Social Media Open Graph Checker
When a link gets shared in a Slack channel, a LinkedIn post, a text message, or a tweet, a preview card appears — sometimes called a link preview, thumbnail image, or social share card. Whether that card shows a sharp image, a compelling headline, and a clean description — or a blank box with just a URL — is determined entirely by a handful of HTML tags most marketers never see.
This tool reads those tags, shows you exactly what each major platform will display, and tells you what's wrong and what to fix — in plain language — before your campaign, press release, or product launch goes out.
When to use this tool
- Before publishing any page you plan to share on social media
- Before a campaign launch, product announcement, or press release goes live
- When a client or colleague reports that a shared link "looks broken"
- When a page has been updated and you want to confirm the preview reflects the new content
- When testing a page that isn't publicly live yet — use the Paste HTML method
- When you want to verify that your agency or developer implemented OG tags correctly
When not to use this tool
- Pages behind a login or authentication wall — use the Paste HTML method instead
- As a final guarantee — platform rendering changes. This tool models current behavior but test on the actual platform before a high-stakes launch
- For structured data (JSON-LD) — that's a separate standard; use Google's Rich Results Test for that
- Pages that use JavaScript to inject meta tags — crawlers (including this tool in URL mode) don't execute JavaScript. Use Paste HTML with your page's rendered source
Social Media Open Graph Checker
Your URL is sent to a third-party proxy service to fetch the page source. Nothing is stored by this tool. For pages not publicly accessible, use the instead.
<head> and </head> and paste it below.Why use this method: This reads your current live tags directly — not a cached version from a previous crawl. It also works for pages that aren't publicly accessible yet, such as staging environments or draft pages.
Platform previews
Social feeds
Work tools
Messaging
Discovery
Tag audit
X (Twitter) fallback chain
When Twitter Card tags are absent, X falls back to Open Graph tags, then to standard HTML tags. This shows exactly what X will use for this page.
All tags found
Recommended tag snippet
A complete set of recommended Open Graph and Twitter Card tags based on what was found. Commented placeholders indicate tags that are missing or need correction. Copy this and hand it to your developer.
Next steps: forcing platforms to re-fetch your tags ▶
After updating your tags, platforms may still show an old cached preview. Here's how to force each one to re-crawl your page.
Use the Sharing Debugger (login required). Enter your URL and click "Scrape Again." Facebook's cache can persist for days without this.
Use the Post Inspector (login required). Enter your URL and click "Inspect" to trigger a fresh crawl.
X (Twitter)
X removed its Card Validator tool. The only reliable way to force a cache refresh is to share the URL in a new post — X re-fetches on each new share. Appending a query string (e.g. ?v=2) to the URL also forces a fresh fetch.
Slack
Slack caches aggressively. Append a query string to your URL (e.g. ?v=2) to make it appear as a new URL to Slack's crawler. Note this changes the URL, so use with care on links already in circulation.
Discord
Discord re-fetches automatically after a short period. Changing the og:image URL (e.g. renaming the image file) forces an immediate update.
Pinterest & Reddit
Both re-crawl when a URL is newly pinned or posted. Old previews on existing pins or posts may not update without re-pinning or re-posting.
URLs and HTML pasted here are not stored, logged, or transmitted by this tool. URL mode uses a third-party proxy to fetch page source; that proxy receives your URL but not any other data from this tool.
How to read your results
The platform previews
Each card mockup shows what that platform will actually display when someone shares your URL. They're grouped by context: Social feeds (X, LinkedIn, Facebook), Work tools (Slack), Messaging (iMessage, Discord), and Discovery (Pinterest, Reddit). If no image renders in a card, that means no og:image tag was found — the card shows the text-only state that platform would display.
The audit
The audit checks every important tag and flags each one as Pass, Warning, or Fix Needed. A Warning means something is present but has a potential issue — a title that may truncate, dimensions that weren't declared. Fix Needed means something is missing or wrong in a way that will break the preview on one or more platforms. Every finding includes a plain-English explanation and a specific action to take.
The fallback chain
X (Twitter) has its own tag format — Twitter Cards — but falls back to Open Graph tags when those aren't present. The fallback chain table shows exactly what X will use for your title, description, and image, tracing through twitter:title → og:title → <title> for each field. This matters because X and LinkedIn may end up showing different content if your Twitter Card tags differ from your OG tags.
Pass vs. Warning vs. Fix Needed
Pass means the tag is present and valid. Warning means the tag works but has an issue worth knowing about before sharing widely. Fix Needed means the tag is absent, malformed, or configured in a way that will cause the preview to fail on at least one platform. Fix Needed items should be addressed before any link goes out in a campaign or press release.
Frequently asked questions
Understanding Open Graph
What are Open Graph tags? ▶
Open Graph is a protocol originally developed by Meta (Facebook) that lets you control how your page appears when shared on social media. You add a handful of <meta> tags inside the <head> section of your HTML, and platforms read those tags to generate a link preview card. Almost every platform that shows link previews — Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, iMessage — uses Open Graph. X (formerly Twitter) has its own tag format called Twitter Cards, but falls back to Open Graph if Twitter-specific tags are absent.
What's the difference between og:title and twitter:title? ▶
og:title is used by most platforms. twitter:title overrides og:title specifically on X. If you set both, X uses twitter:title and everyone else uses og:title. If you only set og:title, X falls back to it. Most implementations set both to the same value unless they want different copy specifically for X — for example, X has a 70-character title limit, while other platforms allow more.
