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  • Kristie Hill

How to Hide Pinterest Images in Your Blog Posts

August 26, 2020

If you want traffic from Pinterest, it is essential to create a Pinterest perfect image for every post you write. I’ve already taught you about the size your graphics should be and how relevant images help you on Pinterest. Today I want to help those of you that don’t necessarily want those big vertical images in your blog posts.

Lately, I’ve been adding a landscape or square image into my posts, but when people click the pin it button or the hover button, Pinterest will pop up the Pinterest perfect image I’ve created for the post.

Test it out with the image below. Click your browser pin it button or the hover button on the image below and see what pops up. (While you have it open, you might as well pin this post to your Pinterest tips board, wink. wink.)

Computer with pinterest feed.

If you’d like to do this in your blog posts, here’s how.

You’ll need to include an image in your blog posts for this to work, but it can be any size: a smaller version of the full-size pin you want Pinners to save, a horizontal image, or even an image CTA.

To start, I add the image I want to show up in the post. In order to hide an image for Pinterest, it has to be attached to an image in the post that you do want to show up.

<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6600" src="https://kristiehill.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/hide-a-pin.png" alt="Computer with pinterest feed." width="800" height="600" />

Then, I add this Pinterest code into that image code. I keep this code in a sticky note on my desktop for easy reference.
data-pin-url=" "
data-pin-media=" "
data-pin-description=" "

data-pin-url= this is the URL you want people to visit when they click your pin
data-pin-media= this is the image you want Pinners to save, but not show up in your post
data-pin-description= This is the description you want Pinners to include with your pin

The final product for my image looks something like this:

<img src="https://kristiehill.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/hide-a-pin.png" alt="Computer with pinterest feed."
data-pin-url="https://kristiehill.com/how-to-hide-pins"
data-pin-media="https://kristiehill.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/how-to-hide-a-pin.png"
data-pin-description="Hide pinnable images in your blog posts without ruining the flow and branding of your posts" />

If you’re in a time crunch, you can get away with only adding in the data-pin-media to let Pinterest know which image to use. Your readers will just have to fill in the comment description on their own.

No Image? No problem!

Save this image below and upload it to your posts to hide your Pinterest images.

It will work as a call to action and hide the Pin at the same time!

Can you hide Pins and still be on Google’s nice list?

“He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice. He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice. Google’s always checking your site”(cheesy, yes. true, yes)

Hiding Pins has become a popular practice amongst Pinterest users. The problem is that most people are using a technique that Google has a tendency to frown on. <display: none>

To be 100% honest, for most blogs I don’t think hiding pins using the display: none method will cause Google to ding them. However, if you are keywords stuffing your pins alt tags, it could be a red flag for Google. (keyword stuffing alt descriptions: home decor | decorating | diy | home diy | decor and on and on and on)

Better safe than sorry?

If you want to stay on Google’s nice list and “hide” an image for Pinterest, use the Pinterest code instead.

When you hide pin images using the display none method, Google might think you’re trying to manipulate the system by hiding content. This is especially true for all you bloggers who are using really heavy keywords in your Pinterest descriptions.

By adding Pinterest data to hide your images Pinterest and Google will be happy with you. You’re not actually hiding any images, you’re just telling Pinterest what image to use. Plus, your readers will be able to save pinnable images to your blog post > resulting in more traffic to your site.

Happy pinning, friends!

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Filed Under: pinterest, Popular Posts, Social Media Conversation: 67 Comments

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Comments

  1. tartanfishnandchips says

    February 9, 2021 at 9:09 pm

    Thank you for the great post

    Reply
  2. grill guru says

    December 23, 2020 at 12:51 am

    really very useful information given by you. the article is nicely explained and easy to understand. thanks for sharing this post with us. keep your good work.

