How can I change my Facebook sharing information?

When you share a page to Facebook (or most social platforms), it pulls specific information from your WordPress site to create the preview.

Here’s what gets used by default:

• Page Title
  This is the title that appears in your browser tab (for example: Home – The XYZ Foundation).

• Description
  Facebook typically pulls the first paragraph of content from the page.

• Image
  This is pulled from your page based on a few rules (outlined below).
  
  

Setting a default sharing image

You can set a default image that will be used across your site:

1. Log in to WordPress

2. Go to SEO > Social > Facebook (location may vary slightly depending on your setup)

3. Upload your default image

If no default is set, Facebook will:

• Use the first image on the page that’s at least 200 × 200 px

• Skip smaller images and move to the next available one

Preview what your link will look like

Before sharing, it’s a good idea to check how your link will appear.

Use Facebook’s Object Debugger:
https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/

1. Enter your page URL

2. Click “Debug” or “Show existing scrape information”

3. Scroll to Link Preview

This shows exactly what Facebook would display if you shared the link right now.

This will show you what would appear on Facebook if you shared this URL right now.

Updating sharing details with Yoast SEO

If you don’t like what you see in the preview, you can override it using Yoast.

1. In WordPress, go to Pages > All Pages

2. Edit the page you want to update

3. Scroll to the Yoast SEO section

4. Click the Social/Sharing tab

5. Add a custom:

   • Title

   • Description

   • Image

6. Click Update to save

If these fields are blank, the page is using the default settings.

Learn more: https://yoast.com/social-media-optimization-with-yoast-seo/

Ideal image specs for social sharing

To make sure your shared links look clean and professional, it helps to use properly sized images.

• Recommended size: 1200 × 630 pixels

• Aspect ratio: 1.91:1

• Minimum size: 600 × 315 pixels

• File types: JPG or PNG

Why this matters:

• Prevents awkward cropping in previews

• Ensures your image displays clearly on both desktop and mobile

• Gives you more control over how your content appears

If your image is too small or the wrong shape, Facebook may crop it or skip it entirely.

Refreshing Facebook’s preview

After making updates, Facebook may still show the old version due to caching.

To refresh it:

1. Go back to the Object Debugger

2. Enter your URL

3. Click “Scrape Again” or “Fetch new scrape information”

Then check the updated preview in the Link Preview section.

Platform differences to be aware of

Most social platforms use similar rules for generating link previews, but there are a few differences.

• Facebook & LinkedIn
  Use Open Graph (OG) tags. The title, description, and image you set in Yoast will usually apply to both.

• X (Twitter)
  Uses Twitter Cards. Yoast typically handles this as well, but the display may be slightly different (for example, tighter text limits).

• iMessage, Slack, and others
  Also rely on Open Graph data, but may cache previews more aggressively.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

• Updates don’t always appear right away due to caching

• Each platform may crop images slightly differently

• It’s a good idea to test important pages on multiple platforms if the preview really matters

In most cases, setting your sharing details in Yoast will cover all platforms, but it’s still worth spot-checking when needed.