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World desk7 min

How to Create Social Preview Images for Multilingual Websites

A practical guide to mapping each localized URL to its own Open Graph image and metadata, adding hreflang for Google Search, and checking platform-specific image requirements.
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Give every language version its own social-preview metadata and image. Set the localized page’s title, URL, locale, image, and image description together; then connect translations separately with hreflang for Google Search. This prevents a French page, for example, from accidentally sharing the default-language title or artwork.

Plan the localized pages and images

Start with a record for each language or language-region version of a page. Keep its URL, human-readable title, locale code, and image URL in the same record or content model. Your page template should read those values from the current localized record, not from a site-wide default.

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Page version Localized URL Title Open Graph locale Preview image URL
English https://example.com/en/article English page title en_US https://cdn.example.com/social/en/article.jpg
French https://example.com/fr/article Titre de la page en français fr_FR https://cdn.example.com/social/fr/article.jpg

These are illustrative values; replace them with the actual URLs, locale codes, and content for your site. Open Graph uses locale values in language_TERRITORY form; its documentation gives en_US as an example. Choose the locale that matches the page rather than assuming that a language alone uniquely identifies its regional version.

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Render Open Graph metadata for each page

In the HTML <head> of each localized URL, output that page’s own og:title, og:type, og:url, and og:image. These are the four properties required by the Open Graph Protocol. Use an absolute image URL that points to the intended asset.

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<meta property="og:title" content="Titre de la page en français">
<meta property="og:type" content="website">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/fr/article">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn.example.com/social/fr/article.jpg">
<meta property="og:locale" content="fr_FR">
<meta property="og:locale:alternate" content="en_US">
<meta property="og:image:alt" content="Description de l’image en français">

Set og:locale to the current object’s locale. Use og:locale:alternate for other locales in which that object is available. Add an og:image:alt description for the image; it should explain what the image shows, not repeat a promotional caption.

Keep image properties attached to the right image

If you provide more than one og:image, treat each root image tag as the start of an image entry. Put that image’s structured properties—such as width, height, type, and alt—after its root tag and before the next og:image. The protocol says the first tag has preference when values conflict, so do not emit duplicate or ambiguous image entries unless you intend their ordering.

Localize the artwork and its description

If the image contains lettering, provide artwork suited to the page’s language. Translated text can be longer or shorter, so check that the revised wording still fits and remains legible in the composition. This is a practical localization choice, not a separate Open Graph requirement.

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Write each og:image:alt in the page language and describe the visible content. For example, describe a map, product, or person shown in the image rather than using the text as a second headline. Keep the image, title, URL, locale, and alt description associated with the same localized page record.

Connect translations for Google Search with hreflang

hreflang connects equivalent localized URLs for Google Search; it does not select a social preview image or replace Open Graph metadata. Google supports HTML annotations, HTTP response headers, or XML sitemap entries and regards these methods as equivalent from Search’s perspective. Choose the method that is easiest for your site to maintain instead of implementing all three without a reason.

With HTML annotations, every version should list itself and the other versions using fully qualified URLs. The references must be reciprocal: if the English page points to the French page, the French page should point back to the English page.

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/article">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" href="https://example.com/fr/article">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/article">

Use x-default when a language selector or fallback destination is useful; it is optional. Google says hreflang helps it understand localized variations, but it does not use hreflang or the HTML lang attribute to detect a page’s language. Google determines language algorithmically.

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Check the image requirements for each sharing destination

Image constraints are platform-specific, not a universal social-preview standard. LinkedIn’s website-share help page specifies a minimum image size of 1200 × 627 pixels, recommends a 1.91:1 aspect ratio, and gives a 5 MB maximum file size. It says images under 401 pixels wide display as thumbnails. The help page’s publication or update date is not stated, so recheck it when publishing if LinkedIn is an important destination.

LinkedIn’s sharing guidance also calls for og:title, og:image, og:description, and og:url. Make sure the image can be retrieved by the platform’s crawler: a blocked crawler or an image in a protected directory can prevent it from being used. Do not assume these LinkedIn dimensions, formats, or behaviors apply to another platform. Check each target platform’s current official guidance for its image dimensions, file-size and format limits, metadata expectations, crawler access, and preview-refresh behavior.

Validate every localized version

  1. Inspect the rendered HTML head for each locale, not just the default-language page. Confirm that the tags appear in the final page output.
  2. Check that og:url is the intended localized URL and og:image is an absolute URL for that version’s publicly retrievable artwork.
  3. Compare the title, locale, image text, and alt description with the language and content of that page.
  4. For LinkedIn shares, check the image against its stated minimum dimensions and maximum file size.
  5. For each hreflang set, confirm that every version lists itself and the other fully qualified URLs, and that the references point back reciprocally.
  6. Inspect the result with the destination platform’s current official preview-inspection or refresh method. Do not assume a successful update is immediate; platform cache behavior and tools are not established here for every network.
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Troubleshoot common problems

The default-language image appears on every version

The template may be reading a global image field rather than the current locale’s record. Inspect the rendered og:image on each URL, then correct the page-to-image mapping and regenerate or republish the affected pages.

The image is missing from a preview

Check that the emitted image URL is absolute, points to the intended file, and is publicly retrievable by the platform crawler. Also check for access restrictions or crawler blocking. For LinkedIn, verify the documented dimensions and file-size limit; requirements for other destinations need to be checked in their own current documentation.

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The wrong title or URL appears

Inspect the final head output for duplicate or default-language Open Graph tags. Ensure there is one intentional value for og:title and og:url on that page, and that the URL corresponds to the localized page rather than another translation.

Google does not appear to understand the language alternatives

Check that each annotation uses a fully qualified URL, includes the page itself, and has a reciprocal reference on the other variants. Keep in mind that hreflang communicates relationships among localized pages; Google’s language detection is algorithmic.

Or skip the browser setup

If you need a rendered screenshot to visually inspect a localized page, ScreenshotNeo can capture it with one GET request. It is a screenshot API, not a substitute for writing the page’s Open Graph tags or creating its locale-specific artwork.

curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://example.com/fr/article -o shot.webp

See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request options. ScreenshotNeo accepts cookie or consent banners like a visitor and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture; each cleanup step can be turned off. Bot checks or CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and the response identifies the page verdict and billing status in headers. An MCP server provides take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf tools for AI agents and MCP clients. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots a month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots.

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Sign up for ScreenshotNeo’s free plan: 1,000 screenshots a month, no card required.

Sources and scope

The metadata and locale guidance above reflects the Open Graph Protocol documentation, Google Search Central guidance on localized versions, and LinkedIn Help, accessed October 3, 2026. The LinkedIn page’s publication or update date was not stated. Requirements and crawler behavior can change; confirm current official guidance for the platforms you target.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does og:locale:alternate replace hreflang?

No. Open Graph locale metadata describes the object’s locale and available alternatives; hreflang connects localized page URLs for Google Search.

Do social platforms all use LinkedIn’s image dimensions?

No. The 1200 × 627 minimum and related limits stated here are LinkedIn specifications, not a universal rule. Check each destination’s current official requirements.

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