Open Graph Tags for WhatsApp

Which meta tags WhatsApp uses and how it builds link previews

Supported Open Graph tags

Tag Purpose
og:title Preview title (primary)
og:description Preview description text
og:image Preview image
og:url Canonical URL for the preview
og:type Content type hint
og:site_name Displayed as the source domain

og:video and og:audio are ignored. There’s no inline media playback in previews.

The og:image URL must be absolute HTTPS

The single most common tag mistake. WhatsApp needs a fully qualified HTTPS URL:

<!-- Correct -->
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/preview.jpg">

<!-- Won't work: relative URL -->
<meta property="og:image" content="/images/preview.jpg">

<!-- Won't work: HTTP instead of HTTPS -->
<meta property="og:image" content="http://example.com/images/preview.jpg">

Title and description truncation

WhatsApp truncates aggressively:

  • Title: 60-81 characters depending on device width
  • Description: 65-81 characters depending on device width

Front-load the important stuff. Don’t rely on the full text being visible.

Fallback behavior

Missing og:title falls back to <title>. Missing og:description falls back to <meta name="description">.

If both og:title and og:description are missing (and no HTML fallbacks exist), WhatsApp generates no preview at all, just a plain URL.

Recommended minimal setup

<meta property="og:title" content="Your Page Title">
<meta property="og:description" content="A brief description of the page content.">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/preview.jpg">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/page">