When you add or change the social media data for your content, it can take a while to see those chosen images when people share.
Facebook provides a sharing debugger you can use to force a refresh of the Open Graph information for a particular URL. Visit the link, enter the URL to your post or page, then hit the Debug button:
Important Note: If you are using Bitly or have UTM parameters, you need to use that link version in the debugger. You can get that link by clicking the Facebook share button and selecting it from the address bar of the share window.
On the next screen, you’ll see the information Facebook has saved about your URL, including the last time Facebook’s bots scraped it. If there are any warnings or errors, you’ll see those near the top of the screen.
You’ll also see a button in the When and how we last scraped the URL section that says “Scrape Again.” This button will tell Facebook to look at your post or page again to see the updated information, including your new social media image, description, and title. Once you click this button, you should see a refresh that includes your new Open Graph information.
Still don’t see your updates?
If you still don’t see the appropriate information, there are a few steps you can take:
- Go to Facebook and view the post where you shared your article. Click the small arrow in the upper right corner and select Refresh share attachment. This will tell Facebook to discard the current information and update it to match your Open Graph tags.
- Clear out any site caching plugins, CDNs, Cloudflare, etc., to make sure the bots aren’t getting a cached version of your URL.
- Make sure you saved the content after you edited.
- Check your warnings and errors in the Facebook debugger. Sometimes if your image is too small or too large, it won’t be recognized.
- Is your site publicly accessible? If you’re using a “coming soon” plugin or maintenance mode is active, Facebook won’t be able to see your page.