probeo

How to add recommended Open Graph tags (og:title, og:type, og:site_name) for better social sharing?

og-recommended-tags-missing page

The issue

A page without og:title is shared under its <title>, suffix and separators included, so the card reads “Pricing | Example Inc” instead of a headline. Without og:type, an article is described as a generic website, and without og:site_name, the card names no publisher. The link still unfurls, which is why this goes unnoticed.

The cause is that each of these has a fallback. Platforms take the <title> for a missing og:title, the protocol assumes website for a missing og:type, and most show the hostname or nothing for a missing og:site_name. Each fallback works, and none says what the page would have said.

Scope

Each page is checked on its own, once it declares at least one og: property. og:title and og:type belong to the page. og:site_name is the same everywhere, so it is usually set once in a shared template.

How to check you have it

  • In probeo: a missing og:title is reported as Missing og:title, an error. A missing og:type is reported as Missing og:type, a warning. Probeo doesn’t check og:site_name.
  • By hand: view the page source and search the <head> for og:title, og:type and og:site_name.
  • With a tool: Facebook’s Sharing Debugger lists the properties it found and the ones it had to infer.

The fix

Add og:title, og:type and og:site_name to the page’s <head>.

Set og:title to the page’s headline without the site-name suffix. Set og:type to the most specific type that fits: article for posts and documentation, profile for a person, website for the homepage and general pages. Set og:site_name to the brand name as people know it, in the shared template.

Done when: each page declares all three, with a clean headline and a fitting type, and the check above comes back clean.

Do not

  • Do not copy a <title> with a site-name suffix verbatim into og:title.
  • Do not leave og:type as website on articles.
  • Do not use the domain as og:site_name when the brand name is different.

FAQ

If og:title falls back to <title>, why does it matter?

The <title> is written for search results and browser tabs, and it usually carries the site name. On a card that already names the site, the suffix is repeated noise. og:title lets the card have its own headline.

When should og:type be something other than ‘website’?

Use article for anything with a publication date, such as posts, news and documentation. Use profile for a page about a person. Keep website for the homepage and pages that fit nothing more specific. The type decides which further properties a platform looks for: on an article, probeo warns when article:published_time or article:author is missing.

Does og:type affect how the page appears in search results?

No. Search engines read schema.org structured data for rich results. og:type is read by the platforms that build share cards.

Should og:site_name match the domain name?

Not necessarily. It should be the brand name people recognize, which may differ from the domain. A site at app.example.com might use “Example”.

The Open Graph protocol requires four properties: og:title, og:type, og:image and og:url. Probeo reports a missing og:title, og:description or og:image as an error, and a missing og:type or og:url as a warning. So og:title, though listed here, is one of the tags probeo treats as essential.

Can I set og:site_name once in a template and forget about it?

Yes, for most sites. It names the brand, not the page, so a shared layout is the right place. The exception is a site that publishes under more than one brand.

Which product detects this

Probeo checks this on every page of your site as part of Site Clarity. This page explains one instance; the product tells you every page that has it.