If no image appears when you share your site's link on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn, your page's Open Graph tags are missing or wrong. These tags (og:title, og:description, og:image) decide which title, description and image appear in the link preview. The image should be given as a full address (starting with https), be about 1200x630 pixels and have a small file size. If the old preview still shows after you fix the tags, the problem is caching; you can refresh the preview with Facebook's Sharing Debugger.
It looks like a small detail, but for a business that gets customers through WhatsApp, the preview is the site's first impression. A link arriving as a grey box without an image is unlikely to be clicked.
Who decides the preview?
When a link is shared, apps like WhatsApp or Facebook send their own crawler to your page and read the meta tags at the top. The tags they look at:
- og:title: the preview title. Without it, the page's title tag is used.
- og:description: the short description under the title.
- og:image: the preview image. Without it, the app picks a random image from the page or shows none.
- og:url: the page's canonical address.
X (Twitter) also looks at the twitter:card tag; without it, it uses the Open Graph tags.
This preview has nothing to do with Google search results. The title and description shown on Google are a separate matter; we cover that in Google shows a different title for my site.
Check: does your page have the tags?
Right-click the page, view the source and search for og:image. There are three possibilities:
- None at all. The theme or platform doesn't generate these tags. On WordPress, SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math add them automatically and let you choose an image per page.
- Present, but the image address is relative. If og:image contains a path like /uploads/image.jpg with no domain, apps can't find the image. The address must be complete, like https://yourdomain.com/uploads/image.jpg.
- Present, but the image starts with http or can't be reached. Open the image address in a private window. If it doesn't load or shows a security warning, the preview won't work either.
The right preview image
- Size: 1200x630 pixels (a 1.91:1 ratio) looks right on most platforms. For platforms that crop to a square, keep important text and the logo in the centre.
- Format: JPG or PNG is the safest choice. SVG isn't shown in previews; WebP may not be supported in every app.
- File size: very large files may fail to load, or load late, in some apps. Staying under a few hundred KB is a safe target.
- Content: it should be readable on a small phone screen. Thin, small text gets lost in the preview.
You don't need a separate image for every page. One default image for the site, with blog posts and products using their own cover images, is a good balance. Kodyva's own site has a 1200x630 default sharing image for all pages, and pages with a cover image use their own.
The tags are right but the old preview shows
Apps build a preview once and keep it for a while. That's why the old image appears after you fix the tag.
- For Facebook and Instagram, enter the address in Meta's Sharing Debugger and press 'Scrape Again'. The tool also shows which tags it read and any errors; it's the most useful diagnostic tool.
- For LinkedIn, the Post Inspector does the same job.
- WhatsApp's cache works separately and can't be refreshed by hand. A quick workaround is adding something like ?v=2 to the end of the link; WhatsApp treats it as a new address and builds a fresh preview. The old preview eventually refreshes on its own.
The tags are right but no preview appears at all
Then the app's crawler may not be able to reach your page:
- Cloudflare's bot protection modes or a security plugin may mistake Facebook's crawler for a bot and block it. The Sharing Debugger shows an error code in that case.
- The page is password-protected or only open to logged-in users.
- The page loads so slowly that the app times out.
- The site has no valid SSL certificate; we cover that in your connection is not private error.
Instagram and other platforms
Links in Instagram post captions aren't clickable, so previews matter mainly for link stickers in stories and in direct messages. The same Open Graph tags are read there. Always check the preview of the page your profile link opens.
We discuss using your site alongside Instagram in do I need a website if I have Instagram, and for moving WhatsApp customers to your site, see our WhatsApp button guide.
Setting up Open Graph tags and sharing images is one of the easiest jobs to get right when a site is built from the start. If you're considering a new site, have a look at our corporate website package, or write to us to fix the previews on your current site.
Frequently Asked Questions
What size should the WhatsApp preview image be?
A 1200x630 pixel image in JPG or PNG with a small file size displays well on most platforms. Keep important content in the centre.
I changed the image but WhatsApp still shows the old one. Why?
WhatsApp caches previews for a while. Adding something like ?v=2 to the end of the link creates a fresh preview; the old one refreshes on its own over time.
Do Open Graph tags affect Google rankings?
Not directly. But they can increase traffic by making shared links more clickable.
Blog posts are for general information only and are not a substitute for legal, financial or technical advice.
