Out of the thousands of bloggers and Pinterest managers I’ve interacted with over the years, none of them ever thought stolen pins could be affecting their traffic. But after one of my own accounts was affected, I quickly learned that stolen pins can quickly out-rank your legitimate pins in search and in the Interest algorithm.
In this post, we’ll cover how over how to address this problem including how to find, report and prevent stolen pins so your Pinterest account can start growing again!
What Are Stolen Pins (And Why They’re a Big Problem Now)
Stolen pins are copies of your content that someone else re-uploads to Pinterest as their own. They will change the pin’s outbound URL, or they will upload the image without a link. Saving stolen pins without links seems to be a strategy to avoid the spam filter and possibly to help “build up” the account to sell later.
So, instead of your pin driving traffic to your content (where it should be going), stolen pins send users somewhere else. It’s usually:
- Spam websites
- Affiliate pages (sites.google websites are very popular for this right now)
- AI-generated blogs
- YouTube videos made from slideshows of (usually stolen) content
It’s extremely frustrating!
Fun fact: the more viral and high ranking pins on an account, the higher the chances of stolen pins becoming a major issue.
Why?
Because spammers scrape top-ranking pins in bulk and redistribute them with their spammy links or with no links.
Stolen pins have always been an issue on Pinterest. But lately, I’m noticing this problem is getting much, much worse.
I’m finding more and more of my clients’ pins linked to spammy affiliate sites or to YouTube lately. 😡
And honestly…
I used to blissfully ignore this problem, but I don’t think that’s an option anymore.
So, how do we deal with stolen pins?
Well, there are 2 main ways I combat stolen pins on my own accounts and my client accounts, and that’s what we’ll cover here!
1. Content Claiming Portal
The Content Claiming Portal is Pinterest’s solution to preventing the stolen pin problem. It’s been around for awhile, but I really didn’t think it was worth the extra effort until now.
You can read the official help article, or read on to see how it works.
The Portal allows creators to protect their copyrighted images on the platform by uploading pin images and creating “claims.”
After applying and getting access, you’ll be able to upload your pin images and choose one of 4 actions:
1. Attribution – Adds a link to your Pinterest profile to any copies of your image.
2. Mine Only – Removes existing and all future pins that match your image and are not saved by you (I would avoid this since Other Pins can be a huge source of traffic!!).
3. Website Only – Only pins that match your image AND link to your website will remain on Pinterest.
4. Block All – Removes all instances of an image from Pinterest.
I always select Website Only:
This option will remove any pins with my images that are NOT linked to my claimed domain.
The Content Claiming Portal is not a perfect system by any means.
For example, as a test, I claimed 10 exact images from 10 stolen pins and only one has been removed from the platform.
But, I think 10% is better than 0%!
Pinterest also added a new column showing the number of Pins Affected by each claim:
This column reports real-time numbers, so they are not accumulative for 30 days or the last 24 hours (though I wish they would show us this data).
The highest number I’ve seen in this column was 310!
That’s 310 stolen copies of my pin image removed instantly!
So, although it’s not perfect, at least we know uploading our images here can have some positive effect on preventing the stolen pin problem.
When the Content Claiming Portal isn’t successful at removing stolen pins, I will resort to option #2: filing a DMCA Copyright Infringement claim.
Ready to Get Ahead of all the Algorithm Changes on Pinterest?
Learn what’s changed and start getting results with our most popular download — the FREE 2026 Pinterest Strategy Guide! This guide is hosted on Podia so I can quickly keep it updated (updates happen ALL the time!). Once you sign up, you’ll have forever access to future updates. 🙂
2. File a Copyright Infringement Claim
DMCA stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and it’s a US federal law that protects copyrighted material.
Since this is technically a legal matter, it’s important to state that I am not a lawyer and don’t pretend to be one on the internet. This is simply my understanding of our rights as content creators and the steps Pinterest has given us to protect our work on their platform.
In the United States, only YOU have the right to copy any design you create unless you give permission or license for the design to be copied.
If you find a stolen pin containing your work, you can report it by clicking on the 3 dots on the pin, and select Report Pin.
Then select, My intellectual property from the pop up menu:
That will bring you to the Copyright Infringement Notification form (view a sample here).
Make sure to uncheck the Remove All option on the form if the image matches your pin exactly. Remove All will remove YOUR copy as well:
I only select Strike if the account is clearly a spam account. You can tell they are spammy by checking to see if the images are branded with one URL (usually at the bottom of the image), but the links are pointing to a different domain than the branded URL.
This does take a little extra time to check for each stolen pin, but we want to make sure we’re not mistakenly giving an innocent user a copyright strike on their account.
Innocent users can accidentally save stolen pins THINKING they are legitimate. Not everyone checks to see what a pin is linked to before saving it. Plus, it’s really difficult to check a pin link on mobile where 80% of users are.
How to Speed Up & Simplify the Process
Finding and reporting stolen pins can be extremely overwhelming. But I’m a huge advocate for it, because I’ve seen firsthand how much it can turn an account around…
My adventure with stolen pins started after one of my accounts had a huge drop… Then a few weeks later, ANOTHER major drop to almost nothing:
I knew this account had pins being stolen, but I had no idea how bad it was!
All those stolen pins were quickly out-ranking all the legitimate pins, and the account was clearly suffering.
The GOOD news, is that once you realize stolen pins are an issue, you can start removing them, and the account can recover QUICKLY:
This recovery worked so well, that I’ve been refining and documenting my process of finding, reporting AND preventing stolen pins in my new course: Stolen Pin Protocol
Stolen Pin Protocol shows you the exact process I use for my accounts and for my clients including:
- 4 Methods to Find Stolen Pins
- How to Properly Report Stolen Pins
- Tips for Documenting Reported Pins
- Advanced Reporting Strategies & Protecting Top Pins (important!)
- Best Ways to Prevent Stolen Pins and more!
Sign up today and use the code PROTOCOL to get 50% OFF (or use this link)
You’ll see the exact process that have saved several of my accounts from dropping to almost nothing!
As someone who’s been marketing on Pinterest since 2019, I don’t think stolen pins are discussed enough in the Pinterest manager community. But hopefully this post and course will change that!
If you’re a Pinterest manager, be sure to connect with me in my free FB Group Pinterest VA Society and join in on the conversation.
And if you’d like to stay updated on all the Pinterest algorithm news, be sure to join my email list by signing up for the Free Pinterest Strategy Guide.
Happy pinning,
Amy
More Pinterest Resources:
- Should You STOP Repinning on Pinterest? Read this before you decide!
- Learn Pinterest SEO & Get Your Pins Ranking in Search Results (use the code RANK for a steep discount)
- How to Set Up a Pinterest Business Account
- Did You Know You Can Use Your Pinterest Account for Market Research?? — It’s Easy + FREE!
- How to Set Up the Best Pinterest Boards for Your Blog or Online Business