Fix your broken link previews
Five problems break link previews, and every one has a fix. Find yours, see it fixed, keep it fixed.
Bot blockers eat the crawler
Your WAF can't tell a preview crawler from a scraper, so every shared link renders as a bare URL.
Broken
The crawler got a connection reset, so the chat gets a bare URL.
United · SFO to Tokyo
united.com
The OpenGraph+ Fix
Cards hosted outside the blocked domain still resolve.
No tags at all
With nothing in the head, every platform improvises a different card from scraps.
Broken
No tags, so every platform improvises. This one chose the naked URL.
Hacker News · 847 points
news.ycombinator.com
The OpenGraph+ Fix
The same link with a card: points, comments, a reason to tap.
One image on every page
One theme default on every route means every link you share looks like a repeat, and repeats get scrolled past.
Liquid Death | Murder Your Thirst
liquiddeath.com
Products | Liquid Death
liquiddeath.com/collections/all
Page not found
liquiddeath.com/pages/…
Broken
Three pages of the same site. The titles differ, but one theme-default image makes every link a repeat.
Liquid Death | Murder Your Thirst
liquiddeath.com
Products | Liquid Death
liquiddeath.com/collections/all
Page not found
liquiddeath.com/pages/…
The OpenGraph+ Fix
The same three pages, each rendering its own card. The titles didn't change — the images did.
The wrong-shaped image
Logos, banners, and square art crammed into a 1.91:1 slot, cut differently by every platform.
coca-cola.com
Sprite - Official Home Page
Broken
A 477px logo upscaled into a 1200px slot: fuzzy, clipped, and anonymous. Very common.
Obey Your Thirst
coca-cola.com
The OpenGraph+ Fix
Composed at the slot's own size, nothing cropped or stretched.
Half the tags
Ship half the tags and platforms write your headline for you, differently everywhere, on the pages you share most.
Patreon | Home – Index
www.patreon.com › join › creator-name…
Broken
og:image with no og:title, so the platform wrote the headline from the tab title.
Turn your biggest fans into your business
patreon.com
The OpenGraph+ Fix
The complete set: the pitch in the headline, on purpose.