SEO

Open Graph Protocol (OG tags)

Q: What is Open Graph?

Open Graph is a meta tag protocol for social media previews introduced by Facebook in 2010. It controls how a URL looks when shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and X — title, description, image.

Q: Which Open Graph tags are mandatory?

Four basic tags: og:title (title), og:description (description), og:image (preview image, at least 1200×630px), og:url (canonical URL). Without these tags, networks use fallback readings that usually produce a poorer result.

Q: Is Open Graph relevant for SEO?

Indirectly, yes. Better social previews lead to higher share rates, more backlinks and more brand signals. Open Graph is not a direct ranking factor, but it is an important lever for content distribution.

Also known as: Open Graph, OG tags, Facebook Open Graph

The Open Graph Protocol (OG tags for short) is a meta tag standard introduced by Facebook in 2010 that defines how a URL is presented as a card when shared on social media platforms — with title, description, preview image and type. Today the protocol is used by Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram and many other platforms. For SEO, OG tags are indirectly relevant: they increase the social click rate, and therefore referral traffic and brand awareness, which in the long term feeds into brand authority and direct search volume.

The most important OG tags

<meta property="og:title" content="Page title">
<meta property="og:description" content="Short description">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/preview.jpg">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/page">
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Example Magazine">
<meta property="og:locale" content="en_GB">

Twitter Cards as the sister format

Twitter/X partly uses its own tags (twitter:card, twitter:title, etc.), but falls back to OG tags when they are missing. Standard setup: OG tags are mandatory, Twitter Cards can be added optionally for maximum platform compatibility. One point matters with images: Twitter prefers a 2:1 format (1200×600), Facebook and LinkedIn 1.91:1 (1200×627). Anyone using a single image for all of them should choose 1200×627.

Typical OG mistakes

Missing og:image — platforms then show ”empty” cards without a preview.
Image too small — at least 1200×630 px, otherwise it looks pixelated.
og:url does not match the canonical — confusing for crawlers.
Image URL is a relative URL — this does not work, always use an absolute URL with the domain.
HTTPS error in og:image — images loaded over HTTP, platforms block mixed content.
og:title identical to the title tag — a missed opportunity: the title is for the SERP, OG is for social — a different optimisation logic.

Example from practice

Example: A magazine had no OG image for 800 articles — when shared on LinkedIn and WhatsApp, empty or random preview images were displayed. An automatically generated OG image was implemented for each article (title plus brand logo on the magazine background), with its own colour per section: after 4 weeks, referral traffic from social platforms doubled, because the click rate on shared URLs was considerably higher. The direct SEO effect was small, but brand awareness and social engagement rose — positive in the long term for direct brand searches.

Frequently asked questions

What is Open Graph?

Open Graph is a meta tag protocol for social media previews introduced by Facebook in 2010. It controls how a URL looks when shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and X — title, description, image.

Which Open Graph tags are mandatory?

Four basic tags: og:title (title), og:description (description), og:image (preview image, at least 1200×630px), og:url (canonical URL). Without these tags, networks use fallback readings that usually produce a poorer result.

Is Open Graph relevant for SEO?

Indirectly, yes. Better social previews lead to higher share rates, more backlinks and more brand signals. Open Graph is not a direct ranking factor, but it is an important lever for content distribution.

What is the difference to Twitter Cards?

Twitter Cards are Twitter-specific, Open Graph works across platforms. Modern practice: Open Graph tags as the basis, with Twitter automatically falling back to them when no Twitter-specific tags are set. Maintaining both is usually unnecessary.

Used in Rankmio for

OG tag check in the SEO audit

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Last updated: 2026-06-17 · Browse all glossary entries