What are Open Graph tags?

Open Graph tags are HTML meta tags that control how your page appears when shared on social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, Discord, and messaging apps. They define the title, description, image, and URL that appear in the preview card when someone shares your link.

What size should my Open Graph image be?

The recommended size is 1200 x 630 pixels for the best display across Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Use a minimum of 600 x 315 pixels. Images smaller than this will display as a tiny thumbnail instead of a large preview card. Keep the file size under 8MB.

Why does my link show the wrong image when shared?

This usually means either you do not have an og:image tag, the image URL is broken, or the platform has cached an old version. Check that your og:image URL is an absolute URL (starting with https://), the image file actually exists at that URL, and clear the platform's cache using Facebook Sharing Debugger or LinkedIn Post Inspector.

Do I need separate tags for Twitter?

Twitter falls back to Open Graph tags if Twitter-specific tags are missing. However, adding at least twitter:card (set to summary_large_image for best results) gives you control over the card format. Twitter:title and twitter:description are optional if you already have og:title and og:description.

How do I debug my Open Graph tags?

Use these free tools: Facebook Sharing Debugger (developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/), LinkedIn Post Inspector (linkedin.com/post-inspector/), Twitter Card Validator (cards-dev.twitter.com/validator), and our Open Graph Checker at wildandfreetools.com/seo-tools/open-graph-checker/.

Can og:title be different from my SEO title tag?

Yes, and often it should be. Your SEO title tag is optimized for search engines — it may include your brand name and target keywords. Your og:title is seen in social feeds where you want something more click-worthy and conversational. You have up to 88 characters before Facebook truncates.

Open Graph Tags Guide — Control How Your Site Looks When Shared

Last updated: March 2026 12 min read SEO Tools

You spend hours crafting the perfect page, then someone shares your link on LinkedIn and it shows a broken image, the wrong title, and a description pulled from your footer text. That is what happens without Open Graph tags.

Open Graph (OG) tags give you full control over how your URL appears on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Slack, Discord, iMessage, WhatsApp, and dozens of other platforms. This guide covers every OG tag, the exact image dimensions each platform requires, how to set up Twitter Cards, and how to debug when previews look wrong. You can verify your tags instantly with our free Open Graph checker.

What Is Open Graph?

Open Graph is a protocol created by Facebook in 2010 that turns any web page into a rich object in a social graph. In practical terms, OG tags are HTML meta elements in your page's <head> section that tell platforms exactly what title, description, image, and URL to display when your link is shared.

Without OG tags, each platform runs its own algorithm to guess what to show. Facebook might pull your logo as the image. LinkedIn might use a random paragraph as the description. Slack might show your page title without any image at all. OG tags eliminate the guessing.

The Essential OG Tags

These four tags are required for a proper social preview card:

<meta property="og:title" content="Your Page Title Here">
<meta property="og:description" content="A compelling summary of your page.">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://yoursite.com/images/share.jpg">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://yoursite.com/page/">

og:title

The headline in your share card. Keep it under 88 characters — Facebook truncates after that. This can (and often should) be different from your SEO title tag. Your SEO title targets search engines. Your OG title targets humans scrolling social feeds.

og:description

The text below the title in the preview card. Aim for 55-200 characters. Facebook shows around 60 characters on mobile, LinkedIn up to 150. Write something that makes people want to click, not just a dry summary of the page content.

og:image

The preview image is the single most important element for social engagement. Posts with images get dramatically more clicks than text-only posts. Requirements:

Must be an absolute URL (start with https://)
Recommended size: 1200 x 630 pixels
Minimum size: 600 x 315 pixels (anything smaller shows as a thumbnail)
Max file size: 8MB
Supported formats: JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP

og:url

The canonical URL for your page. This should match your <link rel="canonical"> tag. If multiple URLs serve the same content, this tells platforms which one is the "real" URL.

Image Dimensions by Platform

Platform	Recommended Size	Aspect Ratio	Min Size
Facebook	1200 x 630px	1.91:1	600 x 315px
LinkedIn	1200 x 627px	1.91:1	200 x 200px
Twitter (summary_large_image)	1200 x 600px	2:1	300 x 157px
Twitter (summary)	240 x 240px	1:1	120 x 120px
Slack	1200 x 630px	1.91:1	250 x 250px
Discord	1200 x 630px	1.91:1	No minimum
WhatsApp	1200 x 630px	1.91:1	300 x 200px

The safest single image size that works well everywhere: 1200 x 630 pixels. Create one image at this size and it will display properly across all platforms.

Twitter Card Tags

Twitter (X) has its own meta tag system that overrides OG tags when present. If Twitter-specific tags are missing, Twitter falls back to your OG tags.

<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Your Page Title">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Your description.">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://yoursite.com/images/share.jpg">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@yourusername">

Card Types

summary — small square thumbnail with title and description to the right
summary_large_image — large rectangular image above the title (much higher engagement)
player — embedded video or audio player
app — mobile app download card with an install button

For blog posts and marketing pages, always use summary_large_image. The visual impact drives significantly more engagement than the small summary card.

Advanced OG Tags

og:type — the type of content. Use article for blog posts, website for homepages, product for product pages
og:site_name — your website's name (shown above the title on some platforms)
og:locale — the language/region, e.g., en_US
article:published_time — ISO 8601 date for when the article was published
article:author — the author's Facebook profile URL or name
og:image:width and og:image:height — explicitly specify image dimensions so platforms do not need to download the image to determine size

Debugging Your Previews

Social platforms cache your OG data aggressively. Even after you update your tags, the old preview may persist for hours or days. Here is how to force a refresh:

Facebook — paste your URL into the Sharing Debugger and click "Scrape Again"
LinkedIn — use the Post Inspector to re-scrape your page
Twitter — use the Card Validator at cards-dev.twitter.com/validator
Our tool — the Open Graph checker validates your tags instantly, right in your browser

Common OG Mistakes

Missing og:image — the number one cause of ugly social previews. Always include an image.
Relative image URLs — og:image must use a full absolute URL starting with https://. Relative paths like /images/share.jpg will not work.
Wrong image dimensions — images under 600x315px display as tiny thumbnails instead of full cards.
Not specifying og:type — defaults to website, but setting article on blog posts enables additional structured metadata like publish date and author.
Using the same OG tags across all pages — every page should have unique og:title, og:description, and og:image.
Not testing before sharing — always debug your OG tags using the tools above before sharing important links.

Check your Open Graph tags right now — paste any URL and see what platforms see.

Open OG Checker

Check Your OG Tags

Our free Open Graph checker validates every OG and Twitter Card tag on any URL. It shows exactly what Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter will display when your link is shared. No signup, no limits.

Need to generate OG tags from scratch? Use our meta tag generator to create a complete set of SEO, Open Graph, and Twitter Card tags in one step.