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Do NOT to verify your website in Pinterest - Read my story

by JackCronfield
49 replies
My recommendation is NOT to verify your website in Pinterest. Your account may get deactivated if you verify your website in Pinterest and your website will be banned as well. Read my story:

I've been using Pinterest for the past 3 months. I built a nice community and was pinning everyday (15-25 pins in a day). I was extremely careful not to spam, but I was using pinterest to drive traffic to my blog. I built a number of group board and was creating good relationship with other pinners. I had hundreds of people pinning into my group boards and almost 5000 followers. One day I've decided to verify my website in Pinterest (as the recommendation is to verify your website in Pinterest).

This was a big mistake: very short time after I verified my website in Pinterest, my account got deactivated. There was no warning from Pinterest and no specific reason.

They've just suddenly decided that I was a spammer. I believe that they've noticed that most of my pins are linked to my website and they didn't like it so they kicked me out.

But here is the big issue: Because of the association between my website and my account - my website got banned from Pinterest as well. Pinterest will not let you pin anything linked to my website and it blocks any existing links. Instead it shows a scary warning message saying that my website reported as a spammy website. This a complete lie !

I was extremely careful to follow the TOS of Pinterest : I've always pinned relevant pins to all the group boards and I've also pinned information that is not related to my website.

I've contacted Pinterest and all they did was to send me a generic reply that didn’t mention any reason. They've also sent me an automatic email asking me to provide them feedback about their level of service. I wrote a very detailed explanation about my situation and asked for answers but needless to say they didn't reply. I was asking them to provide an explanation why I didn't meet their TOS - but they didn't reply.

My lesson is: Never verify your website in pinterest (especially if you are Internet Marketer). You will get kicked out from Pinterest and your website will be banned.

You may be thinking that you are fine, but one day Pinterest will decide to “tweak” its “anti spam” script and you will be next. You will be kicked out and your website will be banned.

Note: I’ve updated this post to make it relevant for people who read it for the first time, based on all the wise and helpful comments I’ve received.
#pinterest #read #story #verify #website
  • Profile picture of the author KingRoyal
    Well I would first start by contacting pinntrest support first about the situation. You can always create a redirected domain however I think your best bet is just contacting them asking and seeking clarification about bannishment.
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    • Profile picture of the author JackCronfield
      I have tried to contact them but I haven't recieved an answer yet. My feeling is that once their algorithm decides that you are a spammer they will not do anything about it. I don't think that Pinterest like redirection.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    Originally Posted by JackCronfield View Post

    Hi Warriors,

    My lesson is: Never verify your website in pinterest (especially if you are Internet Marketer). You will get kicked out from Pinterest and your website will be banned.
    Have a number of accounts and alternate between them so that you will not be considered as a spammer.
    Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but I don't see how those two actions do not PROVE you are a spammer or at least going against their TOS.

    Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author JackCronfield
      Sure. Their TOS are written in a way that allow them to do anything that they want. I was there to promote my website and pinning 10-15 pins every day. This is not spamming.
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      • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
        Originally Posted by JackCronfield View Post

        Sure. Their TOS are written in a way that allow them to do anything that they want. I was there to promote my website and pinning 10-15 pins every day. This is not spamming.
        Jack buddy...just so you know...that IS the definition of spamming to most people...

        Community sites aren't there for you to build an audience. If that's why YOU'RE there you have to do it quietly and carefully.
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    • Profile picture of the author kaytav
      Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

      Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but I don't see how those two actions do not PROVE you are a spammer or at least going against their TOS.

      Mark
      LOlzz.... Good one!
      having various accounts is gonna create a problem sometime. If the site is your's you can resolve the problem by contacting Pinterest.
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  • Profile picture of the author Avy Smith
    Are you sure thats the ONLY reason that got you banned from Pinterest? I thought to verify website but then gave up the idea seemingly that might have been the logic to trace spammers easily that are advertising not Sharing Interests?
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    • Profile picture of the author JackCronfield
      "Are you sure thats the ONLY reason that got you banned from Pinterest? I thought to verify website but then gave up the idea seemingly that might have been the logic to trace spammers easily that are advertising not Sharing Interests?

      I think that you are right because I got banned a few days after verifying my website. I was pinning for a few months without any issue until I verified my website.
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  • Profile picture of the author srodoks
    Pinterest very well for me. there are rules that must be followed. TOS
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  • Profile picture of the author xpesos
    Pinterest does not do this closing account for none reason..

