OG preview troubleshooting
Why Is My OG Image Still Wrong After I Fixed It? 7 Common Causes
Updated your OG tags or social image but the preview still looks wrong? Use this 7-step checklist to debug stale cache, bad image URLs, size issues, and deploy mismatches.
You fixed the title, description, or image — but Slack, X, Discord, or LinkedIn still show the wrong preview. That usually means the problem is no longer the content itself. It is the path between your page and the platform scraper.
Use this checklist to find the real failure point fast, then verify the final URL before your next launch, post, or announcement.
Fastest next step
Before you publish the link, run the final URL through the free OG preview checker.
1. Confirm you are testing the final production URL
A lot of preview bugs come from testing a staging URL, a redirected URL, or a version with parameters that platforms do not actually scrape. Open the exact production URL you plan to share and inspect the final HTML there.
- Open the final production URL in a fresh browser session.
- Verify redirects land on the destination you expect.
- Confirm the final page source contains your updated OG tags.
2. Make sure og:image is absolute and publicly accessible
Some scrapers ignore relative image paths or fail when the image sits behind auth, hotlink protection, or restrictive headers. The page may look fine in-browser while the crawler still cannot fetch the image.
- Use a full HTTPS image URL.
- Confirm the image opens directly in an incognito tab.
- Avoid signed URLs or assets that expire.
3. Check image size, aspect ratio, and readability
Even when the image loads, the card can still look broken if the asset is too small, badly cropped, or filled with tiny text. Use a landscape-friendly image and keep the key message centered.
- Use 1200×630 as your default target.
- Keep strong contrast and minimal copy.
- Avoid putting important text near the outer edges.
4. Verify the deploy actually reached production
You may have fixed the issue in code or in your CMS, but the live page can still serve the old HTML through a failed deployment or stale CDN edge cache. If the production HTML is old, re-scraping will not help.
- Check your latest deployment finished successfully.
- Inspect the production page source, not local code.
- Confirm the CDN is serving the updated HTML.
5. Force a re-scrape when platforms cache old metadata
Once Slack, X, Discord, or LinkedIn fetch your page, they often cache the result for a while. That means your fix can be correct while the old card still shows temporarily.
- Only re-share after you confirm the live HTML is correct.
- Use any available debugger or refresh tool for that platform.
- If no manual refresh exists, give the cache time to expire.
6. Check for CMS or template overrides
Many sites set metadata in more than one place: a CMS field, layout template, SEO plugin, or framework metadata helper. You can update one layer while another still wins in the final rendered page.
- Inspect the final rendered HTML.
- Compare page-level metadata with layout defaults.
- Look for SEO plugin or CMS fallback fields still being applied.
7. Test every important URL before you share it
The fastest way to prevent broken social cards is to add preview QA to your publishing workflow. Run the final URL through a checker before launch posts, changelog announcements, and campaign shares.
- Preview the final URL across channels.
- Inspect title, description, and image quality.
- Fix weak elements before the link goes live.
Turn this into a repeatable workflow
The easiest way to avoid broken social cards is to preview every important URL before you post it. That protects first-click trust and catches weak images before they burn launch traffic.