Fixed: Facebook Image Not Showing When Sharing URLs

The other day, I wrote a blog post on how to find where your articles, photos, and other online media have been shared across social media. When I tried sharing my post on Facebook, the Facebook API refused to pull up the image from my blog post. Nobody wants to click a link without a picture or anything describing the link. No description = no traffic.

However, I did find a fix for this. Facebook has a handy tool called the Open Graph Object Debugger. 

Head on over to this handy little tool and paste your problematic URL in the box. While it doesn't solve the Facebook image not showing issue immediately, it does tell you what kind of issue you're dealing with.


Step-by-Step Video Guide on How to Fix the Facebook Image Not Showing Problem

The debugger gave me the following information:

More Than One OG URL Specified: Object at URL ‘http://writealoud.com/social-media-how-to-find-where-your-content-was-shared/’ of type ‘article’ is invalid because it specifies multiple ‘og:url’ values…

What Does This Mean?

Essentially, this notice says that I have conflicting information regarding Facebook in the code on my blog. This is true. I had accidentally turned on an alternate Facebook plug-in. Both plugins are adding Open Graph meta (which is confusing for Facebook.)

So, if you're struggling with the Facebook image not showing problem when sharing URLs, check out the debugger. If it displays the same error, you've probably got plug-ins fighting over what content to show to Facebook. If you're using WordPress, open your WordPress plug-in page and dig around to see what is generating og tags. You can also open your website in developer mode to view code and see if your site is indeed sending out competing og tags.

If You Don't Have Any og Tags Set:

Another issue that may be causing this is that none of your images are sending out og tags, in which case you'll want to install a plug-in to handle your social media tags. I strongly recommend getting one for Pinterest, too, especially if Pinterest doesn't recognize your images. (Pinterest is huge for getting traffic through your images.)

If the debugger is showing that you don’t have any og data specified, here is a guide to get Facebook images to show.

If it’s a different error, head on over to Google and ask it to fix your problems… err, I mean, search for it. If all else fails, hit me up. I’d be happy to help.

Further Troubleshooting to get Facebook to Pull Images

Alright, let's talk about some more ways to tackle issues with Facebook and your website's images just in case the above doesn't quite do the trick.

  • Take a look at your image sizes. Images look the best when they are at least 1200x630 pixels (you can get away with a minimum size of 600x315 pixels.) Check that your images are within these guidelines, so they play nice when shared.
  • Sometimes Facebook just hangs onto an old version of your link. This might be why the image isn't showing. To fix this, go back to the Open Graph Object Debugger and hit the "Scrape Again" button. This tells Facebook to grab the latest version of your URL. (Note: Facebook still may hang onto your images after this, so sometimes you just have to wait.)
  • It's always a good idea to peek at your website's source code to see if there are any errors or odd bits with the Open Graph tags. Broken or incorrect tags can be the culprit behind the image not showing. Back up your website before making any changes.
  • If you're using a content delivery network (CDN) for your website's images, make sure it's not blocking Facebook's crawlers. Double-check the CDN settings to confirm that Facebook's servers have access to your images.
  • Using WordPress or another content management system? Why not try a social media optimization plugin, like Yoast or All In One SEO? These tools let you control how your content appears when shared on social media, including Facebook. That said, choose one and only one. Otherwise, this could be an issue with your OG tags as well as other nasties that can occur with conflicting plug-ins.
  • Test different image formats like JPEG or PNG. The issue could be related to the image file type itself.
There you have it! These tips should help you solve the Facebook image not showing issue once and for all. Keep an eye on how your content looks when shared on Facebook, and you'll be well on your way to maintaining an engaging online presence.
Location: Chicago, IL, USA

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