    Reply
  3. Roy K Carroll says

    November 18, 2020 at 6:43 am

    I didn’t even know google frowned upon the display

    Reply
  4. Paradise Squad says

    November 4, 2020 at 1:28 am

    It is one of the best articles on pins hiding

    Reply
  5. Ravinder Nanka says

    October 23, 2020 at 9:27 am

    Leaving the topic aside for a a moment, I want to appreciate your efforts that you are replying to each and every comment on your blogs. That shows how much you are into this blog writing thing and I am loving it.

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      November 11, 2020 at 11:59 pm

      Thank you! That’s very kind of you to say.

      Reply
  6. Easin Miazi says

    September 28, 2020 at 4:53 am

    Thanks for this great info! If you have time could you write about how to put a pin in a post but make it display smaller? I find 735 x 1102 pins too big to look nice in my blog posts. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      September 30, 2020 at 9:26 pm

      Follow the steps in this tutorial and you’ll be able to do this! Add a smaller image and attach the larger one with the instructions above.

      Reply
  7. Kimberly says

    September 4, 2020 at 8:43 am

    Hi, Kristie,

    Quick questin: how many images can you hide with one image thay you do show in the post? Thanks in advance.

    ~Kimberly

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      September 8, 2020 at 10:37 pm

      That’s a good question. To be honest, I haven’t attaching more than one image onto a visible image. I’ll have to experiment and get back to you!

      Reply
  8. Carla Aston says

    June 23, 2019 at 3:19 am

    Thanks for the great info. I basically don’t mind any of my images being pinned in a post, I’m a home decor and design blogger, but I did not want my sidebar images pinned, and was having trouble with people pinning all of those too. So, we’ve entered code to hide all sidebar images in the sidebar code. Is that bad for google? I have Squarespace.

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      June 24, 2019 at 8:14 am

      Hi. disabling from pinning is different from hiding pins. You are totally fine disabling Pins. Google doesn’t care. 🙂

      Reply
      • Carla Aston says

        June 29, 2019 at 9:03 am

        Oh, thank you so much! 🙂 I really appreciate the response.

        Reply
  9. Arfa Nazeer says

    May 1, 2019 at 6:38 am

    Hi Kristie,

    I really found this way helpful for hiding my pins. I didn’t hide any pins in past as I was unsure of upsetting Google 😉 I think, I’m going to use this code from now.

    Thanks so much for the post.

    Arfa

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      May 14, 2019 at 1:22 pm

      Glad this helps you!

      Reply
  10. Megan says

    April 17, 2019 at 4:07 pm

    I am using the free version of wordpress, and it keeps deleting these codes, or if not deleting them, adding a bunch of “” around every word!! Any idea what I can do?

    Reply
  11. Anu Ganesh | Simple Blissful Life says

    April 17, 2019 at 3:33 pm

    Came from the FB link that you had posted. This article is so useful! thank you very much.

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      May 14, 2019 at 1:23 pm

      You’re welcome! Glad it helped you.

      Reply
  12. Sparky says

    January 24, 2019 at 11:57 pm

    Thank you so, SO much! I have been struggling with this for DAYS!
    For some reason the “div hide” code hasn’t worked on my site and I have been trying everything to get my pins hidden. This did the trick!

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      January 25, 2019 at 9:44 am

      Yay! I’m glad this helped you hide your Pinterest images. 🙂

      Reply
  13. Angie says

    October 15, 2018 at 8:42 pm

    Hi, I am not sure what I am doing wrong. When I go to the website, I am seeing all of the code that I put in (above) and I am not seeing the correct image to pin, when hovering over the pin logo. Did I miss something? Please help! Thank you!

    Reply
  14. Al McHaffie says

    July 11, 2018 at 2:02 am

    Hi, great post and easy to follow, but of course some questions:

    1. I have a post with many images, is there a way I can give my pin image preference in the list when someone tries to pin it, it is usually near the bottom, no matter where i put the image)?
    2. All my internal pinning buttons (such as SEO) point at the featured image or just random images, is this only resolvable through a plugin?
    3. When someone pinning types in the url, they get quite an odd list of images from my entire blog, somewhere in the mix is the image I have selected, is this normal?

