Link preview checker

Link previews: a plain-English guide

From the team at 37 Digital, a web studio in London · Updated 23 October 2026

37 Digital’s free link preview checker – also known as an Open Graph or meta tag checker – shows how a web page will look as a Google result and when it’s shared on LinkedIn or Facebook, and what to fix, such as a missing share image or a title that gets cut off. It reads one page, or HTML you paste in, and checks its title, description and share image and the tags behind them.

What are meta tags and Open Graph tags?

Meta tags are short pieces of code in a page’s HTML that tell search engines and social networks what the page is. Visitors don’t see most of them on the page, but they shape how the page looks in search results and feeds.

• Title tag – the <title> element. Google usually uses it as the headline of your search result.
• Meta description – a sentence or two summing up the page, which Google sometimes shows under the title.
• Canonical link – tells search engines which address is the main one when a page can be reached at several. Google reads it only in the <head> and recommends a full address.
• Noindex – a robots meta tag or X-Robots-Tag header asking search engines to leave a page out of their results.
• Open Graph tags – og:title, og:description, og:image (the share image) and others from the Open Graph protocol, which began at Facebook. Facebook and LinkedIn use them to build link previews.
• X card tags – twitter:card picks the kind of card X shows. For the title, description and image, X falls back to Open Graph when its own twitter: tags aren’t set.

How long should a title tag and meta description be?

Google sets no limit on either. It cuts both to fit the screen, and may show other text instead – see its guides to title links and snippets. As a practical guide, our checker suggests titles of 20–60 characters and descriptions of 70–160. It warns when either is longer, and adds a note when either is shorter: a title like “Home” rarely tells searchers what the page offers.

Put what the page is about first and your business name last, such as “Boiler Servicing in Croydon | Smith Plumbing”, and give every page its own. Google said in 2009 that it doesn’t use the meta description for ranking, and its current guidance likens a good one to a pitch to searchers. Because Google can rewrite both, our Google preview is marked approximate.

What size should a share image be?

Use a landscape image of 1200 × 630 pixels, saved as a JPG or PNG under 5 MB. That meets Facebook’s recommendation and LinkedIn’s minimum, and is within the limits for X’s large image card, which uses a slightly wider 2:1 shape.

Our checker reads the size in og:image:width and og:image:height, then measures the real image in your browser. It fails an image under Facebook’s 200 × 200 and warns about one under LinkedIn’s 1200 × 627, but can’t see the file size. Declaring the size matters: Facebook says it lets the image show the first time a page is shared. Use a full https:// address, and keep text away from the edges, which each network crops differently.

Why is my LinkedIn or Facebook link preview wrong?

Often because the network is still showing a copy it saved earlier. If the address has been shared before, LinkedIn may show the image it saved then, and Facebook won’t update a saved image unless its address changes – so give a new image a new file name. Other causes:

• No og:image. LinkedIn lists it as required, and neither network documents reading twitter:image.
• A relative or http:// image address – the checker warns about both.
• An image too small or too large – for LinkedIn, under 1200 × 627 or over 5 MB.
• A blocked image – LinkedIn says your site may be stopping it fetching the image.
• An og:url or redirect pointing elsewhere. Facebook uses the details at the end of the chain, so a share can show another page’s title and image.

Once it’s fixed, paste the address into LinkedIn’s Post Inspector and choose Inspect – that updates new posts, not ones already shared. For Facebook, log in, open the Sharing Debugger, paste the address, choose Debug, then Scrape Again.

How do I set Open Graph tags in WordPress, Squarespace, Wix or Shopify?

You rarely need to write them by hand: these builders and plugins add them, with boxes for the title, description and share image.

WordPress with Yoast SEO

In the Yoast SEO sidebar, Search appearance sets the SEO title and description, and Social media appearance the share image. Set a default image in Yoast’s Site basics settings.

