Facebook OG

Facebook Open Graph Checker

Preview and debug how your website looks when shared on Facebook

Paste multiple URLs to check Open Graph previews in bulk. We’ll analyze up to 5 pages at a time.

About This Facebook Checker

When someone shares your website on Facebook, the platform reads your Open Graph meta tags to generate a rich preview card — showing your title, description, and image instead of a blank link. Getting these tags right is the difference between a compelling share that drives clicks and a bare URL that gets ignored.

Facebook's Open Graph protocol was actually invented by Facebook in 2010 and has since become the standard for social sharing metadata across the web. Despite its age, OG tag issues remain one of the most common reasons websites generate poor social previews — incorrect image sizes, missing tags, or cached outdated data all cause Facebook to display the wrong information.

A Facebook OG checker lets you validate your tags and preview exactly how your link will appear in Facebook's feed before you share it. This is especially critical for marketing campaigns, product launches, and content that depends on social sharing for distribution.

How Facebook Reads Open Graph Tags

Facebook's crawler (facebookexternalhit) visits your page when a link is shared and reads the og:title, og:description, og:image, and og:url tags from your HTML head. It then caches this data — sometimes aggressively — meaning updates to your tags may not appear immediately in new shares.

Facebook has specific requirements that differ from other platforms. Images must be at least 1200x630px for optimal display (Facebook recommends this exact ratio). Images under 600px wide won't display as large cards at all. The og:image must be an absolute URL, not a relative path, and Facebook must be able to fetch it without authentication.

Facebook also reads og:type to determine what kind of content is being shared — website, article, video, product — which affects how the preview is structured. For news articles and blog posts, setting og:type to "article" along with article:published_time and article:author unlocks additional metadata in the preview.

Key Considerations for Facebook

OG Image Requirements

Facebook requires images of at least 1200x630px for full-size link previews. The recommended aspect ratio is 1.91:1. Images smaller than 600px wide display as small thumbnails rather than large cards. Always use absolute URLs for og:image — relative paths won't work.

Title and Description Length

Facebook truncates og:title at around 70 characters and og:description at around 200 characters in feed previews. Keep your title under 60 characters and description under 150 characters to ensure nothing important gets cut off in the preview card.

Facebook Cache and Scraping

Facebook aggressively caches OG data. After updating your tags, use Facebook's Sharing Debugger to force a re-scrape. Cached previews can persist for hours or even days — the debugger is the only reliable way to immediately clear the cache and see your updated tags.

og:url Canonical

Always set og:url to the canonical URL of your page. Facebook uses this to aggregate share counts — without it, shares from different URL variants (with/without www, with query strings) count separately, fragmenting your social proof metrics.

Common Facebook Issues

Image Problems

  • Image too small — displays as tiny thumbnail instead of large card
  • Relative image URL that Facebook can't resolve to an absolute path
  • Image blocked by authentication or robots.txt preventing Facebook crawler access
  • Wrong aspect ratio causing awkward cropping in feed previews
  • Image file too large — Facebook recommends under 8MB

Missing or Incorrect Tags

  • Missing og:title causing Facebook to fall back to the page <title> tag
  • Missing og:description leaving the preview with no descriptive text
  • og:url not matching the canonical URL, splitting share counts
  • og:type not set, defaulting to 'website' even for articles

Caching Issues

  • Updated OG tags not appearing in new shares due to Facebook cache
  • Old image or title appearing after a site redesign
  • Different previews appearing depending on when the link was first shared
  • Cache not updating even after using the Sharing Debugger

How to Fix Facebook Issues

Complete Facebook OG Tag Setup

Include all essential OG tags in your HTML head for optimal Facebook previews:

