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How to Make a Link Preview Show Correctly in Discord

Discord previews depend on page metadata, Discordbot access, and viewer or sender settings. Use this checklist to find the cause and correct the preview.
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To fix a Discord link preview, first check that the page has accurate Open Graph tags in its HTML <head> and that Discordbot can reach both the page and its preview image. If a preview is missing only for one person or one message, check Discord’s display setting and whether the sender suppressed the embed before changing your site.

How Discord creates a website preview

Discord says it visits a link when someone shares it in a message to retrieve page details such as its title, description, and image. It does not continuously crawl websites on its own. Discord’s link preview and Discordbot guidance describes this behavior.

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That means a working preview depends on both the page’s metadata and Discordbot’s ability to request the page. It also depends on the recipient having previews enabled and the sender not suppressing the embed.

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Add Open Graph metadata to the page

For a page you control, put accurate Open Graph properties in the document head. The Open Graph protocol defines og:title, og:type, og:image, and og:url as basic properties; og:description is optional and useful for a concise page summary. The Open Graph protocol reference explains these fields.

<head>
  <meta property="og:type" content="website">
  <meta property="og:title" content="A clear page title">
  <meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/page">
  <meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/share-card.jpg">
  <meta property="og:description" content="A concise, accurate summary of this page.">
</head>

Replace the example values with the actual page title, canonical URL, image URL, and summary. The image should be publicly requestable; the example does not imply a guaranteed Discord layout or image treatment.

What each property contributes

Property Purpose Practical guidance
og:title The title of the object as it should appear in the graph. Use a readable title specific to the shared page.
og:type Identifies the object type. Use an appropriate type; website is suitable for many ordinary site pages.
og:url The object’s canonical URL and graph identity. Use the intended canonical URL for that page.
og:image The image representing the object. Provide an image URL Discordbot can fetch.
og:description A short description of the object. Write one or two accurate sentences, as the protocol recommends.
og:site_name The name of the larger site. Optional; add it when it helps identify the site.

The official material cited here does not establish a Discord-specific image dimension or file-size requirement, a fixed visual position for each field, or guaranteed precedence among Open Graph and other metadata.

Check the page and Discordbot access

  1. Check the exact URL. Make sure the shared page—not just the home page—serves its own title, description, canonical URL, and preview image.
  2. Inspect the deployed HTML. Confirm the metadata is present in the served page’s head after deployment. Changes in a local template do not help if the public page still returns older or missing tags.
  3. Check public reachability. The page and image must be requestable without a login or a firewall block. A server or network rule that blocks Discordbot can prevent a preview.
  4. Review server logs if available. Discord documents a user-agent example containing Discordbot/2.0. Search for the word Discordbot rather than depending on the complete string remaining fixed.
  5. Validate identity when your access policy requires it. A user-agent string can be spoofed. Discord advises checking requests against its official public IP ranges as well when authenticity matters; keep the range list current because it can change. See Discord’s guidance on verifying Discordbot requests.
  6. Publish the change, then share the link again. This lets you observe the resulting preview, but it is not a guaranteed cache purge. Discord’s cited documentation does not give a cache duration or supported invalidation command.

Tell a site problem from a viewer or message setting

The preview is missing for one recipient

Ask the recipient to check whether “Show embeds and link previews” is disabled in Discord’s display settings. Discord documents this setting in its embed and link preview support guidance. Interface labels and paths can change, so use the setting name as the reference if the current layout differs.

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The preview is missing only in one message

Check how the sender wrote the link. Discord’s support guidance says a link wrapped in angle brackets suppresses its automatic embed, for example <https://example.com/page>. Remove the brackets if the message should show a preview. See Discord’s link preview guidance.

The preview is missing for everyone

Focus on the page metadata and access checks: verify the deployed head tags, confirm the page and image are publicly reachable, and check whether server rules block Discordbot requests.

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Or skip the browser setup

If you also need a screenshot of the page, ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server. It is separate from Discord’s preview system: it does not change your page metadata or guarantee what Discord displays. A single request can capture a URL:

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

See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request options. ScreenshotNeo removes supported cookie and consent banners, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture; bot checks, blank pages, and failed loads are not billed. Its MCP server gives AI agents screenshot tools. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots a month with no card, and paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots. Sign up for ScreenshotNeo’s free plan.

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Troubleshooting common preview failures

Symptom Likely cause What to do
No card appears for anyone. Discordbot cannot reach the page, or the page does not return usable metadata. Inspect the deployed HTML head and check public page access and server or firewall rules.
The title, summary, or image is wrong. The page’s metadata is missing, inaccurate, or not specific to that URL. Set the relevant Open Graph values on the exact page and verify the deployed response.
The page details look right, but the image is absent. The image URL may not be publicly fetchable. Check that the image URL responds without login or network restrictions.
Only one person cannot see previews. Their display setting may disable link previews. Ask them to check “Show embeds and link previews” in Discord display settings.
Only one message has no preview. The sender may have wrapped the link in angle brackets. Remove the brackets if an automatic preview is wanted.
A change does not appear immediately. The result may not update instantly; no guaranteed refresh procedure or cache lifetime is documented in the cited Discord guidance. Confirm the published page is correct and share it again to observe the result; do not assume this purges a cache.

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