What Are Open Graph Protocol (OGP) Tags? 🏷️
Open Graph Protocol Tags (OGP tags or OG tags) help to control how content appears on social media platforms that support the specification — continue reading to get a better understanding regarding what are OGP tags and how they can improve your social media presence.
What Are OGP Tags Article TOC
When it comes to Digital Marketing we should take advantage of every opportunity available to develop content that performs well in search engines as well as on social media and Open Graph Protocol Tags help specifically when it comes to sharing content, apply to Off-Page SEO, and should be viewed as a requirement for any serious content engineering effort.
Implementing OGP tags on a website requires using the ogp.me namespace and adding several required meta tags.
Recipients of links that point to pages that include OGP tags will see an eye-catching rich snippet instead of a raw URL.
This rich snippet can lead to a higher click-through rate that indirectly improves Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
To start, it may be easier to show the result of including Open Graph Protocol tags (OGP tags or OG tags) on a post when the URL is shared on a website or application that supports the OGP protocol, and WhatsApp will unfurl Open Graph meta tags when a link is shared to a page that includes these tags.
In the following example, we’ll use the WhatsApp messaging application and post two URLs: one without OG tags, and one with OG tags.
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A URL To A Webpage Without Open Graph Meta Tags
The picture below shows the result of posting a URL to the WhatsApp messaging application without any Open Graph metadata included on the webpage.
This URL is displayed with almost no information, other than what’s included in the URL, about what the URL points to.
We can guess to some extent what the content may be given the URL path however not all URLs will be so easy to parse, plus there’s a better way to do this and that’ll be made clear in the next section.
We can do better than this using Open Graph Protocol tags and we’ll look at the difference in the next section.
A URL To A Webpage With Open Graph Meta Tags
The image below, on the other hand, demonstrates what happens when I share the URL to the article which explains how to fix the missing Open Graph tags on the WhatsApp messaging platform, which supports OG tags.
Instead of seeing a raw URL with no context around it WhatsApp unfurls the URL and displays data included in the Open Graph tags which are included on this page, including the Open Graph title, Open Graph description, and image in the example below.
Note that getting the image to display properly in the WhatsApp messaging application is covered in the Open Graph WhatsApp article.
This WordPress website, and others that I manage, use the All In One SEO Pack Pro and one of the features this plugin delivers is integration for the Facebook and Twitter social networks that can be applied to each post or page, and I make sure that these settings are configured every time I’m developing content.
As we can see from the two pictures above, one stands out and the other doesn’t.
This is important for obvious reasons and since we want every opportunity for our content to perform well, using Open Graph tags is an easy win and one which we should take advantage of whenever possible.
What are OGP tags like on LinkedIn?
On the right-hand side of this page, I’ve included one more example regarding where Open Graph Protocol tags are supported and that’s on the LinkedIn Professional Networking website.
The image on the right includes a preview of this article which, when shared on LinkedIn, stands out much better than a raw URL ever would.
In the next section, we’ll give a crash course introduction to Open Graph Metadata Tags.
What is the Open Graph Protocol?
Open Graph Protocol (OGP) is a set of metadata tags that are added to the HTML code of a web page.
The Open Graph Protocol was introduced by Facebook in 2010 and allows web developers to control how their content appears when shared on social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and others, including applications such as WhatsApp and Skype, which all support Open Graph Tags.
As of July 2023, there are four required OG tags and many optional OG tags available covering image, music, and video content and supporting structured metadata properties as well.
The OGP tags define specific information about a given web page, such as the OpenGraph title and og:description, image, and Open Graph URL, which can be used by social media platforms to generate rich and engaging previews when the page is shared.
By incorporating OGP tags, website owners can have more control over how their content is presented on social media platforms and applications that support the protocol, increasing the likelihood of attracting users’ attention and encouraging them to click through to the website.
Open Graph Protocol Tags and Social Media Marketing
Below I’ve included several benefits that OGP metadata tags deliver as it pertains to social media marketing.
OGP tags allow for better control over shared content appearance which leads to visual consistency
Open Graph Protocol tags allow website administrators the ability to define the og title and description along with the image that appears when content is shared on supporting platforms — this ensures that your brand’s visual identity remains consistent across various social media channels thus promoting brand recognition and trust.
OG tags facilitate enhanced engagement
OG tags help to create visually appealing and informative previews, increasing the likelihood of users clicking a link — this should lead to higher engagement rates, and more likes, shares, and comments.
Open Graph Protocol Tags help to convey a consistent brand across platforms
Open Graph metadata tags are supported by various social media platforms thereby ensuring that your content looks appealing and informative across multiple channels — this consistent appearance enhances your content’s effectiveness when sharing links.
By adding OGP Tags, you control how your content is presented, thus ensuring that it aligns with your brand’s messaging and tone — this consistency across platforms should strengthen your brand’s image and voice in the minds of users.
Test Open Graph Locally with Ease
Review my article which includes commentary pertaining to the localhost Open Graph Checker along with other ideas regarding how you can validate your Open Graph tags before going live.
Learn MoreBelow I present three examples of unfurled URLs on platforms which support OGP tags — in each of these examples the meta property og image, meta property og title, meta property og description, and meta property og url are shown (GChat does not appear to include the description however).
Open Graph Protocol Tags and Social Media Marketing
Below I’ve included several benefits that OGP metadata tags deliver as it pertains to social media marketing.
