When someone shares a webpage in a message or social post, the app or website receiving the link may show a card with the page’s title, description, image, and domain. That card is a link preview. On a WordPress site, you control much of the information in the card by setting the page’s details in its HTML (metadata) and choosing a preview image. The platform receiving the link decides how to show the card and when to update its saved copy.
If you publish on WordPress, PressQueue can set the social image that appears in previews and share posts through Buffer. For links you receive, controls depend on the messaging app. You manage what your site offers; each platform and recipient manages how a preview appears.
What a link preview reads from your page
Most website link previews use metadata in the page’s HTML. Open Graph is a standard set of tags that tells services how to represent a page when someone shares its URL. The Open Graph protocol defines four required properties: the page title, content type, image, and canonical URL. A description and image description are also useful additions.
A crawler is software that visits a webpage and collects details for a preview. It reads these tags and sends the details to the platform, which creates its own card. The platform may crop or arrange the image differently, and it may keep showing an older copy after you update the page.
A browser view of your page does not confirm what a recipient will see. If a preview shows an old title or image, check the page’s metadata and give the platform time to update its saved copy, called a cache. Preview behavior and refresh timing vary by platform, so changing your site does not update an existing preview right away.
Control the preview on your WordPress site
For each post, set a clear title and description, choose an image, and provide the page’s canonical URL, its preferred web address. Choose an image that represents the page and is easy to understand when shown in a small card. The Open Graph protocol recommends an og:image:alt value when a page specifies an image; that text should describe the image for people who cannot see it.
WordPress search engine optimization (SEO) plugins can manage the details that appear when people share a page. If you set an image for a post in the SEO plugin, it takes priority over a site-wide social image in PressQueue. After changing a page, check its metadata and preview it on the platforms where you share links. A platform may keep showing its saved copy for a while.
Control previews in messages you send or receive
Your site’s metadata shapes the card, but each messaging app decides whether to show one. Some controls affect only what you see or the links you send.
In iMessage, senders can select Convert to Text Link before sending a link. Recipients can hide an individual preview, but they cannot use that preference to turn off previews for every link others send them. iMessage preview controls vary by device and version.
In current Outlook.com and Outlook on the web, you can turn off previews under Settings > Mail > Compose by clearing Preview links in email. Microsoft’s instructions give a different path for classic Outlook on the web.
In Google Messages, find preview controls under Messages settings > Automatic previews. Turn off Show all previews to stop automatic previews. You can also limit previews to web links. Check the settings on your device, since previews can look different across app versions. Google also advises users to share only trusted links because URLs can contain personal details, such as location or banking information. See Google Messages preview settings.
Set social images with PressQueue
PressQueue is a free, open source WordPress plugin that shares posts on social media through Buffer. Its social image can also provide the og:image and twitter:image values that platforms use for link previews. PressQueue works with Yoast SEO, Rank Math, The SEO Framework, and Jetpack. If you do not use an SEO plugin, PressQueue adds the tags itself.
To set it up:
- Download pressqueue.zip from the PressQueue download page. In WordPress, go to Plugins > Add Plugin > Upload Plugin and upload the ZIP.
- Paste a personal Buffer API key from your Buffer settings. There is no login button; PressQueue stores the key encrypted. Add your social accounts to Buffer first. PressQueue can share through Buffer to LinkedIn, X, Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads and Facebook.
- In PressQueue, open Settings > Social images. Choose a background or your own image. Then set the font and text color, choose the alignment, and enter the site name. PressQueue draws an image using the post title and site name in a wide format suited to link previews. It creates the image when a post first needs one and redraws it when the title or style changes. The image stays out of the Media Library.
- Choose whether PressQueue applies its social image to every post or only to posts without their own image. You can also set it to apply to no posts. An image set for an individual post in your SEO plugin takes priority.
- Leave PressQueue in Test mode while you check what it would share. Then switch to Live when the messages and images look right. A sharing rule starts off, so test it before turning it on.
PressQueue needs a WordPress site that allows plugin uploads and a Buffer account with social accounts added. To create images, it needs PHP GD with FreeType font support, which most hosts provide. If image creation is unavailable, posts still go out with text and a link. For setup details, see the PressQueue documentation.
Check the link before you share it
A preview shows page information before someone opens the link. Review the title, description, and image as content the public can see. Avoid sharing private access links that contain tokens or personal information. Separate research on URL scanning services found that publicly accessible scanned links sometimes exposed sensitive information. That finding concerns those services, not messaging-app previews. Treat a sensitive URL as sensitive wherever you share it.