Why does Facebook show the wrong image when I share a page?

If you post a page to Facebook and have specified an image but find Facebook shows a different one, there could be a few reasons why.

1. Your image is too small

Facebook require the specified image to meet their minimum size guidelines. If your image is too small, they will attempt to choose another one that appears on the same page that is large enough.

As their guidelines can change from time to time, we recommend checking out these resources for up-to-date information:

• Facebook's official guidelines
• Sprout Social's "always up-to-date guide to social media image sizes"
• Buffer's "ideal Social media image sizes guide"

2. There's another image on the page that is considerably larger

If there is another image on the same page that is larger than the main image you have selected for your article, there is a chance that Facebook will opt for the larger image instead. Even if your chosen image meets Facebook's guidelines! Yes, this is frustrating, and there's little explanation or documentation out there to explain why.

A common issue we've seen is that large images are used for station staff ("on air now") and those may then appear as the image for a news article on Facebook. See our disclaimer on this issue.

Our advice here is to try and ensure your main article image is always the largest image on the page, and that other images like "on air now" are no bigger than they need to be.

Telling Facebook that you've changed an image

If you change an image and re-share the same page URL, Facebook may still continue to show the wrong image, because they store a copy in their cache.

To clear their cache, submit your page URL in their Debugger tool. It will show you what they currently know about your page, and you should be able to click a button labelled "Scrape Again". This will update their cache and store the new image.

Default image

A default image for Facebook can be specified for your site by going to "Site Settings" in the main menu, and then select "Images and Icons". However, this will only ever be used if you don't specify a specific Facebook image for a page. If this image is also too small it wont be used, and Facebook will pick another image from the page.

Disclaimer

Facebook may select an image from your webpage that is not the image you intended. The wrong image appearing alongside an unrelated article could have serious consequences. Aiir cannot be held responsible for the image Facebook chooses to show; it is selected by Facebook's algorithm. Aiir facilitates entering an image into a page which is presented in a meta tag and in the body of the article. It is then down to whether Facebook chooses to use this image or not.

If an article is of a sensitive nature and you're concerned about the image that may be selected when it is shared on Facebook, copy the article's URL into Facebook's Sharing Debugger tool before posting, to see a preview of how it may look.