What is a Social Share Image and How Do You Set it on Your Website?

Have you ever noticed someone sharing a website link and where an image should appear, instead it's showing a gray avatar that typically indicates "image to go here" and it might look something like this:

Or it might look like a teeny tiny image, like this:

Why is this happening? Because there is not a social share image for the webpage link. 

I'll try to explain this but not get too techie. 

Each website has a front end and back end. The front end is what we see as site visitors. The back end is what happens inside the page to make it do what we want to do. 

Part of the back end of a webpage is the SEO and Sharing settings. These typically include:

• URL or webpage address
  
  
• Page title: typically 60-80 characters.
  
  
• Page description: Typically 1-2 sentences, and around 150-180 characters.
  
  
• Page image: depending on your website, this is typically rectangular. My website provider is Kajabi and they recommend a 1280 x 720 px size.
  
  
• Sometimes you can add in tags or other alt text as well. 

When you are first building a website or adding a webpage, the SEO and Sharing settings should be established. I recommend putting a default image on ALL pages and recommend that the image be of your company page logo on a white background. 

Since all websites show images differently based on if the user is visiting on a desktop vs mobile app, I recommend your image be square and centered on white. That way, the image won't be cropped, showing only a portion of your logo. That looks messy IMO. 

DID YOU KNOW THAT LINKEDIN "REMEMBERS" the first time a webpage is shared? It's true. This is important, because if you share a webpage link on LinkedIn, and then share the social share image later and try sharing the webpage link AGAIN on LinkedIn, the page image, title, and description won't update. 

This is confusing, right? WHY OH WHY LINKEDIN?

I'm hoping this post will be obsolete at some point because LinkedIn will fix* this glitch, but for the time being, it is what it is. 

I found this out the hard way: 

*update: there IS a way to fix this: https://www.linkedin.com/post-inspector/

I was using a pipeline from Kajabi which uses a series of pages, including (who guessed it?) a "Sales Page." 

When I first set up the page, I forgot to set up the SEO settings including the social share image and the page title and description. YIKES!

I realized my error and went back to LinkedIn and fixed it later. But unfortunately, LinkedIn "cached" (is that the right expression?) the image that was originally on the page when I first shared it, and even though the page has since been updated to change the title and image, it "remembers" what was in there the first time I shared it on LinekdIn.

Is this confusing or what? If you've had this happen to you, you know EXACTLY what I mean, and you're scratching your head trying to figure this out. Perhaps your google search led you here. 

So, all of that said, here's my advice to you:

1. Set up a default social share image for EVERY page of your website by default. 

2. I recommend that the image be of your company page logo on a white background.

3. Since all websites show images differently based on if the user is visiting on a desktop vs mobile app, I recommend your image be square and centered on white. That way, the image won't be cropped, showing only a portion of your logo. That looks messy IMO.

4. If your website's SEO gives you recommended dimensions, use them. If not, I recommend 1280x720px because that's what my website (Kajabi) recommends. 
   
   
5. BEFORE you share a link on LinkedIn, test it by adding the link to your MEDIA in your EXPERIENCE section. This allows you to add a link and see it in preview before SAVING it. I recommend picking your earliest career experience so it's buried. You know, in case you accidentally publish it. BUT DON'T PUBLISH IT - because LinkedIn will REMEMBER whatever the link contains the first time it's published. 

Hopefully this blog helps you and saves you time, aggravation, and it helps you to ensure brand continuity and quality control when you share webpages on LinkedIn. 

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NEED HELP WITH LINKEDIN?

I offer a variety of services to help you and your marketing / sales efforts, including:

• LinkedIn coaching and consulting
• LinkedIn profile rewrites / optimization
• LinkedIn 1-to-1 training (virtual)
• LinkedIn team training (virtual)
• And more. Visit https://www.mellermarketing.com/LinkedIn to learn more