What is an OG Image?
An OG image is the preview image identified by Open Graph metadata for a web page. Supporting social networks and messaging services may display it when users share the page’s URL.
How OG Images work
An OG image is discovered from structured page metadata by crawlers that build link cards outside the normal browser rendering path. The metadata supplies a URL and can add dimensions, MIME type, alt text, or multiple candidates, while each consumer applies its own selection and crop rules. Crawlers may fetch infrequently and cache both tags and image bytes, so updates are not always immediate. Publishing workflows generate a stable, publicly retrievable asset and validate the server response as well as the page markup.
Key facts
- 1Using an absolute HTTPS URL for og:image avoids ambiguity when crawlers resolve metadata from redirects, alternate hosts, or noncanonical page URLs.
- 2Declaring og:image:width and og:image:height can help a crawler reserve or choose an asset without first decoding it, but consumers may ignore them.
- 3Robots restrictions, authentication, expiring signatures, incorrect MIME responses, or blocked crawler user agents can all prevent the preview fetch.
When OG Images matter
Choose an image with dimensions and content suited to link previews, because platforms may crop or resize it. Missing or inaccessible metadata can produce an unrelated thumbnail or no image.