    Cheers, Al

    Reply
  15. Joanna says

    July 3, 2018 at 11:34 am

    Hey Kristie! I love this tip! Do you happen to know how to do this in Squarespace? I have a client who uses Squarespace and I can only find an example of the “display none” trick. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      July 5, 2018 at 11:26 am

      Hi Joanna. I’m not super familiar with Squarespace but if they have the option to switch to HTML mode for the display none, than it should function the same. They just need to switch over to see the image HTML and make adjustments there.

      Reply
  16. Shaylee says

    March 20, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    Hello Kristie!

    Just reading this article as I have read numerous other articles on this subject. I would like to “hide” images on my blog post for Pinterest, but what you are saying is that bloggers shouldn’t do this because Google can penalize the blog? Rather your article goes over how to pin another image within an image that is on a blog post, so you can’t pin the image they are clicking on, but they can pin the image that you are “hiding” only, correct?

    What I would like to do is hide some images on certain blog posts, but every other thing I have tried is not working; either is won’t hide the images at all or it will hide the images, but the images won’t show up as an option to Pin when I click on the Pin It button. I have spent almost three days trying to figure it out, and I am about ready to just move on and forget it. Not sure if you have any experience with these issues?

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      April 27, 2018 at 6:26 am

      Oh no! I’m sorry you’ve been having a hard time hiding pins.

      A few questions for you: why do you want to hide them?

      What method have you been using?

      Reply
  17. Pericles Rosa says

    March 1, 2018 at 11:23 am

    Hi Kristie. Thx for that!!
    I’ve been using the hide code, which is very simple, but it just stooped working. I don’t know why.
    To help me, someone sent me this post, but I don’t have any idea how to work with codes.
    Where is the image code please?

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      March 12, 2018 at 6:10 am

      Are you blogging on WordPres? If so, switch to the text editor and then find the code. you will paste the code for the hidden pin inside an existing image that you have inserted into a post.

      Reply
      • Pericles Rosa says

        March 29, 2018 at 3:22 am

        Thank you!!
        Let me try now 😉

        Reply
        • Pericles Rosa says

          March 29, 2018 at 3:51 am

          A lot of work…
          Is the image still showing on my post? Mine is still showing though…
          How bad is to use the hide pin code btw?
          Thx!

          Reply
  18. Lucy says

    January 28, 2018 at 4:27 am

    Thank you so much for sharing this. So very helpful and works beautifully!

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      February 2, 2018 at 6:10 am

      Glad it works for you Lucy!

      Reply
  19. Aileen says

    October 6, 2017 at 7:35 pm

    Hi!
    Does this tutorial work on blogger website? Or only on wordpress.
    Thanks Kristie

    http://www.knottylaces.com

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      March 12, 2018 at 6:24 am

      It works on any blogging platform that allows you to edit the code. Yes, it will work on blogger.

      Reply
  20. Erin MacMichael says

    August 13, 2017 at 9:58 pm

    Hi Kristie. Is there a way to use this code with a post which only has a featured image? I’m not sure where I would attach the code of the long image I want to hide since there doesn’t seem to be a way to add to the code of the featured image.
    Thanks,
    Erin

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      August 14, 2017 at 7:10 am

      There is not a way to use this method if there is not an image inside the post. You would have to use the method or a plugin like Social Warfare.

      Reply
  21. Brian Elliott says

    August 13, 2017 at 6:47 pm

    Thanks for this detailed way to hide pins. It took me some time to get the first one done, but this is the way I intend to do it from now on. Thanks, Kristie. By the way, your data pin url goes to a 404 page.

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      August 14, 2017 at 7:55 am

      Hi, Brain. I’m glad that you got it to work!

      Reply
  22. Kim says

    August 7, 2017 at 2:51 pm

    I tried this and my image isn’t showing up still, just the one that is visible on the blog. Not sure what I am doing wrong…

    Reply
    • Kim - Adventuring Beyond says

      August 7, 2017 at 3:07 pm

      Nevermind, I think I figured it out. I had copied and pasted and one of the quote marks was wrong.

