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For a general social link preview, start with a 1200 × 630 px image—a practical landscape convention, not a universal requirement. For Google Discover, use a separate 16:9 image that is at least 1200 px wide and contains more than 300,000 total pixels. The right choice depends on where the preview appears and how that service crops it.
Choose the image size for the preview surface
There is no single pixel size guaranteed to work identically across every social network, search result, messaging app, and other preview surface. The Open Graph protocol defines metadata that can point to an image, but it does not require a particular width, height, or aspect ratio. Treat any general recommendation as a starting point, then check the current official guidance for the specific service when exact rendering matters.
General social and Open Graph previews
A 1200 × 630 px image has an aspect ratio of about 1.91:1 and is a widely published practical size for a general share card. OG Image Design presents it as a practical Open Graph image size; it is not a dimension mandated by the Open Graph protocol. Keep important subjects and text away from the edges, since preview surfaces may crop or resize the image.
Google Discover
Google Search Central’s recommendation for large images in Discover is more specific: use an image at least 1200 px wide, with more than 300,000 total pixels, and a 16:9 aspect ratio. The large-image recommendation must also be enabled with max-image-preview:large, or the page must use AMP. Google may crop the image automatically, so compose it with the important subject visible in a landscape crop. These are Discover recommendations, not universal rules for all previews.
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Make a usable image, not just a correctly sized one
Pixel dimensions alone do not ensure a good preview. Choose an image that represents the page, has enough resolution for a clear display, and still makes sense if a service trims its sides or top and bottom. Avoid extreme aspect ratios when a landscape preview is likely. Keep essential faces, products, and other focal details away from the outer edges; do not rely on a platform showing the full original image.
Google advises using a relevant, representative image, avoiding generic logos and text-heavy imagery in metadata, and using high-resolution images where possible. Its image selection is automated and may draw on different sources, including schema.org metadata or og:image. Supplying a suitable image can influence what Google selects, but does not guarantee it will use that exact image.
Keep the share image separate from page images
A social-preview asset and an image displayed inside the page serve different purposes. The preview image should suit the card or result where it may appear; an in-page image should be selected for its actual layout and the visitor’s device. For responsive page content, Google documents using srcset and sizes to offer image candidates, while retaining a fallback URL in src for browsers or crawlers that do not understand those attributes. The HTML <picture> element can provide alternate versions for device capabilities and format support.
Large images can add substantially to page weight. Balance clarity against delivery cost by optimizing image files and serving suitable responsive candidates for page content. That performance concern does not change the metadata image’s intended crop or make one image size mandatory for every preview.
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Add Open Graph image metadata
The Open Graph protocol lists og:title, og:type, og:image, and og:url as its four required basic properties. The image metadata can also include structured properties for width, height, MIME type, secure URL, and alt description. Width and height describe the image; they do not establish a required size.
<meta property="og:title" content="A clear page title">
<meta property="og:type" content="website">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/article">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/article-share.jpg">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
<meta property="og:image:alt" content="A concise description of the image">Replace the example URLs, title, and description with values for the page and image you actually publish. If the image is 1200 × 630 px, the dimensions shown describe that file; use its real dimensions if different. The alt value should describe the image’s content, not act as a caption. Open Graph’s optional dimension fields are descriptive rather than a means of forcing a preview crop.
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Check the published page and its preview
After adding metadata, inspect the page that will be shared and confirm its metadata points to the intended image. Then check the result on the target service if its rendering is important: the available official guidance does not establish current size, file-weight, or crop limits for every social network and messaging app, so a universal guarantee would be misleading.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11A browser screenshot can help you inspect the rendered page, but it is not a substitute for checking a service’s own preview. A screenshot shows a page at a particular URL and capture setup; it does not establish how another platform will select or crop its preview image.
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If you want a screenshot of the page to help inspect its rendered appearance, ScreenshotNeo offers a one-request API. This does not determine which image a platform will select or guarantee its card crop.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://example.com/article -o shot.webpSee the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request details. ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server for developers. Before capture, it accepts cookie or consent banners like a visitor and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets; each of those steps can be turned off. Bot checks or CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and responses indicate the page verdict and billing status in headers. Its MCP server provides screenshot, page-info, and PDF-capture tools for AI agents. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000. Learn about ScreenshotNeo, or sign up for 1,000 free screenshots a month with no card.
Common problems and what to check
- The image is cut off: Preview services may crop or resize it. Keep the focal content away from edges, and consult the target service’s current official guidance rather than assuming the 1200 × 630 convention controls its crop.
- The preview shows a different image: Google says image selection is automated and can consider multiple sources. Provide a relevant image through
og:imageor schema.org metadata, but do not assume the specified image will always be selected. - The Open Graph image dimensions are unclear: The protocol’s width and height properties describe the image file. They do not set a mandatory dimension for all preview cards.
- The page image is too heavy: Use optimization and responsive-image techniques for in-page content. Keep that delivery decision distinct from choosing the metadata image’s crop and composition.
- Discover does not show a large image: Check that the image follows Google’s Discover recommendation and that
max-image-preview:largeis enabled, or that the page uses AMP. These are the conditions stated for the large-image recommendation, not a promise that Google will select a specific image.
Sources and scope
The Open Graph protocol establishes the metadata properties, not a universal image dimension. The 1200 × 630 px general share-card recommendation is a practical convention attributed here to OG Image Design, not an official protocol requirement. The Discover thresholds and image-selection guidance are Google’s published recommendations; Google’s image SEO guidance was updated 2026-03-02 UTC, and its Discover guidance page was last updated 2026-03-09 UTC. Exact specifications for other platforms are not established here, so consult their current official documentation when targeting a particular card or app.
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