Meta Tag & SERP Preview

Why your meta tags matter

Whenever a link is shown as a preview, whether on Google, WhatsApp, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, the platform starts by reading the same three things:

1. The headline people see in searches and shares, taken from the <title> tag or, on social networks, from og:title.
2. The short text below that headline, which comes from the meta description or from og:description.
3. A 1.91:1 picture shown with each share, set by og:image. Most sites either leave it out or set it up badly.

Broken meta tags make every share look careless, however good the page behind the link may be.

Recommended lengths and sizes

• Title: 50 to 60 characters. Most desktop results cut titles longer than 60, and mobile is stricter still.
• Meta description: 150 to 160 characters.
• og:image: a JPG or PNG of 1200 × 630 pixels (a 1.91:1 ratio) that weighs less than 5 MB.
• Open Graph and Twitter card: set og:title, og:description, og:image, og:url and og:type on every page, together with twitter:card.