Broken og:image — Your Social Media Image Is Not Loading

What's the issue?

Your page has an og:image meta tag, but the URL it points to does not return a valid image. This means the image is effectively broken — social platforms will show a placeholder, a broken image icon, or no image at all when your link is shared.

This is worse than having no og:image at all, because it signals to platforms and users that something is wrong with your site.

Common causes

1. Wrong URL or typo

The image URL in the meta tag doesn't match an actual file on your server.

2. Server returns an error (404, 500, etc.)

The image file has been deleted, moved, or the server is misconfigured.

3. Non-image content type

The URL exists but returns HTML (e.g., a login page or error page) instead of an actual image file. The server must return a Content-Type header starting with image/ (e.g., image/jpeg, image/png).

4. Redirect to a non-image resource

The image URL redirects to a page that isn't an image (e.g., a CDN login page or an expired link).

5. Access restrictions

The image requires authentication, is behind a firewall, or is blocked for external requests (e.g., hotlink protection).

6. Relative URL without proper base

Using a relative path like /images/og.jpg without proper URL resolution can lead to broken references.

How to fix it

Step 1: Verify the image URL

Open the og:image URL directly in your browser. It should display the image — not an error page or redirect.

Step 2: Check the content type

The server must respond with an image content type:

Content-Type: image/jpeg
Content-Type: image/png
Content-Type: image/webp
Content-Type: image/gif

Step 3: Use an absolute HTTPS URL

Always use a full, absolute URL:

<!-- Bad -->
<meta property="og:image" content="/images/og.jpg" />

<!-- Good -->
<meta property="og:image" content="https://yoursite.com/images/og.jpg" />

Step 4: Ensure public access

The image must be publicly accessible without authentication. Social media crawlers cannot log in to fetch your image.

Step 5: Test with curl

You can verify from the command line:

curl -I https://yoursite.com/og-image.jpg

Look for HTTP/2 200 and content-type: image/... in the response.

Impact on social sharing

A broken og:image is one of the most damaging issues for social media presence:

• Facebook — Shows a gray placeholder or no image at all
• Twitter/X — Falls back to a text-only card with minimal engagement
• LinkedIn — Displays an empty preview that looks unprofessional
• Discord, Slack, Telegram — Show broken or missing image embeds
• WhatsApp — Shows a link without any visual preview

Links with broken images can receive up to 80% less engagement compared to links with working images.

Prevention tips

1. Automate image validation — Add a check in your CI/CD pipeline that verifies og:image URLs return valid images
2. Use a CDN — CDNs like Cloudinary, Imgix, or Cloudflare Images ensure reliable image delivery
3. Monitor your images — Set up uptime monitoring for critical image URLs
4. Use fallback images — Configure your server to return a default OG image if the specific one is missing
5. Version your images — Include a hash or version in the filename to prevent caching issues