Why Your Website Link Looks Ugly on WhatsApp or Facebook (and How to Fix the OG Image)
Sent a link and it showed up with no image or the wrong text? Here's why it happens and how to fix the preview in a few steps.
You send your website link to a client on WhatsApp, hit send, and... an empty rectangle appears, no image, a strange title, or the raw web address stretched across it. First impression, gone. And you didn't do anything wrong when sending it: the problem lives in the site.
That preview (the image, title and description that show up when you paste a link) isn't conjured by WhatsApp or Facebook out of thin air. You control it, through hidden tags in the page's code called Open Graph. When they're missing or set up wrong, the app guesses what it can, and it often guesses badly. The good news: it's fixable, and usually not complicated. Let's look at exactly why it happens and what to do.
What the OG image actually is (and why you see it everywhere)
OG stands for Open Graph, a set of rules invented by Facebook and adopted by almost everyone: WhatsApp, Facebook, LinkedIn, Telegram, Slack, even iMessage. When someone pastes your link, the app visits the page and reads special tags in the code:
- `og:title` — the title shown in the preview
- `og:description` — the line of text under the title
- `og:image` — the big picture
- `og:url` — the page's official address
If these tags exist and are correct, you get a clean card with your image, your title and a clear description. If they're missing, the app improvises: it grabs the first heading it finds, maybe a tiny image from the page, maybe none at all. That's where the empty or odd-looking cards come from.
The most common reasons the image doesn't show
In our experience, nearly every case comes down to a handful of simple issues:
- There's no `og:image` tag at all. The site never tells the app which picture to show, so it shows none.
- The image is too small or the wrong shape. Facebook wants at least 200x200 px; ideal is 1200x630 px (a 1.91:1 ratio). Below the minimum, it's ignored.
- The image address is relative, not full. It needs to be a complete address starting with `https://`, not `/img/photo.jpg`. The app isn't on your site, it doesn't know where to fetch it.
- The image isn't publicly accessible — it's behind a login, blocked by robots.txt, or the site isn't on HTTPS.
- The file is too heavy. WhatsApp in particular drops very large images; keep it under a few hundred KB.
Often it's a single cause. Find it, fix it, done.
The hidden culprit: caching. Why you fixed it and it still looks bad
This one drives people up the wall: you change the site, paste the link again, and the preview is still the old one (or still empty). You didn't mess up — Facebook and WhatsApp save (cache) the first version they saw, so they don't re-fetch the page on every share. So they keep showing the old version.
The fix is to force them to re-read the page. Facebook has a free tool, the Sharing Debugger (search "Facebook Sharing Debugger"): paste your link, click "Scrape Again", and you'll see on the spot which OG tags it reads, what image it finds, and any errors. WhatsApp uses the same Facebook cache, so once you Scrape Again there, WhatsApp updates too. A small backup trick: add `?v=2` to the end of the link when you send it, so the app sees it as a brand-new address.
How to fix it, step by step
If you have access to the site (or to whoever manages it), the steps are:
1. Prepare a good image — 1200x630 px, with your logo or a clear visual, big and minimal text, saved under a few hundred KB.
2. Add the OG tags in the page's `<head>`: `og:title`, `og:description`, `og:image` (with the full `https://` address), `og:url`.
3. On HTTPS, check that the image opens on its own, directly in a browser, with no login.
4. Run the Facebook Sharing Debugger, click Scrape Again, and fix whatever errors it flags.
5. Test for real — send the link to yourself on WhatsApp.
On WordPress, an SEO plugin (Yoast, Rank Math) sets these fields with no code. On a site built cleanly from scratch, it's configured once and works everywhere.
When it's not something you can fix yourself
Sometimes there's nowhere to click: the site is on a closed platform, you can't reach the `<head>`, or you simply don't want to wrestle with code and plugins on a busy afternoon. That's perfectly fine.
That's how we work at MPO Web Studio: we build sites where the WhatsApp and Facebook preview looks right from the first share, because we set it up when we build the site, not after the first client complains. We deliver remotely, nationwide, with transparent pricing, and we make you a free demo before you pay anything — you see exactly how it looks before you decide.
If you just want us to fix a link that looks bad right now, message us on WhatsApp with the page address. Most of the time we'll tell you the cause the same day.
Frequently asked questions
I fixed the image but it still won't show on WhatsApp. Why?+
It's almost certainly the cache. WhatsApp uses the data Facebook saved, and that stays old until you force it. Go to the Facebook Sharing Debugger, paste the link, click "Scrape Again", then resend the link on WhatsApp. If it still doesn't update instantly, add `?v=2` to the end of the address.
What size should the preview image be?+
Ideally 1200x630 px, a 1.91:1 ratio — that looks good everywhere. Facebook's accepted minimum is 200x200 px, but below 1200 px it can look blurry. Keep the file light, under a few hundred KB, because WhatsApp sometimes drops very heavy images.
Can I use a different image for each page?+
Yes, and that's ideal. Every page can have its own `og:image` tag and its own title. Your services page can show a different picture than your contact page. On WordPress it's set per page in the SEO plugin.
Why does the website address show up instead of a title?+
It means `og:title` is missing (and probably the other OG tags too). The app can't find a clear title, so it displays whatever's at hand, often the URL itself. Adding the OG tags fixes it instantly.
Does the preview break if I move my site or change the image?+
It can change, yes. If you rename or move the image file, the old `og:image` address leads nowhere and the preview goes empty. After any change like that, run the Sharing Debugger again and hit Scrape Again.
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