    You must have spammed, like if you were on group boards you might have pinned pins irrelevant to the board category..

    Anyways the best shot is to contact pinterest support, i once got my account suspended,
    On contacting they saw that everything was ok so my account was opened within 24 hrs..

    So if you have not spammed and you are caught wrong then no need for worrying, you will get your account back, their support might be sluggish due to weekend, but i have very good experience with their support center

    cheers
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    • Profile picture of the author JackCronfield
      Originally Posted by xpesos View Post

      Pinterest does not do this closing account for none reason..

      You must have spammed, like if you were on group boards you might have pinned pins irrelevant to the board category..

      Anyways the best shot is to contact pinterest support, i once got my account suspended,
      On contacting they saw that everything was ok so my account was opened within 24 hrs..

      So if you have not spammed and you are caught wrong then no need for worrying, you will get your account back, their support might be sluggish due to weekend, but i have very good experience with their support center

      cheers
      I've contacted support and they've just sent a very generic reply saying that they determined I was pinning spammy content. The funny thing is that everything was fine until I've verified my website. I was extremely careful not to spam as I was aware of the TOS (I pinned around 15-20 pins each day). But I admit that most of my pins were sending people to my website - maybe they don't like it.
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      • Profile picture of the author xpesos
        Well 15-20 pins a day is not spamming, not at all, i have pinning hundreds of pins daily, sometimes directing all to my site,

        Here as i can understand there maybe two possibilities,
        1: The pins you have pinned might not direct to same content
        2: Their might be copyright infringement, pinterest strictly comply with DMCA policy, make sure you have added DMCA and privacy policy to your site.


        Originally Posted by JackCronfield View Post

        I've contacted support and they've just sent a very generic reply saying that they determined I was pinning spammy content. The funny thing is that everything was fine until I've verified my website. I was extremely careful not to spam as I was aware of the TOS (I pinned around 15-20 pins each day). But I admit that most of my pins were sending people to my website - maybe they don't like it.
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  • Profile picture of the author dash0205
    Contact support and present your case! If truly you have not spammed, you should get it back. Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sue McDonald
    Yes I would agree you have to contact them. If you feel that you have done nothing wrong, just contact them and ask why they have closed you down. I believe that when something like this happens - you just have to remain very calm with them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bond1806
    Hmm, this is interesting. I am avid Pinterest pinner. I had my account for two months and one month ago I published my site and applied for business account on Pinterest.
    I verified my web site and I do pin some 15-20 pins a day.
    Sometimes I add url to my site's content. It has been a month now and still did not get banned. I hope they won't ban me since I have nice number of followers and I use it to drive traffic to my site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    First I want to point out that spam isn't about the number of items posted. You can post once per day and be a spammer.

    Pinterest is no longer anti-business so anti-business posting so I would say you got flagged for spam too many times.

    You have to remember that bans and such on major sites are carried out by scripts. You simply fell into the pattern they call a spammer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevinhoss
    So far I have not been banned and just followed their TOS.
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  • Profile picture of the author NickSimpson
    Pinterest like any site, will use their algorithms to try to find spammers. I have verified domains in Pinterest and never ran into trouble, but then again I don't share 20 things a day and blast every link I have ever heard of. I have also heard that inviting others to share on a topic helps. This is because you don't have a thousand links streaming through the same domain.

    In any 3rd party site you are planning on targeting your site, you should use the focus of providing value, bringing useful information before you focus on links and you will win. Pegging link after link to one domain can look suspicious anywhere even on a Facebook page it is good form to link to other similar sites that have useful information every now and again.
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    • Profile picture of the author t3cn1c0
      Well, I have been using Pinterest since last year and I haven't encountered any problems with it. If this happened to me, like anyone else my first move is to contact them. If they will not answer for some time, try to follow up.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnnyPlan
      Were you mostly pinning images from your website?

      Think of it this way. The whole purpose of Pinterest is for regular people (not site owners) to share the stuff they love, not for website owners to get free advertising. So Pinterest might view all those pins linking to your site (by you and your group) as spam. After all, the typical Pinterest user is going to be pinning images from numerous websites not just two or three.

      A better strategy is to simply spread the love around when it comes to pinning. Don't just pin photos from your site, add content from related sites to your boards. Use the 90/10 rule that you find on Reddit, where you post 9 photos not related to your site for every one image you post from your site. In that way, you are adding over all value to Pinterest and serving their users interests more than your own.

