Social Media Preview Not Showing?
Here's How to Fix It

You've published your page. You share the link on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn — and nothing shows up. No image, no title, just a bare URL. Or worse: an old image from three months ago that you've already deleted. This guide walks through every cause and every fix, platform by platform.

Step 1: Diagnose the root cause first

Before diving into platform-specific fixes, figure out whether the problem is your meta tags or the platform's cache. These are completely different problems with completely different solutions.

Symptom	Likely Cause	Fix
No preview at all (blank)	Missing tags	Add og:title, og:image, og:description
Old preview showing (before your last edit)	Cache	Clear platform cache using debugger tools
Title shows but no image	Image issue	Image too small, wrong URL, or returns 4xx error
Preview works on one platform, not another	Platform-specific	Check each platform's specific requirements below
Preview worked before, now broken	Cache or Server	Check if page is blocked for bots; clear cache

Fixing Facebook (and Instagram) Previews

Facebook-specific requirements

• Image minimum: 600 × 315px. Recommended: 1200 × 628px.
• Image file size: Under 8MB (aim for under 1MB for fast loading)
• Image URL: Must be absolute HTTPS. Redirects are followed but can cause caching issues.
• og:type must be valid: Accepted values include website, article, product, video.movie. Unknown types fall back to website.
• og:url must match canonical: Facebook uses og:url to group share counts. If it doesn't match your canonical URL, your share count will be split across multiple URLs.

Common Facebook preview errors

• "Could not scrape URL" — Your page blocked Facebook's scraper bot. Check your robots.txt and any WAF/firewall rules for the facebookexternalhit user agent.
• "Provided og:image is not big enough" — Image is below the 600px minimum. Upload a larger image.
• Image shows for some people, not others — Different people are hitting different cache states. After scraping, wait 30 minutes for the cache to propagate globally.

Fixing Twitter / X Card Previews

Twitter-specific requirements & gotchas

• Use name= not property= — Twitter meta tags use name="twitter:card", not property="twitter:card". This is the #1 mistake.
• Twitter falls back to OG tags — If twitter:title is missing but og:title exists, Twitter uses the OG tag. You can get away with only OG tags, but explicit Twitter tags give you more control.
• Cards may not show in all tweet formats — Since the X rebrand, link card visibility depends on the tweet format and user settings. Always test by tweeting the actual URL.
• Twitter caches less aggressively — Cache typically refreshes within a few hours. If your fix isn't showing, wait 2-4 hours or use the Card Validator to force a re-scrape.
• Image must be publicly accessible — Twitter's bot must be able to fetch the image without authentication or Cloudflare bot challenges.

Fixing LinkedIn Post Previews

LinkedIn-specific requirements

• Image minimum: 1200 × 627px — This is non-negotiable. Anything smaller and LinkedIn shows the link with no image.
• LinkedIn reads og:title and og:description — LinkedIn does not use Twitter Card tags. Only OG tags apply.
• og:image:secure_url — LinkedIn may prefer the og:image:secure_url tag (HTTPS version of the image URL). Worth adding if you're having SSL-related image issues.
• Cache refresh takes time — Even after using the Post Inspector, LinkedIn's cache can take 24-48 hours to fully propagate. For urgent posts, use the Post Inspector immediately before sharing.
• Company pages behave differently — Company page posts sometimes override OG previews with LinkedIn's own formatting. This is expected behavior.

Fixing Slack Unfurl Previews

Slack-specific quirks

• Slack shows description — Unlike Twitter (which sometimes hides descriptions), Slack always shows og:description. Make it count.
• No official Slack cache-busting tool — Unlike Facebook and LinkedIn, there's no official Slack tool to force a re-scrape. Your options are: wait 24-48 hours, or re-share the link in a new message.
• Image size: forgiving — Slack is the most forgiving platform for image sizes. Even a 200×100px image will show. Recommended minimum is 600×315px.
• Rich unfurls via Slack apps — If you have a Slack app integration, you can provide rich structured unfurls beyond what OG tags support. See Slack's API docs for attachments and Block Kit unfurls.
• Unfurls disabled for some domains — Slack automatically prevents unfurls for certain domains to combat spam. If your domain is new or has a poor reputation, unfurls may be suppressed.

Universal pre-share checklist

Before sharing any important link on social media, run through this checklist:

Why social media previews break in the first place

Understanding the root causes helps you prevent problems before they happen. Social media previews break for a handful of predictable reasons:

1. Missing OG tags — The page was published without any Open Graph markup. The developer (or CMS) didn't include them. Statistically, this is the most common cause.
2. Cached old metadata — You've updated your tags but platforms still show the old version. Every platform caches aggressively (Facebook: up to 30 days; LinkedIn: 7 days; Twitter: a few hours).
3. Image URL issues — The og:image URL is relative instead of absolute, the image is behind authentication, the server returns a non-200 status code, or the image was deleted.
4. Bot blocking — Security tools like Cloudflare, ModSecurity, or custom WAF rules may block social media scraper bots. Check for 403 Forbidden in your server logs.
5. Image too small — The image exists and is accessible, but it doesn't meet the platform's minimum dimensions. LinkedIn is the most common victim of this.
6. Wrong attribute syntax — Using name= instead of property= for OG tags (or vice versa for Twitter tags). Tags are silently ignored.
7. Dynamic rendering issues — Single-page applications (React, Vue, Angular) that render content via JavaScript may show blank OG tags to bots that don't execute JavaScript.