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Troubleshooting guide

WhatsApp link preview not showing?

WhatsApp builds the preview from your page’s Open Graph tags when someone sends the link. If a tag is missing, the image is too heavy or WhatsApp can’t reach the page, the link arrives plain. Here’s what to check, based on Meta’s own requirements.

The check opens on the WhatsApp preview and flags missing tags, small images and images over 600 KB.

What WhatsApp needs

Tags
og:title, og:description and og:url in the <head>, not empty, plus og:image
Image
Under 600 KB, at least 300 px wide, no wider than 4:1
HTML
The <head> within the first 300 KB of the page
Crawler
WhatsApp/2.x user agent
From Meta’s WhatsApp link preview docs ↗

Common causes and fixes

  1. 1

    A required tag is missing or empty

    WhatsApp needs og:title, og:description and og:url inside the <head>, none of them empty, and og:image for the picture. It reads the HTML your server sends, so tags added later by JavaScript are missed.

    Fix: Check your page to see which tags it has, then copy the generated code into your <head>.

  2. 2

    The image is too heavy

    Meta’s limit is 600 KB. Large PNGs and uncompressed photos often go over it, and the preview loses its image.

    Fix: Compress the image, or save a PNG as a JPG. The OG image generator keeps its JPGs under 300 KB.

  3. 3

    The image is too small or too wide

    The image has to be at least 300 px wide and no wider than 4:1. Banners and thin strips fail the ratio.

    Fix: Use a 1200×630 image. It fits WhatsApp and every other platform.

  4. 4

    The tags sit too far down the page

    WhatsApp only looks for the <head> in the first 300 KB of the HTML. Large inline scripts, styles or SVGs before it can push the tags out of reach.

    Fix: Move the meta tags to the top of the <head>, before any inline code.

  5. 5

    WhatsApp can’t reach the page or the image

    Bot protection, firewalls, logins and staging passwords can block WhatsApp’s crawler, which identifies itself as WhatsApp/2.x. The image needs a public https address too.

    Fix: Let the WhatsApp user agent through your bot protection, and open the image address in a private window to confirm it’s public.

  6. 6

    The sender has link previews turned off

    WhatsApp has a privacy setting, Settings › Privacy › Advanced › Disable link previews, that stops previews for every link that person sends.

    Fix: Nothing to fix on your page. Ask someone else to send the link to compare.

Still seeing the old preview?

WhatsApp doesn’t document how long it keeps a preview. To test a fix, send the link with a query string such as ?v=2, which WhatsApp treats as a new link.

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