Have you ever shared a link from your website on Facebook… only to find a random (or non-existing) image attached to your link? This is super common when you’re making changes to your website or your website is brand new.
Facebook doesn’t always know to pull the new image from your website.
However, they have a simple tool you can use to seek out the correct image you’d like shared alongside your link.
Before you can request Facebook to use a different image, you’ll want to make sure to double-check some things under your WordPress dashboard.
Step One: Update the Featured Image attached to the post or page you’re sharing.
Follow the below steps to update the image on your site:
- Log in to your WordPress site
- Open the Page or Post
- On the right-hand side of your screen you’ll see a column with a variety of options. Scroll down until you see a Featured image section.
- You may have to click the down arrow to open the Featured image settings.
- Browse your Media Library or upload a new image.
- Click the Update button.
Step Two: Tell Facebook there is a new image to use.
Follow the below steps to let Facebook know there is a new image for the link shared.
- Click here to access Facebook’s Sharing Debugger tool.
- Enter the URL web address for the page or post you need them to check for images
- Click the Debug button
- Once it loads if the Link Preview is incorrect, click the Scrape Again button
- Once clicked, the Link Preview should now display the new Featured Image
Aside from Facebook, you can also take steps to control the image when shared via Instagram messenger, LinkedIn, Pinterest and so on.
One of the best ways to refresh the image paired with your link is to clear the cache.
Clearing the cache of your website is my go-to when something wonky is up with my website. There are three places you’ll want to consider when clearing your cache:
- Clear your website cache via your host.
- I use Siteground, so at the top of my WordPress dashboard is a Purge SG Cache button. Clicking this will clear my cache at the host level.
- Find more detailed instructions on how to clear your site cache in your Siteground account here.
- Clear your browser cache.
- This really doesn’t have anything to do with your website but will ensure you’re seeing what everyone else see’s when they go to your website. I use Chrome, so I’d go to History > Show Full History > Clear browsing data > check Cached images and file and then click Clear data.
- Find more detailed instructions here.
After following these steps, you should see the appropriate featured image paired with your website page/post.
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