Best Practices For Open Graph Tags

Using custom Open Graph (OG) tags is a great way to improve the sharing experience of your content on social media. When implemented correctly, OG tags allow you to control the title, description, images, and other metadata that is displayed when links to your pages are shared.

This guide will walk through some best practices to ensure your OG tags are optimized to maximize engagement and clicks.

og:image - Use Relevant, Appealing Images

The og:image tag lets you specify what imagery you want shared alongside links to your content.

Best practices:

• Use eye-catching, high-quality images that represent the content well. Stock photos generally won't perform as well.
• Images should be at least 600 x 315 pixels, with 1200 x 630 being ideal. JPG, PNG, and GIF formats are supported.
• Consider creating unique OG images for each page or piece of content when possible, instead of a generic image for everything.
• Test different image variations - try featuring products, people, infographics, text, logos, etc.
• Make images scannable with minimal clutter and clear focal points.
• Avoid excessive text overlay - the image should draw interest on its own.

og:title - Craft Compelling Titles

The og:title element defines the clickable headline displayed with your links on social networks.

Best practices:

• Use titles optimized for social - often less formal than on-page headlines.
• Target 50-60 characters max. Very long titles will be truncated.
• Emotional, conversational language tends to perform better than dry, factual titles.
• Ask questions, highlight benefits, speak to the reader directly. But avoid being too salesy.
• Include primary keywords naturally where it makes sense.
• Test different title formulations to see what resonates most with your audience.

og:description - Write Descriptive Meta Descriptions

The og:description tag lets you summarize what the page is about in 160 characters or less. This acts as a preview for readers.

Best practices:

• Focus on compelling, benefit-driven copy - not just descriptive. Paint a picture of what they will get from the content.
• Follow an inverted pyramid structure - most important info first, details later.
• Align descriptions with what's emphasized on the linked page itself.
• Use conversational language and avoid excessive keywords. Write for humans.
• Check that critical info isn't truncated on preview by character limits.
• Leverage emojis and questions to stand out, but sparingly.

Tag Important Pages & Posts

Don't limit OG tags to just your home page or latest content. Expand reach by tagging:

• Blog posts and articles
• Product category pages
• Help/support pages
• Contact and event pages
• Key landing pages
• Promotions and contests

The more pages tagged, the more opportunities there are for social sharing.

Optimize for Multiple Networks

While OG tags work across all platforms, be aware of differences:

• Facebook truncates titles to 25 characters, descriptions to 30 lines
• Twitter uses titles up to 70 characters and descriptions up to 200 characters
• LinkedIn limits titles to 200 characters and descriptions to 256 characters

So test how your OG tags render on each channel during implementation.

Validate with Online Tools

Use free tools like the Facebook Sharing Debugger and Twitter Card Validator to confirm your OG tags are working as intended. Identify and troubleshoot any issues.

Proper OG tag implementation takes some trial and error. But the benefits are immense - more clicks, more engagement, and more conversions from social media traffic. Follow these tips to get the most from OG tags on your website.