      Reply
      • Kristie Hill says

        August 10, 2017 at 7:06 am

        You are not the first to have problems with the quote marks. I’ll see if I can fix it on my end. Thanks for trying the tutorial, Kim!

        Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      August 14, 2017 at 7:56 am

      Which post did you try it on? I’ll go take a look!

      Reply
  23. Yasmin says

    July 8, 2017 at 8:37 pm

    I tried this, but it didn’t work for me. I must be doing something wrong. I uploaded my pins to my media library that I wanted to change the original images to. I changed the code to your specifications for the first and last image. But the original image keeps showing up to Pin. The new pin images are nowhere to be found in the post. Is there any way you could advise me?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      July 11, 2017 at 2:02 pm

      I’d be happy to help you out. Can you shoot me an email with the exact code you tried? (copy/paste).

      Reply
  24. primcousa says

    June 14, 2017 at 2:55 am

    If I have 10 images in my single post, should I make 10 long hidden images for pinterest too?

    are vertical image didn’t make good impression if I didn’t hide them on my blog post?

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      June 22, 2017 at 7:12 am

      No, not necessarily. I think the better option would be to upload them (if you have the copyright for them) directly to Pinterest with the share URL. Just make sure every post has at least one vertical image.

      Reply
  25. Joe says

    March 21, 2017 at 8:25 am

    I’m still confused.
    Would I first have to create a Pin,
    pin it to a board w/ a description & link back to the post,
    then somehow assign this in those Pinterest codes so that if someone pins the image that appears more congruent with the look & feel of my post — is really pinning the Pin I created above to whatever board of their own they pin it to?

    Is that right?

    Can data-pin-media= be a Pin URL?

    Is there a WP plugin to set this all up?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      March 27, 2017 at 6:36 am

      It can be a pin for Pin URL, but that would make it a repin and not organic pin from your site.

      The tutorial mentioned in this post is for organic pins and you do not need to create a pin first. This is just telling Pinterest which image to use when users click the pin it button from their browsers or phone.

      Reply
      • Joe says

        April 8, 2017 at 4:45 pm

        Thank you!

        Reply
  26. Susan Velez says

    March 21, 2017 at 6:03 am

    Hi Kristie,

    Thanks for this writeup, I’ve actually just started using Pinterest for about 2 months and learning the ins and outs of using it to help me grow my traffic.

    I use Social Warfare for my Pinterest images so it makes it easy to control which images I want people to share. Quick question though, how many images do you create for each blog post?

    I really enjoyed reading this blog post and I am sure that it’s going to help a lot of bloggers improve their Pinterest techniques. Not to mention avoid getting in trouble by Google.

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      March 27, 2017 at 6:39 am

      Social Warefare is a great plugin option. They are adding a lot of great Pinterest features soon too.

      The number of pictures I create for a post is different for each post, and will certainly vary by niche. No magic number.

      thanks for stopping by, good luck growing your traffic!

      Reply
  27. Chris says

    March 19, 2017 at 9:10 am

    Thanks for this super blog post! I kind of got it to work; but for me on my website – the image sharing plugins don’t pick up the ‘Pinnable Image’ but instead only shows up the featured image that is in the post – shame and a little annoying.

    It seems to only be affected when using image sharing plugins where you hover on an icon which overlays the image. If there was any consistency i could look for a reason why this is happening.

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      March 20, 2017 at 7:39 am

      Hi Chris, which image sharing plugins are you using? Can you give me a link to your blog so I can check it out?

      Mine works when I hover over the horizontal image and use the hover button. It also works when someone uses the browser Pin it or tailwind schedule button. As for my pin it button at the bottom of the post, that one only shows my feature image – which is exactly what I want it to do.

      Reply
  28. Emmerey Rose (@EmmereyR) says

    March 14, 2017 at 10:00 pm

    Thanks for the code Kristie! 🙂 Already tried it on my blog!

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      March 27, 2017 at 6:41 am

      So glad to hear it worked for you Emmerey!