      There's nothing wrong in sharing other people's content too and it makes your own boards look more credible.
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      • Profile picture of the author LABEShops
        Originally Posted by JohnnyPlan View Post

        Were you mostly pinning images from your website?

        Think of it this way. The whole purpose of Pinterest is for regular people (not site owners) to share the stuff they love, not for website owners to get free advertising. So Pinterest might view all those pins linking to your site (by you and your group) as spam. After all, the typical Pinterest user is going to be pinning images from numerous websites not just two or three.

        A better strategy is to simply spread the love around when it comes to pinning. Don't just pin photos from your site, add content from related sites to your boards. Use the 90/10 rule that you find on Reddit, where you post 9 photos not related to your site for every one image you post from your site. In that way, you are adding over all value to Pinterest and serving their users interests more than your own.

        There's nothing wrong in sharing other people's content too and it makes your own boards look more credible.
        Actually, Pinterest does encourage businesses to use their services - which is the whole reason they have "Pinterest for Business". They encourage websites to put pin it buttons on their sites (every image on my stores have pinit buttons when you mouse over it). I think it more likely the site he linked to was tagged for spamming.
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnnyPlan
          Originally Posted by LABEShops View Post

          Actually, Pinterest does encourage businesses to use their services - which is the whole reason they have "Pinterest for Business". They encourage websites to put pin it buttons on their sites (every image on my stores have pinit buttons when you mouse over it). I think it more likely the site he linked to was tagged for spamming.
          That's very possible. And, I think the issue happened as this account started out as a personal Pinterest account, rather than starting out as a business account. And, most personal accounts don't pin only images to their own site. As someone else suggested, it's best to verify your business account when setting up the account to let Pinterest know that you will be linking to your own content. In that way, there will be no misunderstandings on their part later on.
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  • Profile picture of the author infoway
    Well, I too have pinterest account and I have verified my website in it. But it is working smoothly and haven't faced any problems. There must be some spamming issues, like pinning image unfit to the board category etc
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  • Profile picture of the author FlowingEvents
    Good experience share. I never heard such things. I hope Pinterest team will see this thread and will answer you.
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    • Profile picture of the author JackCronfield
      I've contacted Pinterest and they didn't reply. They've also sent me an automatic email to asking me to provide them feedback about their level of service. I wrote a very detailed explanation about my situation and asked for answers but needless to say they didn't reply. I was asking them to provide an explanation why I didn't meet their TOS - but they didn't reply.

      I've had a number of group boards with hundreds of pinners in those boards and I was also pinning to other websites as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author KevinChapman
    Thanks for the heads up! We've used Pinterest a little but struggled to get much response in the making money online/self help niche.
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  • Profile picture of the author kmcvay
    I've been using Pinterest for a year or so, using it to promote my blogs and Squidoo pages. I pin a few times a week, and haven't experienced any problems - I have verified one website.
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    • Profile picture of the author JackCronfield
      Thank you everyone for you support and wise comments. I've updated my initial post to make it relevant to people who see it for the first time, based on your wise comments and advice. Fell free to add more comments.
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  • Profile picture of the author Arzak
    Try getting help on their Facebook page or Twitter (#pinteresthelp).
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    • Profile picture of the author deanlz
      Originally Posted by Arzak View Post

      Try getting help on their Facebook page or Twitter (#pinteresthelp).
      Agreed. Ask for support on social networks and be persistent. It would be nice to see their reply. I am very interested what would be the reason. Ope you'll get account back.

      As someone mentioned above, I think they'll ban you because of issue with pins, not verified website. I have verified my website and pin 10 pins a day, but not only from my website, but anywhere, good relevant pins too, not selling stuff. For months. And all good.
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  • Profile picture of the author jay walters
    Try contacting their support. Anyways, thank you for sharing your experience. I will be cautious next time.
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  • Profile picture of the author jony09
    I don't know if you have considered this but is it possible that your account got flagged by a competitor? I know you can report pins and/or accounts up there.
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  • Profile picture of the author ibietela2
    Lol... I verified my first site sold ir and verified another one with no problem.
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  • Profile picture of the author TravisO
    You must have been performing spamming. I really don't think you have breaked their TOS.
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  • Profile picture of the author Denise Hall
    I agree with what some of the others said - that you have to be careful what you're pinning and where you're pinning it. If every link on all of your boards/pins leads to your website, that's probably too many. As well, if you pin content that's not relevant to the board, especially if you're a collborator on other people's boards, then other pinners will report the pins as spam.
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    • Profile picture of the author Xadro
      Sorry for upping old thread but OP sad he own many group boards, I think the problem in this. If somebody spam your group board its very high chance Pinterest deactivate your account. It doesnt depend of verifying your website or not. It's strange but the owner of the group depends on spam in his group board. We have to sit all day in front of the monitor and keep track of spam
      This happened to my account too. Somebody started pin porno in my food board, next day my acc was deactivated. A great way to eliminate competition
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      • Profile picture of the author James Woods
        Great thread. we hear how great pinterest is but it is always good to here how some people have fall afoul, and are willing to share their experience so that others can posts.
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  • Profile picture of the author affilorama-portal
    I would have to agree with everyone here. It's best to contact their support if you;re doubtful that the suspension is a mistake.
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  • Profile picture of the author drenbellony
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author LisaAllen
      There's another possibility here... that Pinterest found a script that is considered malware on your site. When was the last time you scanned your site for security?