WordPress with Rank Math

In the Rank Math panel, Edit Snippet on the General tab sets the title and description, and the Social tab the Facebook and X previews. The default image is under Rank Math SEO › Titles & Meta › Global Meta.

Squarespace

Click the gear icon beside a page in the Pages panel. The SEO tab sets its title and description, and the Social tab its share image. For the home page, set the title and description on the Home tab of your SEO settings instead.

Wix

In the editor, open Pages & Menu, then the page’s More Actions icon. SEO basics sets its title and description, and Social share its image.

Shopify

Edit a product’s or page’s search engine listing to set its title and description. In Shopify’s free themes, products, collections and blog posts share their featured image, and the home page’s settings are under Online Store › Preferences. Shopify usually blocks automated checks like ours, so paste your page’s HTML instead.

Next.js and other custom builds

In Next.js, set metadataBase so image addresses come out in full. A page’s own openGraph settings replace the layout’s rather than adding to them, so a share image set only in the layout can quietly disappear. On any other custom site, ask your developer to add og:title, og:description and og:image tags, with full https:// addresses, to each page’s head.

Why can’t the checker read my page?

Usually because the site’s security turns away automated checks, or because the site didn’t answer in time – some hosts don’t answer cloud servers like ours. It reads one page’s HTML, following up to 5 redirects, within 8 seconds and up to 2 MB.

Choose “Paste your page’s HTML instead” and paste what your browser shows. The same checks run, apart from redirects and the X-Robots-Tag header. Social networks’ own crawlers are usually let through, so a blocked check doesn’t mean your previews are broken.

Our checker doesn’t run JavaScript, so on a page built with JavaScript it may miss tags added in the browser. When a page looks like that, it says so and marks missing tags as notes rather than fails or warnings.

Reading your results

• Fail – something important is missing or won’t be shown. Only two things fail: a missing or empty title, and a share image under Facebook’s 200 × 200 minimum.
• Warning – it works, but may not show the way you’d like, such as a missing description or share image, a long title or a noindex.
• Note – worth knowing, and worth fixing if it applies to your page, such as a very short title or no canonical link.
• Pass – that part is set up well.

The share image’s real size is measured in your browser, so it shows under the previews rather than in the counts.

Common questions

Does X still use twitter: tags?

Yes, as far as X has documented. Its Cards markup reference says twitter:card sets the card type. X removed those pages from its developer site in 2026, so we link to an archived copy.

Do I need both Open Graph and twitter: tags?

You need Open Graph tags for Facebook and LinkedIn, plus twitter:card for X, without which X may show only a small card. X falls back to your Open Graph tags for the title, description and image, so you don’t need twitter: versions of those.

Why does Google show a different title from mine?

Google picks each headline automatically from several sources, including your title tag, main heading and og:title. It’s more likely to replace a title that’s half-empty, out of date or inaccurate, and only sees changes after it next crawls the page.

Why doesn’t Google show my meta description?

Google builds most snippets from the page itself, chosen to match each search, and may use the meta description when it describes the page better.

What do you keep when I run a check?

Not your results. Pasted HTML is checked in memory and never stored or logged. For 7 days we keep a short log of each check: the tool, the domain, the outcome, how long it took and a code for your connection that changes daily. We never store your IP address, and the counts behind the daily limits are deleted after 48 hours. Cloudflare, which runs the checker and its Turnstile bot check, does process your IP address. Our privacy policy and About our checker have the details.

Titles, descriptions and share images are part of the on-page work in our SEO and digital marketing service. Get in touch and we’ll take a look at yours.

More free checks

• Email security checker – See whether email from your domain is set up to reach inboxes and stop others sending as you. Checks SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
• Image alt text checker – Find images on a page that screen readers can’t describe, and how to fix them.
• All our free tools

Further reading

• WordPress SEO made simple: quick wins for higher search engine rankings
• The ultimate guide to creating SEO-friendly content for your website
• Is social media still relevant to business in 2025? Pros and cons

Checking rules last reviewed October 2026. About our checker