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What Are Open Graph Tags?
Open Graph (OG) is a protocol created by Facebook in 2010 that allows any web page to control how it appears when shared on social media platforms. By adding specific meta tags to your HTML head, you can define the title, description, image, and URL that appear in link previews.
Without Open Graph tags, social platforms attempt to extract a preview automatically, often producing unflattering results with wrong images, truncated titles, or missing descriptions. OG tags give you full control over your content's social appearance.
How Open Graph Previews Work
When someone shares a URL on social media, the platform's crawler fetches the page and reads its Open Graph meta tags. The four required properties define the minimum viable preview card.
- og:title — the title shown in the link preview card, typically 60-90 characters for optimal display across platforms
- og:description — a brief summary shown below the title, ideally 150-200 characters to avoid truncation
- og:image — the preview image URL, recommended 1200x630 pixels for Facebook and LinkedIn, displayed as a large card or thumbnail
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Preview Your Open Graph Tags →When To Use an OG Preview Tool
Testing your Open Graph tags before sharing is essential for professional social media presence.
- Social media marketing — preview how blog posts, product pages, and landing pages appear on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn before sharing
- SEO auditing — verify that OG tags match your page title and description, ensuring consistent messaging across search and social channels
- Messaging apps — platforms like Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, and Telegram also use OG tags to generate link previews, making tag quality important beyond social media
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the ideal OG image size?
The recommended OG image size is 1200 x 630 pixels (1.91:1 aspect ratio) for optimal display on Facebook and LinkedIn. Twitter cards work best at 1200 x 628 pixels. Keep important content centered since some platforms crop the edges. Use JPEG or PNG format, and keep file size under 1 MB for fast loading.
Do I need both OG tags and Twitter Card tags?
Twitter cards (twitter:title, twitter:description, twitter:image) can fall back to OG tags if not specified. However, setting both gives you platform-specific control. For example, you might want a shorter title on Twitter. At minimum, set OG tags — they provide the broadest coverage across all platforms.
How do I debug OG tags that are not updating?
Social platforms aggressively cache OG data. Facebook's Sharing Debugger lets you scrape a URL to refresh the cache. Twitter's Card Validator does the same for Twitter cards. LinkedIn's Post Inspector handles LinkedIn caching. After updating your OG tags, use these tools to force a cache refresh before sharing.