      I have also seen that sometimes... they will check the end pages for spammy offer links.

      So either one could be the reason.
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      • Profile picture of the author Denise Hall
        Originally Posted by LisaAllen View Post

        There's another possibility here... that Pinterest found a script that is considered malware on your site. When was the last time you scanned your site for security?

        I have also seen that sometimes... they will check the end pages for spammy offer links.

        So either one could be the reason.
        Oh, good thinking! I hadn't even considered that as a possibility.
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  • Profile picture of the author ZiaUrRehman
    Thank you for sharing your story. I was thinking to make Pinterest account. I never heard anything negative about Pinterest. May ne they are experiencing an issue with support.
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  • Profile picture of the author dustindustin
    thanks for the early warning, buddy
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  • Profile picture of the author jhccradio
    Hello, I am new to the site found you during a google search. I agree with the original poster, Do not verify if you are going to use any links that direct to products on any site via affiliate marketing. Pinterest is closing all accounts they "deem" as affiliate marketing, they seem to consider all affiliate content, spam. I have had numerous accounts closed. To be honest, I was not spamming, just placing random products from my sites on pinterest. I never placed the same item more than once and always pinned a few hours from each other. But once my pins became popular, I decided to register as a business, so I could see the new pinterest statics. As soon as I did that within a few days, I go to my account and there is an oops: page does not exist error. With this, I ended up writing their support to see what was going on. Wham... I get an email back from them saying my account was closed due to spammy content, however, I was welcome to open a new account and not spam. With this I did a little investigation, opened 2 accounts in my name and my wife's name and we both pinned to our heart's content, I even spammed a little, accounts are still open very active. Then I decided to try a business site again, with registering the site as asked. Was very careful not to spam and did the same thing I did before. Wham within 2 weeks I was closed again. So another try "without" registering the site.... Leaving it as unregistered unverified , guess what still running. So the moral of the story, follow the rules and get slammed, I am not sure why they do this, but they do, I agree do not verify the site and forget the stats... pin away and make some money.... Just a little note, seems pinterest does not like affiliate marketing, so my suggestion, just use personal accounts when pinning and just do not pin your own content mix it up, you also gain many followers that way... Enjoy....
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  • Profile picture of the author Garret1
    5k followers on pinterest is alot! thats too bad. I have a small fraction of that and i still get plenty of re-pins. I'm sure you were driving a ton of traffic with that amount.
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  • Profile picture of the author danielmav
    Even I have verified my website on Pinterest. But I haven't faced any problem till today.
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  • Profile picture of the author LABEShops
    I validated it the same time I created the pinterest account for my business and had no problem.

    Did you set yours up as a business account? Did you post ONLY items with links to your offers? Did you participate otherwise in pinterest by sharing/liking other peoples pins? Did you pin directly from your blog or did you try to get sneaky and post only links out? The site you linked to - was it well designed, well organized, great content or covered with spammy links/ads?

    I think they look more at these sorts of things and what the site you are linking to is about than penalizing you for validating your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author marketmongoose
    You must have done it in the wrong way. Otherwise there is no way the internal system can flag it so easily.
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  • Profile picture of the author artflair
    I'm sorry to hear that... I hope you were driving traffic to your site using other sources as well! This only shows everyone that not to keeping all the eggs in the same basket is an essential thing when it comes to online business!
    Good luck mate!
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  • Profile picture of the author assi
    In my opinion when you trying to verify your site pinterest thinks that you are a spammer and just want to advertise your site you joined too many groups and was creating a lot of repins in a single day. Another factor you liked other's pin too may be there is something irrelevant pins that you liked in result you got banned.
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