No og:description for link previews

Why it matters

og:description is the line or two under the headline of a shared link. Without it, networks fall back to the meta description, and failing that show nothing or a scrap of page text. LinkedIn and WhatsApp both list it as required for a preview. Previews show far less than a search result does: WhatsApp says "80 characters will suffice", Facebook shows about 110, and X cut at 200, so the first sentence has to do the work.

Sources: WhatsApp link previews; LinkedIn: make your website shareable. Only WhatsApp's figure is published; the others are observed.

How to fix it

Add inside <head>, one sentence that makes someone want to tap:

<meta property="og:description" content="Hand-made wedding cakes, delivered and set up on the day." />

Examples

These are the rule's own test pages, and what it says about each. They are run on every change to the rule book.

<meta property="og:description" content="Hand-made wedding cakes and more. Hand-made wedding cakes and more. Hand-made wedding cakes and more. Hand-made wedding cakes and more. Hand-made wedding cakes and more. Hand-made wedding cakes and more. Hand-made wedding cakes and more. ">

NoticeThe og:description is 237 characters; no network shows more than about 200, and most show under 110.

fail-long

<meta name="description" content="For search results only.">

WarningThe page has no og:description, so link previews fall back to the search description.

fail-missing

<meta property="og:description" content="Hand-made wedding cakes, delivered and set up on the day.">

PassedThe page has an og:description for link previews.

pass-short