website name listed clearly. There is no guess work.
There is one drawback to verification.
Verification on Pinterest for bloggers requires that you are self-hosted. If your blog is on wordpress.com or on Blogger then this will not work for you.
If you have been hearing repeatedly to be self-hosted on your on blog, then this might be the time to switch. Would I switch just for this? No. But if you had already been thinking about self-hosting, then this might just be the one that helps make that final decision, especially if a lot of your traffic comes from Pinterest.
How do I get verified?
Pinterest just started rolling this feature out on Thursday and currently a small section of users which are Top Level Domains, according to the Pinterest blog, are already using this.
Both of my sites were verified yesterday so I believe everyone should have this feature available soon.
Log into Pinterest and look at your settings. Once you receive the notification there are three steps to verification.
- Download a specific .html file.
- Upload the .html file to your web serve.
- Click back and Pinterest searches for the information. If you did the first two steps correctly you are verified.
Are you on Pinterest?
If you are on Pinterest, leave your link below. I would love to check out your pins. You can follow me on Pinterest as Wendy Wright or for my other site as Arizona Moms Network.
Ready to make the switch and be self-hosted? May I suggest BlueHost.
UPDATE: I completely took care of the verification for someone who only had 5 followers so I am not sure what the standards were when deciding which sites to allow verification.
This post contains affiliate links.
2 comments
Barbie
October 27, 2012 at 10:59 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
With regard to step 2, where exactly do I put the file? I am pretty html dumb! ha ha!
Barbie recently posted..Fresh Brewed Sundays: {The Heavens Declare}
Wendy Wright
October 28, 2012 at 2:17 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Barbie, you are amazing. You have to upload it to your root file. This post by Pinterest, explains it fairly well. I am hosted through Blue Host. The steps for me are: Go to File Manager. Select Web Root, which should be your public_html file. Clicked upload and it was done. For my other sites that are add on domains I had to select which folder they were in. For example, for Arizona Moms Network I had to open the file folder that said Arizona Moms Network and then upload the file. I hope this makes sense. If not, just let me know. Your webhost should be able to help point you in the right direction. At least mine does if I need anything.