How to Correctly Credit on Pinterest

A few months ago, I wrote a post about why baking brownies in a cookie cutter wouldn’t work. In the post, I mentioned a picture that had fudge setting in cookie cutters…but pinners were calling them brownies (read the brownie blog post for specifics). When I clicked on the pin to see for sure, it took me to a generic image-stealing site with no description.

Before I go on, let me explain: I realize the majority of us are pinning from mobile devices most of the time. I do it, as well. I generally use Pinterest when I’m waiting at the doctor’s office or on a long car trip or something. Obviously, I’m not checking the sources when pinning because there’s really no way for me to do it. I’m sure it’s the same for many of you.

I also understand that it’s irritating going through all of the thousands of pins you see and making sure they’re sourced correctly. I’m not saying you need to do that.

But we’ve all gone through Pinterest when looking for a new project or recipe. I do it all the time. When I need ideas for dinner, I go to my Pinterest boards and pull one out.

So many times, it’s not the right source. It takes me to one of those image-grabbing sites (which really irritates me because I’m sure they get enough traffic from Pinterest to make a ton of money. Giving money to thieves is not something I enjoy). I then have to go on an epic quest to find the original source (or simply delete the pin). Remembering that other people have already pinned it from me only adds insult to injury.

There is a way to fix it that actually isn’t so difficult, usually. So here’s how to correctly credit on Pinterest and keep your readers’ trust.

(Click on the images to view a larger size.)

Step 01: Find and click the pin. Right click on the image and go to “Copy image URL.” (Note: What you see will be different depending on what browser you’re using. But it will all mean the same thing, so click on the one that’s the closest.)

Step 02: Go to images.google.com. Click on the camera and a box should pop up that says “Search by Image.” Paste the URL of the image you just copied into the box (CTRL+V) and click “Search by Image.”

Step 03: This is the part that sucks…but only if you can’t find the original source. Scroll down to the Web Results and click on the results that sounds right (look at the URLs–if they say “pinterest” they’re not the right ones). Usually it’s one of the first 5 results. Every once in a while I have to go to the second page…but if you have to go past that, then it’s safe to assume the original source no longer exists.  Anyway, click on the links until you find one that has, not just matching pictures, but also a story and a recipe.

Step 04: Through her language and photos, I determined that Pennywise Cook was the correct source for this pin. So go to the address bar and copy the URL.

Step 05: Go back to the pin. Hover over the image and click on the pencil (if you already have the image open, just click “Edit”).

Step 06: A dialog box should open. Highlight the URL that is already in the “Source”  box and delete it. Paste the URL from the new source.

Click “Save Changes” and you’re done! Now you have a pin that is correctly sourced and you’ll never have to hunt for it again. 😀

There are a couple reasons you  should try to keep track of how your pins are sourced:

1. Principle. The reason those image-stealing sites do what they do is to get people to click and check them out. A great way to do that is by changing Pinterest sources to their website. If they get enough hits, they start making money. Essentially, they’re profiting from content they didn’t create. Which I find really frustrating. As a blogger, I would be furious if I found out that another site was making money off of content I had worked so hard on. What really angers me, though, is that sometimes…I see other bloggers doing it. They leave the picture and description, but they change the URL to one of their own pages. Getting traffic to your blog is difficult enough without someone stealing it. And, yeah, it is a big deal to most bloggers, especially food bloggers, to have their Pinterest traffic stolen. Pinterest is, and always has been, my number one source of traffic. If that were to suddenly disappear, my blog would probably die.
2. Ease. The biggest reason I use Pinterest is for new dinner ideas. I usually only check my pins when I”m trying to write up a grocery list. It’s incredibly frustrating to be in the middle of making my list and to suddenly have to stop and go source-hunting. So every once in a while when I have a little extra time on my hands, I’ll take an afternoon and go hunting for the sources so I don’t have to do it later.

I know sometimes I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle with Pinterest. The people who are redirecting the pins to their own sites are getting a lot of repins…including from myself. My hope is that I can end it with me…and that other people are doing the same.