When someone shares a link to your page, apps such as Facebook, iMessage, WhatsApp and LinkedIn show a preview card with a picture, a title and often a short description. In EverWeb you choose these for each page: the picture in Social Media Image, the title in Web Page Title and the description in Web Page Description, all in Inspector > Page Settings. Then publish. If an app still shows an old preview, you can ask Facebook to read the page again with its Sharing Debugger.
When you'd use this
- A florist's links on WhatsApp and Facebook show no picture at all.
- A photographer shares each new blog post on Facebook and wants the post's main photo on the card.
- A designer renamed their business, but pasting the link into a message still shows the old logo.
What EverWeb adds, and what needs SEO PowerUp
These preview details are called Open Graph tags. They're hidden in the page for sharing apps to read.
| Preview part | Comes from | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| Picture | Social Media Image | Included in EverWeb |
| Title | Web Page Title | Included in EverWeb |
| Page address | The page's address | Included in EverWeb |
| Description as a sharing tag | Web Page Description | SEO PowerUp, with Optimize & Submit Website to Search Engines ticked |
| Blog post title and picture | The post's title and its main picture | SEO PowerUp, with Optimize & Submit Website to Search Engines ticked |
Without SEO PowerUp, your Web Page Description is still on the page as the normal description, and many apps use it. SEO PowerUp is $29.95 USD a year, and it's included with Hosting Pro and larger EverWeb + Hosting plans.
Set the picture and text
- Select the page in the page list. Do this on each page you'll share, starting with your home page. It can't be set on a Master Page.
- Go to Inspector > Page Settings.
- In Web Page Title, type the headline you want people to see, such as "Fresh flowers delivered in Toronto".
- Open the Search Engine Optimization section. Next to Social Media Image, click Choose... and pick your picture.
- In Web Page Description, write one or two sentences that make people want to click.
- Publish. Apps only see the published page, not your project or Preview.
Picture tips:
- Use a picture about 1200 x 630 pixels, wider than it is tall. Facebook uses this shape.
- Some apps crop the picture to a square, so keep the important part in the middle.
- Use a photo, or your logo on a plain background. Small text in the picture is hard to read on a phone.
Refresh a preview that's out of date
Sharing apps save the preview the first time anyone shares a link, and may keep showing it after you change your page.
- Facebook: sign in to the Facebook Sharing Debugger, paste your page's address, click Debug, then Scrape Again. The new preview applies to new posts. Posts you already made may keep the old one.
- LinkedIn: paste the address into the LinkedIn Post Inspector.
- iMessage and WhatsApp: these keep their own saved copy on the phone for a while. To test your new preview, send the link with ?1 added to the end, such as yoursite.com/about.html?1.
Common problems
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| No picture at all | That page has no Social Media Image, or the change isn't published yet. Set it, publish, then refresh the preview (see above) |
| The old picture or title still shows | The app saved an older copy. Use the Sharing Debugger or Post Inspector |
| You changed the favicon but the preview didn't change | The favicon is the small icon in the browser tab. The preview picture is the Social Media Image. See Can I add a Favicon to my site in EverWeb? |
| A blog post shares with no picture | Give the post a main picture, check SEO PowerUp is on, then publish with File > Publish Entire Site |
| The description is missing or shows random text from the page | Fill in Web Page Description. With SEO PowerUp, EverWeb also adds it as a sharing tag |
| The picture is cropped or blurry | Use a bigger picture, about 1200 x 630 pixels, with the important part in the middle |
| The Sharing Debugger can't read the page | Check the page is published and opens in a private browser window. Password-protected pages can't show a preview |
| Your website was last published with an older EverWeb | Update EverWeb, then publish with File > Publish Entire Site |