web performance and seo
Link preview
A link preview is the automatically generated card with image, title, and description that appears when sharing URLs on social platforms.
What is Link preview?
A link preview is the automatically generated visual card that appears when a URL is shared on social media platforms, messaging apps, or email clients, displaying a thumbnail image, title, and description pulled from the page's Open Graph meta tags. When you paste a link on Facebook, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, or WhatsApp, the platform's crawler reads the destination page's og:image, og:title, and og:description tags to create this preview card. The image displayed in the card is controlled entirely by the og:image tag, not by manual upload from the person sharing the link.
Importance of Link preview
Link previews dramatically increase click-through rates on shared content because they provide visual context that makes links more engaging and trustworthy than plain text URLs. Without properly configured Open Graph images, your shared links appear as text-only cards that generate significantly fewer clicks and social engagement. The link preview image size you choose directly impacts how your content appears across all major platforms where your audience discovers and shares your work.
Link preview in Practice
When a marketing manager shares a blog post URL in a LinkedIn update, LinkedIn's crawler fetches the page and reads the og:image tag to display a 1200×630 px preview image alongside the article title and description. If the image is smaller than 200×200 px, Facebook will show only a small thumbnail instead of the full link preview card format. The same og:image appears consistently across all platforms where the link gets shared, from Slack messages to WhatsApp conversations.
Link preview Best Practices
- → Set og:image dimensions to exactly 1200×630 px for optimal display across Facebook, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, and messaging apps.
- → Use high-contrast text and clear visuals in link preview images since they display at small sizes in social feeds.
- → Test link previews using Facebook's Sharing Debugger and LinkedIn's Post Inspector before sharing important content.
- → Ensure og:image URLs are publicly accessible without authentication to prevent crawler access failures.
Example of Link preview
Related Terms
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a link preview image?
A link preview image is the thumbnail that appears in the visual card when you share a URL on social media or messaging platforms. It's automatically pulled from the webpage's og:image Open Graph tag and displayed alongside the page title and description. This image is controlled by the website owner through their og:image meta tag, not by the person sharing the link.
What size should link preview images be?
Link preview images should be 1200×630 pixels for optimal display across all major social platforms in 2026. This 1.91:1 aspect ratio works perfectly on Facebook, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Discord, Slack, and messaging apps without cropping. LinkedIn is slightly stricter and prefers exactly 1200×627 px, while Facebook requires a minimum of 200×200 px to show the full preview card format.
Why is my link preview not showing an image?
Your link preview isn't showing an image because the og:image meta tag is either missing from your webpage or the image URL is inaccessible to platform crawlers. Other common causes include image dimensions below platform minimums (Facebook needs at least 200×200 px) or the platform displaying a cached version of your page from before you added the og:image tag. Use Facebook's Sharing Debugger or LinkedIn's Post Inspector to refresh the cache and troubleshoot the issue.