OGP tags allow for better control over shared content appearance which leads to visual consistency
Open Graph Protocol tags allow website administrators the ability to define the og title and description along with the image that appears when content is shared on supporting platforms — this ensures that your brand’s visual identity remains consistent across various social media channels thus promoting brand recognition and trust.
OG tags facilitate enhanced engagement
OG tags help to create visually appealing and informative previews, increasing the likelihood of users clicking a link — this should lead to higher engagement rates, and more likes, shares, and comments.
OGP Tags as rendered on Facebook
Let’s take a look at how OG tags are rendered on the Facebook social media platform:
OGP Tags as rendered on Google Chat
This next image demonstrates an unfurled link in GChat.
OGP Tags as rendered on Skype
The final image demonstrates an unfurled link in Skype.
Open Graph Tags deliver a better user experience (UX)
Clear and relevant titles, descriptions, and images provided by Open Graph tags make it easier for users to understand the content they are about to engage with thereby improving their overall experience.
Also note that the preview the user sees appears immediately, providing value on-the-spot so that there’s no guesswork required regarding what a URL points to.
OG Tags facilitate optimized sharing
OG tags enable you to craft content specifically for sharing purposes.
You can select the most compelling image and craft a description that highlights key points, encouraging more shares and driving traffic to your website.
Open Graph Tags positively influence click-through rate (CTR)
Open Graph Tags positively impact Click-Through Rates (CTR) for shared links.
When users see an appealing preview, they are more likely to click on the link, thereby increasing the traffic directed to your webpage.
Open Graph Protocol Tags deliver richer analytics and insights
When content is shared with Open Graph tags, it’s easier to track and analyze how that content performs on social media platforms.
Enhanced analytics data can be invaluable for refining marketing and content strategies.
I go into this in more detail in the article that covers the Open Graph URL (og:url), specifically in the section that covers the benefits of adding Urchin tracking to the Open Graph URL.
Open Graph Protocol tags are a crucial component of social media marketing as they enable you to curate the presentation of your content, leading to improved engagement, brand recognition, and user experience, ultimately contributing to your overall marketing success.
OpenGraph Tags and Twitter
Note that Twitter supports both the Twitter Cards Specification as well as OpenGraph tags.
If a link is shared to a page that has Twitter Cards then Twitter will use that metadata however if Twitter Cards are not available, Twitter will use OpenGraph tags if they’re present on the page.
In the image below we can see the Twitter Card settings being rendered prior to a message being posted.
The conclusion to this article follows.
Article Conclusion
I hope this article has answered the question regarding what OGP tags are and how they can be helpful.
Note that I also have an article about testing OG tags which can be helpful when you add Open Graph tags to a website.
We never know who might post a URL to a piece of content that we’ve developed, so including OG tags should be considered an easy win and one that should be included with every article we release.
Including Facebook Open Graph tags in a webpage won’t directly help improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO) however these tags can have an indirect and positive impact on SEO, especially when sharing content on platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter where the audience is very large and the reach potential is significant.
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Schedule An AppointmentSee Also
- The Open Graph Protocol tutorials category.
- Step-by-step WhatsApp OG image debugging help is available in this article.
- For the definition of OGP at Walmart see Quora.
- Tutorial: Learn how to add an Elementor full page background image to your next article!
- Tutorial: Learn how to discover which question-based keywords your articles are ranking for now.
- Learn how to fix the “…some open graph meta tags are missing.” error in AIOSEO.
- Learn how to use open graph tags on your website, including setting the required and optional meta tags for optimal social media sharing, with detailed steps for using ogp.me as a reference for adding Open Graph Protocol metadata.
- See the OpenGraph Tester review that I posted in January 2024.
- Some tools for testing websites that use the Open Graph Protocol can be found in this article.
- This article might be able to help you when pages have a javascript and css total size that is too large — focuses on WordPress, exclusively.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Link unfurling involves the automatic expansion of a hyperlink in a social media post, chat application, or web platform to display a preview of the linked content, including a thumbnail image, title, and brief description.
Link unfurling enhances user experience (UX) by providing context and a visual glimpse of the link’s content without requiring a click-through, and is achieved by the platform extracting details from specific Open Graph meta tags on the webpage.
Link unfurling is particularly useful in social media and messaging apps for engaging users and making shared content more appealing and informative.
The Open Graph Protocol is important for controlling how content appears when shared on social media, as it dictates the display of titles (og:title), descriptions, and images, thereby ensuring consistency and attractiveness across platforms.
The control that Open Graph meta tags (OG tags or OGP tags) provides leads to enhanced engagement and potentially higher click-through rates, and well-crafted social media previews that are more likely to attract user interaction.
More information is available in the article that covers what OGP tags are.
OGP stands for Open Graph Protocol, a standard created by Facebook that is used by web developers to control how content is displayed when shared on social media platforms and applications that support the specification.
The Open Graph Protocol allows for the customization of titles, images, descriptions, and other metadata to enhance the appearance of shared content.
Open Graph Protocol Meta Tags help to control how content appears on social media platforms and applications that support the specification — see the article entitled “What are OGP Tags?” for a complete definition.
No, Open Graph and alt text are not the same thing.
Open Graph Protocol tags (OGP tags) help control how webpage links appear when shared on social media platforms and define meta data such as the webpage title, image, and description which acts as a preview of the content that will be found on the URL.
Alt text (alternative text), on the other hand, helps describe images for screen readers thereby improving accessibility.
See the article on OGP Tags for more information.
