Have you ever shared an article link via text or on social media and noticed how some posts have rich previews while others show only a plain URL? The secret behind this more engaging presentation is the Open Graph Protocol (OGP). OGP can significantly enhance the appeal of your content, increase visibility, and drive more traffic to your site.
What is Open Graph Protocol?
Open Graph Protocol is a set of meta tags added to the back-end of posts and pages to control how they are presented when shared. These tags ensure that a desired image accompanies the title and description, making the presentation more engaging and clickable.
Essential OGP Tags
Page Title: Titles should be short (ideally under 60 characters) to display well across all platforms without getting cut off. They should be precise and engaging to capture attention quickly.
Description: Descriptions complement titles by providing enough context to intrigue the viewer. They should be brief yet informative summaries that encourage clicks.
Image: The image needs to be of adequate quality, size, and ratio to ensure optimal display and fit the standard format across most social media platforms.
Canonical URL: Specifies the preferred version of a web page to avoid content duplication across multiple URLs. It also helps search engines optimization (SEO) by ensuring all link metrics are attributed to a single URL.
Type of Content: The type of content declaration helps both social platforms and search engines understand how to categorize and display the content appropriately (i.e. article, video, image, or another specific type).
Including Logo and Text in Open Graph Images
Sometimes it may be desirable to include the headline and logo within the image itself. This additional information should be visible without overwhelming the main content. Large, easily readable fonts should be used for good visibility across different screen sizes and devices.
Testing and Flexibility
To ensure the posts display correctly, they need to be tested across different platforms and devices. Keep in mind that not all messaging apps support link previews, and support can vary between platforms. Additionally, users may have link previews disabled on their devices. Multiple versions of OG images can also be supplied for different platforms if necessary.
