SEO Checks · On-Page
Open Graph tags explained: what we check & why they matter
Quick answer: Open Graph (OG) tags are meta tags that control how your page appears when shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, Discord, and other platforms. The three essential tags are og:title, og:description, and og:image. Our engine checks whether all three are present — and also checks for Twitter/X card tags as a companion check.
What are Open Graph tags?
Open Graph is a protocol originally created by Facebook that lets you control how your content appears when shared on social platforms. OG tags live in your page's <head> as meta elements:
<meta property="og:title" content="Your Page Title" /> <meta property="og:description" content="A compelling description of your page." /> <meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/page" /> <meta property="og:type" content="website" />
When someone shares your URL on Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, iMessage, or dozens of other platforms, these tags determine what the preview card looks like — the title, description, and image that appear.
Without OG tags, platforms attempt to auto-generate a preview by scraping your page. The result is usually a bare URL, a random paragraph of text, and either no image or the wrong one. Pages with proper OG tags get significantly more engagement when shared.
Why Open Graph tags matter for SEO
OG tags are not a direct Google ranking factor — Google doesn't use them for search rankings. But they significantly impact your traffic in other ways:
- Social click-through rate: A well-crafted OG card with a compelling title and image gets 2–5× more clicks than a bare URL. Social traffic drives backlinks, which do affect rankings.
- AI citation previews: AI systems like ChatGPT and Perplexity use OG metadata when generating source citations. Pages with OG tags get richer, more clickable citation cards in AI answers.
- Brand control: Without OG tags, you have no control over how your brand appears on social platforms. The auto-generated preview might use a navigation element as the title or a footer logo as the image.
- Messaging apps: Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, Teams, and iMessage all render link previews using OG tags. For B2B content, Slack previews alone can be a major traffic driver.
How our engine checks OG tags
We run two related checks on every page:
Check 1: Open Graph tags present
ID: quick-og-tags
Severity: Warning
Scope: Per page
Logic: We check for three required OG properties: og:title, og:description, and og:image. Each must be present and non-empty. If any of the three is missing, the check fails and we report exactly which tags are absent.
Why these three: og:title and og:description define the text of the share card. og:image defines the visual. Without all three, the preview is incomplete — a card without an image gets far less engagement, and a card without a title shows a raw URL.
What we don't flag: og:url and og:type are recommended but optional — platforms handle their absence gracefully. We focus on the three tags that directly impact how the share card looks.
Check 2: Twitter/X card tags
ID: quick-twitter-card
Severity: Info
Scope: Per page
Logic: We check for a twitter:card meta tag. If absent, we also check whether OG tags (og:title + og:image) are present as a fallback. If neither twitter:card nor OG fallback exists, the check fails. If OG tags exist but twitter:card is missing, we flag it as a soft recommendation.
Why we check it: X/Twitter uses its own card tags by default, falling back to OG tags when they're missing. An explicit twitter:card tag (usually summary_large_image) ensures the large image preview on X — without it, X may show a smaller card format even if og:image is present.
How to read your OG tags result
When you run a URL through our free checker, each OG check shows:
- Pass (green): All three OG tags (og:title, og:description, og:image) are present and non-empty. Twitter card tag is present.
- Warning (yellow) — OG tags missing: One or more of the three required OG tags is absent. The report lists exactly which ones.
- Info (blue) — Twitter card missing: No twitter:card tag found. If OG tags are present, X will fall back to them — but an explicit card tag is recommended for optimal display.
Our report also provides a ready-to-paste snippet with the missing tags, pre-filled with values from your page's existing title and description.
How to fix OG tag issues (by platform)
We have step-by-step fix guides for adding OG tags on every major CMS:
OG tag best practices
- og:title: Keep it under 60 characters. Don't duplicate your page title exactly — optimize for social context ("How to X" works better than "X | YourBrand").
- og:description: 2–3 sentences, under 200 characters. Focus on what the reader will get, not what the page is about.
- og:image: 1200×630 pixels (1.91:1 ratio), JPEG or PNG, under 5MB. Use absolute URLs (https://). Text on images should be large enough to read on mobile.
- Test before publishing: Use Facebook's Sharing Debugger, LinkedIn's Post Inspector, or X's Card Validator to preview how your card looks before sharing.
Open Graph tags and AI visibility
AI retrieval systems use OG tags as a signal for content quality and relevance. When ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude cites your page, the citation card often pulls from OG metadata — your og:title becomes the link text, og:description becomes the snippet, and og:image becomes the thumbnail.
Pages without OG tags get generic citations that are less likely to be clicked. Clean OG metadata is one of the simplest ways to improve how your content appears in AI-generated answers.
For a complete guide on AI citation optimization, see our How to get cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity & Claude guide.
Check your Open Graph tags
Our free checker tests OG tags, Twitter cards, and 60+ other SEO checks on your page — with a ready-to-paste snippet for any missing tags. No signup required.
Check your site free →FAQ
What are Open Graph tags?
Open Graph tags are meta tags in your HTML that control how your page appears when shared on social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, and Discord. The three essential tags are og:title, og:description, and og:image.
Do Open Graph tags affect SEO?
OG tags are not a direct ranking factor, but they heavily influence click-through rates from social platforms, messaging apps, and AI-generated citations. More clicks and shares drive backlinks, which do affect rankings.
What is the difference between OG tags and Twitter cards?
Open Graph tags are the universal standard used by Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, and most platforms. Twitter/X card tags are X-specific overrides. If Twitter card tags are absent, X falls back to OG tags. Most sites only need OG tags unless they want different content on X.
What size should og:image be?
The recommended og:image size is 1200×630 pixels (1.91:1 aspect ratio). This works across Facebook, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Slack, and Discord. Use JPEG or PNG format, keep it under 5MB, and use an absolute HTTPS URL.
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