When you share a webpage on social media, the platform may show a preview with an image, title, and description. The platform gets these details from Open Graph, a set of tags in the page’s metadata (information about the page) that tell social platforms what to display when someone shares a link.
For a reliable starting point, make the image 1200 × 630 pixels, close to a 1.91:1 aspect ratio. That size suits large link previews across many platforms, but each platform decides how to display or crop the image. PressQueue, a free WordPress plugin that shares posts through Buffer, can also create social images and use them as link-preview images for your posts.
Use 1200 × 630 pixels as your baseline
An image measuring 1200 × 630 pixels gives platforms enough detail for a large preview while matching the wide shape many previews use. These dimensions give the image an aspect ratio of about 1.91:1, which describes how its width compares with its height. The Open Graph guidance summarized by Duplika recommends an image close to this size for most large previews.
Platform recommendations can differ slightly. LinkedIn’s large preview guidance is 1200 × 627 pixels, which has nearly the same shape. Published guidance for X varies, so treat 1200 × 630 as a practical shared starting point rather than a guarantee that every platform will show the image without cropping.
Keep the subject and any essential text near the center of the image. A platform can crop the edges or use a different preview format, and it controls the final presentation. For a post about a product, for example, place the product name and main image where a modest crop will not remove them.
Dimensions do not guarantee a preview
The page must identify the image with an og:image tag, which gives the platform the image’s address. The address needs to be a complete public URL, such as https://example.com/image.jpg, rather than a path that starts with /. The image should load over HTTPS and return a successful response. It should also remain available to platform crawlers without a sign-in. These crawlers are the automated software platforms use to fetch page content. These requirements and the basic Open Graph fields are outlined in Duplika’s overview of social meta tags.
If the image is missing from a preview, check the page’s metadata and whether the image URL loads publicly. Some systems also provide metadata for the image’s width and height, so a platform’s automated crawler knows its dimensions before downloading it. These fields are optional in the Open Graph specification, but they can help a crawler identify the image’s size before downloading it.
Platforms cache link previews. That means a platform may keep showing an older image after you update the page. Check the preview with the platform’s sharing debugger or inspection tool where available, and allow for cached results. A refreshed preview generally affects future shares; it does not replace previews already posted.
Create link-preview images with PressQueue
PressQueue can create a wide image for each WordPress post, placing the post title on a background and the site name beneath it. You choose the design once, and PressQueue generates the image when a post first needs one. It redraws the image when the title or design changes and keeps it out of the WordPress Media Library.
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.
- Connect PressQueue to Buffer with a personal API key from your Buffer settings. PressQueue stores the key in encrypted form; it does not provide a Buffer login button.
- In PressQueue, open Settings > Social images. Choose a background or your own image, then set the font, text color, alignment, and site name. Use the live preview to check the design.
- Set PressQueue’s link-preview image mode to every post, only posts without their own image, or off.
When enabled, PressQueue can use its social image for a post’s og:image and twitter:image tags. It works with Yoast SEO, Rank Math, The SEO Framework, and Jetpack; without an SEO plugin, PressQueue prints the tags itself. An image set for an individual post in the SEO plugin takes precedence.
PressQueue shares WordPress posts through Buffer to LinkedIn, X, Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads and Facebook. PressQueue starts in test mode and records what it would share without sending anything; review the results before switching to live mode. See the PressQueue documentation for configuration details.