Why every page needs a share image
When someone pastes your link into X, LinkedIn, Slack, iMessage or Discord, the preview card is built from your Open Graph tags. Without an og:image, you get a grey box or a random image from the page, and far fewer clicks. A clear image with the page title is the cheapest way to make shared links look intentional.
The right size
Use 1200 × 630 pixels (a 1.91:1 ratio). It is what Facebook and LinkedIn recommend, and X uses the same ratio for summarylargeimage cards. Keep important text away from the outer 60 pixels or so, because some apps crop the edges or round the corners. Keep the file under 5 MB; a PNG from this tool is usually a few hundred KB.
What makes a good OG image
- Big, short text. It shows at around 500 px wide in most feeds, smaller on phones. Six to ten words is plenty.
- High contrast. Dark on light or light on dark; avoid busy photos behind text.
- Your brand, small. A logo or domain in the corner tells people where the link goes.
- One template for the site. Same layout and colors with a different title per page builds recognition.
Adding it to your page
Upload the PNG to your site and add these tags to the page's <head>:
<meta property="og:image" content="https://yoursite.com/og-image.png">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">The Open Graph generator writes the full set of tags, and the Open Graph checker shows how a live URL will look when shared. Social apps cache previews, so after changing an image, use each platform's post inspector to refresh it.