The Open Graph protocol (OG) is a set of meta tags originally created by Facebook that controls how your content appears when shared on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Slack.
Why It Matters
Without Open Graph tags, social platforms try to guess a title, description, and image from your page. The result is often a poor preview with a missing image or wrong text. With OG tags, you control exactly what appears.
Essential Open Graph Tags
<meta property="og:title" content="Your Page Title" />
<meta property="og:description" content="A brief description of the page" />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/page/" />
<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Your Site Name" />Twitter Cards
Twitter uses its own meta tags but falls back to Open Graph:
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" />
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Your Page Title" />
<meta name="twitter:description" content="A brief description" />
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg" />WordPress and Open Graph
WordPress does not include Open Graph tags by default. SEO plugins like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, or The SEO Framework automatically generate them based on your page content and featured image.
What InspectWP Checks
InspectWP scans your page's meta tags and reports which Open Graph and Twitter Card tags are present. Missing social media meta tags are highlighted as an SEO improvement opportunity.