5 Reasons to Block Images from Being Pinned with the NoPin Code

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Last updated: May 26, 2021

The best way to get the most out of Pinterest is by creating visually appealing images that your readers would like to pin.

But while it may sound counter-intuitive, there are situations where you don’t want your readers to pin certain images from your site.

The good news is that this can be easily achieved by using the so-called Pinterest nopin tag for images.

Before I dive into the reasons why you would want to block images from being pinned, let me first explain how to implement the nopin code.

The NoPin code can be applied to single images as well as to a whole page or even site-wide. Let me run you trough it.

1. For a Single Image

To block a specific image from being pinned, check out this piece of HTML code:

<img src="imagename.jpg" nopin="nopin" />

It is that simple. All you need to do is add the nopin tag to the image definition!

2. For a Whole Page or Site-Wide

If you don’t want any images on a given page to be pinned, you can use a similar piece of code that will apply to a whole page:

<meta name="pinterest" content="nopin" />

You can even add a custom message that will pop up when someone tries to pin an image by including the description tag:

<meta name="pinterest" content="nopin" description="message" />

You can use the same code if you don’t want anyone to pin anything from your whole website. Simply insert the code in your website such that it appears on all pages. Your WordPress theme should be able to accommodate site-wide custom scripts.

So why would anyone want to block their images from being pinned? The more pin options, the more potential traffic, right?

Well, not really. Here are 5 valid reasons why you would want certain images blocked from pinning:

1. Makes Choosing an Image Easier for Your Website Visitors

Let’s say you have a blog post with 20 images. A reader scrolls through your post and really likes it. This reader likes it so much that he or she would like to share it on Pinterest.

If this reader is using the Tailwind Publisher browser plugin, or the Pinterest browser button, they will see 20 images to pin. And because there are so many options to choose from, they most likely pick one that is not fully optimized for Pinterest.

Or worse, they won’t pin at all, because they can’t quickly find a good pinnable image in that large collection of images.

This is why you should make it easy for your website visitors to pin images. And one effective way is to use the NoPin code. The less options, the better.

2. Protects Your Brand

Using the NoPin tag also protects the brand of your blog.

Imagine someone pinning a very random image from your site. This random image most likely won’t have your branding or URL printed on it. This image may also be of somewhat mediocre quality.

As a professional blogger, you really don’t want to see these random images being shared on Pinterest. You want quality, Pinterest-optimized images to be pinned. Images that represent your brand and your blog in a positive way.

And also, the better the images, the more they will be re-pinned.

3. Pushes Your Pinterest Optimized Images

If your blog heavily relies on Pinterest traffic, then you know that you should create visually appealing, vertical images. These are the types of images that you want your readers to pin.

By excluding all the other images with the NoPin tag, you kind of push your readers towards pinning the Pinterest optimized images.

If you spend a decent amount of time creating beautiful Pinterest images, you want your readers to pin those and not the random ones!

4. Protects Affiliate Product Images

Your blog posts will often contain images that aren’t yours, or are embedded from a third-party affiliate network.

For example, you really wouldn’t want anyone to pin Amazon images from your site. These product images aren’t yours and shouldn’t be shared into the social media world.

So by using the NoPin code for these types of images, you block them from being pinned on Pinterest, and that’s a good thing.

5. Pushes the Right Description and Keywords

Your Pinterest optimized images will typically have the correct description and keywords embedded. This is important, because Pinterest essentially is a search engine.

All the other images in your blog post won’t have these optimized descriptions and keywords, so they are less likely to pop up in Pinterest users’ feeds when they search for certain things.