<head>
  <!-- Essential OG tags -->
  <meta property="og:title" content="Your Page Title – Under 60 Characters" />
  <meta property="og:description" content="Compelling description under 150 characters that makes people want to click." />
  <meta property="og:image" content="https://yourdomain.com/og-image.jpg" />
  <meta property="og:image:width" content="1200" />
  <meta property="og:image:height" content="630" />
  <meta property="og:url" content="https://yourdomain.com/your-page" />
  <meta property="og:type" content="website" />
  <meta property="og:site_name" content="Your Site Name" />

  <!-- For articles/blog posts -->
  <meta property="og:type" content="article" />
  <meta property="article:published_time" content="2026-01-01T00:00:00Z" />
  <meta property="article:author" content="Author Name" />
</head>

Next.js Metadata for Facebook OG

In Next.js 15, use the metadata API to generate OG tags automatically:

// app/your-page/page.tsx
import type { Metadata } from "next";

export const metadata: Metadata = {
  title: "Your Page Title",
  description: "Your page description",
  openGraph: {
    title: "Your Page Title – Site Name",
    description: "Compelling OG description under 150 characters.",
    url: "https://yourdomain.com/your-page",
    siteName: "Your Site Name",
    images: [
      {
        url: "https://yourdomain.com/og-image.jpg",
        width: 1200,
        height: 630,
        alt: "Descriptive alt text for the OG image",
      },
    ],
    locale: "en_US",
    type: "website",
  },
};

Force Facebook Cache Refresh

After updating OG tags, force Facebook to re-scrape your page using their API:

# Use Facebook's Sharing Debugger URL to force re-scrape:
# https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/?q=YOUR_URL

# Or programmatically via the API:
curl -X POST "https://graph.facebook.com/?id=YOUR_URL&scrape=true&access_token=YOUR_TOKEN"

# In Next.js — always revalidate OG-sensitive pages after content updates:
export const revalidate = 3600; // Revalidate every hour

Common Use Cases

  • Validating OG tags before a marketing campaign launch
  • Debugging why Facebook shows wrong image or title
  • Checking article metadata for news and blog content
  • Verifying product page previews for e-commerce shares
  • Testing after a site migration or redesign

Pro Tip

Create a dedicated OG image template (1200x630px) for each content type — blog posts, product pages, landing pages. Consistent, branded OG images significantly increase click-through rates on Facebook shares compared to auto-selected page screenshots.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Facebook showing the wrong image when I share my link?+
Facebook caches OG data aggressively. If you recently updated your og:image tag, Facebook may still be showing the old cached version. Go to Facebook's Sharing Debugger (developers.facebook.com/tools/debug), paste your URL, and click 'Scrape Again' to force a cache refresh. It may take a few attempts for the new image to appear.
What is the ideal OG image size for Facebook?+
Facebook recommends 1200x630px at a 1.91:1 aspect ratio for the best display across feed and sharing contexts. The minimum for a large card preview is 600x315px — below this, Facebook displays a small thumbnail. Always provide the og:image:width and og:image:height meta tags so Facebook knows the dimensions without having to download the full image first.
Do I need different OG tags for Facebook vs other platforms?+
The core OG tags (og:title, og:description, og:image, og:url) work across all platforms. Facebook-specific tags like og:type, article:published_time, and article:author are read by Facebook but safely ignored by other platforms. For Twitter/X, you need separate twitter: meta tags since Twitter has its own card system. LinkedIn and WhatsApp both read standard OG tags.
Why does my OG image look cropped on Facebook?+
Facebook crops OG images to fit its preview card dimensions, which vary by placement (feed, messenger, groups). Using exactly 1200x630px prevents unexpected cropping. If you're using a different size image, keep critical content (logos, text, faces) in the center 60% of the image to ensure it remains visible after cropping.
How long does Facebook cache OG tags?+
Facebook's cache duration varies but is typically between 24 hours and 30 days depending on how frequently your page is shared. For pages that change regularly (news articles, product pages with updated prices), you can use the Sharing Debugger to force immediate re-scraping, or implement dynamic OG tags that always reflect current content.

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