What are Open Graph Tags?
When you share a link on social media (like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Discord), the platform scrapes your page looking for specific metadata to build a "rich preview card." This protocol is called Open Graph, originally created by Facebook.
Without these tags, your link might appear as just a plain blue text URL, which significantly reduces click-through rates.
Essential Tags Checklist
og:title: The bold headline of your card.og:description: A 1-2 sentence summary underneath the title.og:image: The most critical tag. A large, high-quality image (1200x630px recommended) that catches the eye.og:url: The canonical URL of the page.
Twitter Cards
Twitter (X) uses a similar system but with its own unique properties, prefaced with twitter:.
twitter:card: Usually set tosummary_large_imageto get the big photo preview.twitter:creator: The @handle of the content author.
Troubleshooting with This Tool
If your image isn't showing up, check for these common issues:
- Image Size: Is the image too small? Try to keep it near 1200px wide.
- Robots.txt: Is your image directory blocked from bots?
- Missing Protocol: Ensure your
og:imageURL is absolute (starts withhttps://), not relative.