      Reply
      • Emmerey Rose (@EmmereyR) says

        April 6, 2017 at 6:16 am

        Thank you Kristie! 🙂

        Reply
        • Kristie Hill says

          April 6, 2017 at 9:23 pm

          you are very welcome Emmerey!

          Reply
  29. Megan says

    March 7, 2017 at 3:38 pm

    I did the code you mentioned above and the image still shows up in my blog post which is what I do not want it to do. What did I do wrong?

    data-pin-description=”How I Lost 80 Pounds Walking In A Year”

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      March 7, 2017 at 9:28 pm

      Hi Megan. I think I need to clarify the post a little bit more, because you’re not the first to mention this problem. Using the Pinterest data code, the hidden image has to be attached to an image you already have in the post (a smaller version of the long one, a horizontal or square image, or just a shorter version)

      So, pick an image you DO want to show up in your post. THEN, add in the code to that image.

      <img src=”image url that you WANT in the post” alt=”Computer with pinterest feed.”
      data-pin-url=”post url”
      data-pin-media=”url to image that you don’t want to display in the post, but you want people to pin”
      data-pin-description=”super awesome Pinterest description”>

      hope that helps more. Sorry for the confusion.

      Reply
      • Claudia says

        April 17, 2017 at 11:07 am

        Hi Kristie

        Thanks for the post, but I am still confused. I am totally new to blogging and just trying to get my very first post out. I read alot about Pinterest and want to start things of on the right foot. Now my question: How do I “attach” the image? In other words, where exactly do I attach this code? In the media upload screen?

        Regards
        Claudia, South Africa

        Reply
        • Kristie Hill says

          April 18, 2017 at 6:16 am

          Yes, first upload the two images in you media upload screen (the small one and the one you want to hide). Second, insert the small one into your post. Switch to text editor mode and add in the Pinterest code to that image. You’ll get the URL from the large image you want to hide inside the media screen.

          Hope that clarifies for your Claudia. If it’s still throwing you off, I’d suggest not hiding the image and just leaving it inside your post for people to pin. 🙂

          Reply
  30. Tori says

    March 7, 2017 at 2:37 am

    Thanks for this great info! If you have time could you write about how to put a pin in a post but make it display smaller? I find 735 x 1102 pins too big to look nice in my blog posts. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      March 7, 2017 at 6:33 am

      Hi Tori! You would do it the exact same way. You would add the Pinterest data code mentioned in the tutorial to a smaller image that you already have inside the post. When users hover over or use the browser pin it button, they’ll be given the larger image you specified in the data code.

      Also, heads up that the 725 x 1102 recommendation is outdated. Here is a description on the current Pinterest size recommendations.

      Reply
  31. Sarah Sullivan says

    February 28, 2017 at 12:53 am

    Hi Kristie, I am pretty new to using WordPress and I have a theme Silver from Sugar and Code, so bit nervous to touch existing coding. could you expand on where exactly you would cut and paste the sections of code above to get the desired result? I have already fallen foul of using the wrong size images in my blog post and forgetting that Facebook will grab the biggest if you haven’t specified a feature image. I have only posted a few times so far and I really want to get this right, and each time have had to go back and edit the images.
    Many thanks
    Sarah

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      February 28, 2017 at 9:10 am

      Hi Sarah. There definitely is a lot to learn when it comes to images and blogging. It can be overwhelming! For this tutorial, if you want to hide a long image inside your post, you will switch to the post’s TEXT option and use the Pinterest code inside the image code that you are displaying inside the post.

      Here are a few more articles I have written on images: Optimizing images for web and image SEO

      Reply
  32. Abbie says

    February 27, 2017 at 9:33 pm

    Great advice! I didn’t even know google frowned upon the display: none property, but you learn something new everyday!

    http://www.angelicabbie.com

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      February 28, 2017 at 9:15 am

      Yeah, it can be seen as trying to hide content to show up in search, but not actually offering readers the content. There are obviously a billion ranking factors with Google, but might as well knock out as many as we can!

      Reply

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