Control how your content appears when shared on social media. Open Graph fields let editors set the title, description, and image used to generate link previews across social networks and messaging apps, including LinkedIn, Facebook, and Slack.
When someone shares a link on LinkedIn, Facebook, Slack, or most other platforms, the platform doesn't just show a URL, it generates a preview card with a title, description, and image. That preview is driven by Open Graph meta tags embedded in the page's HTML.
Without custom Open Graph fields, platforms guess. They might pull your page title verbatim (even if it's written for SEO, not sharing), grab the wrong image, or display no image at all. The result is a preview that looks unpolished and often undersells the content.
The Open Graph extension in Apostrophe gives editors direct control over that preview.
Follow these steps any time you're publishing a page or piece that's likely to be shared.
Open the document editor for the page or piece you want to configure.
Navigate to the Open Graph tab (or field group) alongside your content fields. > [Open decision for Lindsay/Stuart] Confirm exact tab name and location. Tag Stuart.
Write an OG Title aimed at a reader scrolling a social feed — shorter and more direct than your page title. Don't just copy-paste the page title.
Write an OG Description of 150 characters or fewer. Front-load the key point; platforms truncate aggressively. Don't just reuse your meta description.
Leave OG Type as-is unless your developer has told you otherwise. The default (website) is correct for almost every use case.
Select an OG Image at 1200 × 630px (1.91:1 ratio). This is the field with the most impact — don't skip it. Platforms that don't receive an image often display no preview at all.
Save and publish, then test your preview before sharing (see below).
The headline displayed in the social preview card. This can — and often should — differ from your page title. Write it for the share context: shorter, more direct, and optimized for a reader scrolling through a feed rather than a search results page.
If left blank, the platform will typically fall back to the page title.
The summary text that appears below the headline in the preview card. Most platforms truncate this around 150–160 characters, so front-load the key point. This is not the same as your meta description, though they can overlap.
If left blank, platforms may pull the first paragraph of body text or display nothing.
Defines the type of content being shared. It defaults to website, which is correct for the vast majority of pages and pieces: blog posts, landing pages, product pages. You almost never need to change this.
For developers: Other valid OG types include article, video.movie, and others defined in the Open Graph protocol. These are rarely relevant for standard editorial content.
The preview image that appears in the card. This is the most impactful field — a strong image dramatically increases engagement on shared links.
Recommended dimensions for open graph images: 1200 × 630px (1.91:1 aspect ratio). This is the standard for most platforms including LinkedIn and Facebook.
Important: Some platforms require an absolute image URL (including the full domain) to display the preview image. Your developer needs to ensure the site's baseUrl is configured; without it, the image may silently fail to appear in previews even though the field is filled in. If you're setting an OG image and it's not showing up in previews, flag this to your developer.
Write for the share context, not the page. Your page title and meta description are written for search. Your OG title and description are written for someone scrolling a social feed. They can be shorter, more direct, and more conversational — think headline over label.
Always set an OG image. A link preview without an image gets significantly less engagement than one with. Don't leave it to chance.
Use the right image dimensions. 1200 × 630px at 1.91:1 avoids cropping issues across platforms. If you use a significantly different size, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Slack may crop or letterbox the image unpredictably.
Don't just copy-paste the page title and meta description. These fields exist precisely because the sharing context is different from the search context. Take the extra two minutes to write something with intention, and include your brand in the title.
Set OG fields before publishing. Once a URL has been shared, some platforms (notably LinkedIn) cache the preview and don't always re-fetch it when you update. Getting it right the first time saves a support request later.
Before publishing or sharing a page, you can check exactly what the preview will look like using a free tool. There are several tools specific to and run by social platforms, and more general tools as well.
opengraph.xyz: This free tool allows you to paste your URL and see a preview of how it will render across platforms.
LinkedIn Post Inspector is also useful for forcing a re-fetch if you've updated OG fields after a link has already been shared.
Meta's Sharing Debugger is the official Open Graph inspector by Meta. Use it when something is wrong with the Facebook preview, to review what Facebook sees when it scrapes your page and force a re-scrape when needed. The only catch? It requires a Facebook login.
Note: These tools only work on publicly accessible URLs. You won't be able to preview a page that's behind a login or not yet published.