What is twitter:card and why does it matter? ▶
twitter:card is the tag that tells X which type of preview card to use. The most important value is summary_large_image, which displays a large image across the full width of the card. Without this tag, X defaults to summary, which shows a small square thumbnail to the left of the text — much less visually impactful. Importantly, the tag still uses the twitter: prefix even though the platform is now called X. Using x:card does not work.
Do Open Graph tags help with SEO? ▶
Directly, no — search engines don't use OG tags to determine rankings. Indirectly, yes — well-optimized previews lead to higher click-through rates when your links are shared, which drives traffic and potential backlinks, both of which do influence search performance over time. Some search engines also display OG images as thumbnails in rich results, so having a strong OG image can improve how your content appears in search.
Image requirements
Why is my image not showing? ▶
The most common causes:
Relative URL — your image URL starts with / instead of https://. Crawlers require absolute URLs.
HTTP instead of HTTPS — Discord, Slack, and several other platforms refuse to display HTTP images. Always use HTTPS.
Unsupported format — SVG, AVIF, and WebP are not reliably supported by all platform crawlers. Use PNG or JPEG.
Image too small — LinkedIn requires at least 200×200px to show any preview. Facebook shows a small thumbnail instead of a large card if the image is under 600×315px.
File too large — WhatsApp has a hard 300 KB limit. Facebook can theoretically accept up to 8 MB, but large files delay preview rendering.
The audit section of this tool will identify which of these applies to your tags.
What image size should I use for social sharing? ▶
The universal recommendation is 1200×630 pixels at a 1.91:1 aspect ratio. This works across Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, Discord, iMessage, and most other platforms. For X specifically, 1200×600 (2:1) is technically ideal, but 1200×630 renders fine with minimal cropping. Pinterest prefers a taller 2:3 ratio (e.g. 1000×1500), but a standard 1.91:1 image will still work — it just may appear letterboxed. Keep key content (text, logos) centered and away from the edges, as several platforms crop slightly on different devices. Use PNG for graphics with text or logos, JPEG for photographs. Keep file size under 200 KB where possible; WhatsApp enforces a hard 300 KB limit.
Should I declare og:image:width and og:image:height? ▶
Yes. When you declare the image dimensions, Facebook doesn't need to fetch the image asynchronously before showing the preview — which means the preview appears correctly on the very first share. Without dimensions, Facebook may show a blank card or a spinning loader on first share, and then show the correct preview only after it has fetched and cached the image. The tags are simple: <meta property="og:image:width" content="1200" /> and <meta property="og:image:height" content="630" />.
Platform-specific
Why does my page look fine on Facebook but broken on LinkedIn? ▶
LinkedIn is stricter about image dimensions and has specific minimum size requirements (200×200px minimum). It also ignores Twitter Card tags entirely and only reads Open Graph tags. If your implementation relies on Twitter-specific tags and doesn't have the OG equivalents, LinkedIn may fail while X works fine. LinkedIn also sometimes has a delay in picking up updated tags — use the LinkedIn Post Inspector to force a re-crawl.
Why does Slack sometimes not show a preview at all? ▶
Two common reasons. First, Slack caches link previews aggressively — once it has fetched a URL, it may serve that cached version for a long time even after you update your tags. To force Slack to re-fetch, append a query string to the URL (e.g. ?v=2). Second, Slack requires HTTPS image URLs. If your og:image points to an HTTP URL, Slack won't display it.
Does WhatsApp use Open Graph tags? ▶
Yes, WhatsApp reads OG tags for link previews in chats. The most important constraint is a 300 KB hard file size limit on OG images — if your image exceeds this, WhatsApp will not display it, even if the tags are correct. WhatsApp also requires absolute HTTPS image URLs. Because WhatsApp's rendering varies significantly by device and app version, this tool audits your tags against WhatsApp's requirements but does not show a simulated WhatsApp preview card.
Using this tool
Why does the preview look different on the actual platform vs. here? ▶
Two common reasons. First, platforms cache the preview for a URL — if you've updated your tags recently, the platform may still be serving the old cached version. Facebook's Sharing Debugger and LinkedIn's Post Inspector both have a function to force a re-crawl. Second, platform rendering evolves — card layouts, truncation lengths, and image crop behavior change with platform updates. This tool reflects behavior as of its last update but real platforms are the final test.
What is the Paste HTML method and when should I use it? ▶
Instead of entering a URL, you can copy the HTML source of your page (press Ctrl+U or Cmd+Option+U in your browser, then copy the content between <head> and </head>) and paste it directly into the tool. This method works for any page — including ones that aren't publicly live yet, staging environments, or pages that block automated crawlers. It also guarantees you're checking your actual current tags rather than a version your browser cached. Use it whenever the URL method fails or when you're working with a page that isn't public.
Does this tool store the URLs or HTML I enter? ▶
No. When using the Paste HTML method, all processing happens entirely in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere. When using URL mode, your URL is sent to a third-party CORS proxy service to fetch the page source. This tool does not store URLs, pasted HTML, or any images that appear in the preview cards.
Why isn't my URL working in the tool? ▶
A few possible reasons: the page may be behind authentication or a login wall (use Paste HTML instead), the page may block automated crawlers, the proxy service may be temporarily unavailable, or the URL may not yet be publicly accessible. The tool will display a specific error message explaining what happened. If URL mode fails, the Paste HTML method will work for any page you can open in your own browser.