Discord Preview Not Updating — How to Fix Discord Embed Issues
You updated your page's title, image, or description — but when you paste the link in Discord, it still shows the old embed. Or the embed is showing the wrong image, no image at all, or nothing.
This is one of the most common link preview frustrations. Here's why it happens and exactly how to fix it.
-> Verify your metadata with TryUnfurl first
Why Discord Embeds Get Stuck
When you paste a URL into Discord, Discord's crawler fetches the page metadata and generates an embed card. That result is then cached. The next time the same URL is shared, