Social Media Preview Tool
Enter any public URL and see how it will look when shared on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Slack and Discord. The tool reads the page's Open Graph and Twitter Card tags, measures the share image and flags what is missing or wrong.
- 6 platform previews at once
- Measures the share image
- Lists every tag it found
Need to fix the tags? Use the Open Graph Generator, then check the title and description in Google with the Title and Meta Description Preview.
One URL, six previews, and the reasons behind them
The previews are built from the tags the platforms read, using the same fallbacks they use. The notes under each card show where each value came from.
Platform previews
Facebook, X, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Slack and Discord, each drawn the way that platform lays out a link card.
Image measurement
The og:image is downloaded once to read its format, pixel size, ratio and file size, so a too-small or oversized image is caught.
A checklist
Missing tags, relative image addresses, titles that will be cut off, duplicate tags and a canonical that disagrees with og:url.
Every tag found
A table of all Open Graph, Twitter Card, article and product tags on the page, with the values exactly as written.
Paste or type
Check a page before it goes live by pasting its HTML, or try variations by typing a title, description and image.
Straight to the fix
Send what the page has now to the Open Graph Generator, correct it and copy clean tags.
Which tags each platform reads, and in what order
When a tag is missing, platforms fall back to another one. The previews follow these fallbacks, which is why a page with no Open Graph tags can still show something.
| Platform | Title | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facebook, WhatsApp, Discord | og:title, then the title tag | og:description, then the meta description | og:image |
| X (Twitter) | twitter:title, og:title, then the title tag | twitter:description, og:description, then the meta description | twitter:image, then og:image. Layout from twitter:card |
| og:title, then the title tag | Not shown | og:image | |
| Slack | og:title, twitter:title, then the title tag | og:description, twitter:description, then the meta description | og:image, then twitter:image |
How to preview a link before you share it
Run the check on the live page, and again after every fix.
Enter the address
Paste the full page address. For a page that isn't live yet, paste its HTML or type the values.
Read the previews
Compare the six cards. Look for a missing image, a cut-off title or an empty description.
Work through the checks
Fix errors first, then warnings. Open the tags table to see exactly what the page declares.
Fix and refresh caches
Update the tags, then re-scrape the URL in each platform's own debugger, because platforms cache previews.
Why a shared link looks wrong
Most problems fall into a few groups.
No image or a tiny thumbnail
The og:image is missing, relative, blocked, or smaller than 600 x 315 pixels. Use an absolute https image at 1200 x 630.
An old preview keeps showing
Platforms cache previews for days. Scrape the URL again in the platform's debugger after the change.
The crawler can't reach the page
Login walls, robots.txt rules and firewalls that block social crawlers produce empty previews.
Tags added by JavaScript
Social crawlers don't run JavaScript. The tags must be in the HTML the server sends.
Duplicate tags
Two plugins writing og:title give conflicting values. Platforms use the first, which may not be the one you want.
Wrong crop
Platforms crop to different ratios. Keep the key content in the centre of a 1200 x 630 image.
What a social media preview tool shows and why to check it
When you paste a link into a post or a chat, the platform sends a crawler to fetch the page and read its head. From the Open Graph tags it finds, it builds a card with a title, a description and an image. A social media preview tool does the same fetch for you before you share, and draws the card so you can see what people will see, instead of finding out after the post is live.
The checks matter because the failures are quiet. The page loads fine in a browser, yet the card has no image, an old title, or a headline cut off halfway. Common causes are a missing og:image, a tag set by JavaScript that the crawler may not run, two plugins writing the same tag, or a server that blocks the platform's crawler. Facebook's sharing documentation notes that its crawler guesses when tags are missing, and that images are cached by URL.
This tool reads the tags, measures the share image, applies the fallbacks each platform uses and lists every tag it found, with a checklist of problems. The previews are close approximations, because platforms change layouts and crop images their own way. Use the tool to catch missing or weak tags, then confirm the final result in each platform's own debugger.
When to preview a shared link
Check a link whenever a bad card would cost you clicks, and again after every fix.
Before you post or send a campaign
Paste the final URL and look at all six cards. A missing image or a cut-off title is much easier to fix before the post goes to your audience.
When a shared link looks wrong
If a colleague reports a blank card or an old headline, enter the URL and read the checklist. It points to the tag, the image or the crawler problem behind it.
After launching or redesigning a site
New templates can drop the tags, switch to relative image paths or add duplicates. Check the home page, a post and a product page for each template.
Testing a page that is not live yet
Paste the page's HTML or type a title, description and image to preview staging work. The image still needs a public address to appear.
Looking at a competitor's cards
Enter a competing page to see what its title, image and description look like when shared, and how complete its tags are.
Quality checks in a site audit
Run a sample of key pages during an audit and note which tags are missing, duplicated or in conflict with the canonical address.
Why a shared link looks wrong, and what to do
Each symptom below usually has one clear cause.
Tags added only by JavaScript
What goes wrong: If a script writes the Open Graph tags in the browser, a crawler that does not run scripts never sees them. Google notes that not all bots can run JavaScript, so tags that exist only after a script runs are a risk.
The fix: Output the tags in the HTML the server sends. In a single-page app, use server-side rendering or pre-rendering for the head.
A crawler that is blocked
What goes wrong: A login wall, a firewall rule or a security plugin that blocks unfamiliar bots can return an error to the crawler, so the card is empty or shows a generic error.
The fix: Allow the platform's crawler through your firewall and make the page public. Test the URL with the platform's own debugger to see the exact response it got.
Seeing an old preview after a fix
What goes wrong: Platforms cache previews. Facebook says images are cached by URL and are not updated unless the URL changes, so the old card keeps showing after you edit the file.
The fix: Use a new file name for the new image, update the tag, then re-scrape the page in the platform's debugger.
Duplicate or conflicting tags
What goes wrong: Two plugins, or a plugin and a theme, each write og:title. The crawler may use the first one, which may not be the one you intended.
The fix: View the page source and search for each property. Keep one source of social tags and turn off the other so every property appears once.
An image that is relative or too small
What goes wrong: A relative path has no domain for the crawler to fetch, and Facebook's documentation says images under 600 x 315 pixels display much smaller, with 200 x 200 as the minimum.
The fix: Use a full https address and an image of at least 1200 x 630 pixels. Keep the main subject near the centre because platforms crop differently.
Tags in the page but far down the HTML
What goes wrong: Facebook says Open Graph properties must be listed before the first 1 MB of the page, or they are cut off. A very heavy page with tags at the bottom can fail.
The fix: Place meta tags high in the head, before large inline scripts or styles, and keep the head light.
Social preview terms explained
- Link preview card
- The box a platform draws under a shared link, usually with an image, a title, a description and the site name. Its content comes from the page's Open Graph and similar tags.
- Open Graph tags
metatags in thehead, defined by the Open Graph protocol. The four required ones areog:title,og:type,og:imageandog:url, and others such asog:descriptionare optional.- Fallback
- What a platform uses when a tag is missing, such as the title tag for a missing
og:title. The tool follows the fallbacks each platform uses, and shows which source filled each value. - Social crawler
- The bot a platform sends to fetch a page when a link is shared. Facebook's is called
facebookexternalhit. It reads the HTML it receives, and may not run scripts. - Cache
- Stored copy of what a crawler saw. Platforms reuse it for days, so a fixed page can still show an old card until the platform fetches it again.
- Sharing Debugger
- Facebook's tool that shows which tags its crawler read and lists errors and warnings. It also triggers a fresh scrape after you change your tags.
- Aspect ratio
- The width-to-height proportion of the image. Facebook advises keeping images close to 1.91 to 1, so a 1200 x 630 pixel image is shown without cropping in the feed.
- og:url and canonical
og:urlshould be the clean canonical address. If it differs from the page's canonical tag, the tool flags it, because shares may then be counted against different URLs.
Related tools, guides and services
Once you can see the card, these help you fix it and the rest of the page head.
Open Graph Generator
Build clean Open Graph and X card tags from a short form, then paste them into your page head.
ToolMeta Tag Checker
Audit the title, description, canonical, robots and social tags on a page in one report.
ToolTitle & Meta Description Preview
Check how the same page will look in Google results, which is separate from the share card.
ToolImage SEO Checker
Check image file size, format, dimensions and alt text across a page, including its social share image.
ToolUTM Builder
Add campaign tags to the link you share so GA4 shows which post brought each visit.
ServiceOn-page SEO service
Get titles, descriptions and metadata reviewed across your templates.
Built by
Madhav Kushwaha
SEO, AEO, GEO & Digital Marketing Consultant in Kathmandu, Nepal, and trainer at ODcrU Academy and TechAxis Institute. I built this tool because social previews are one of the quickest wins in a site audit and one of the most often skipped. Seeing six platforms side by side, with the exact tag each one used, makes the problem obvious in seconds.
Social Media Preview Tool: Frequently Asked Questions
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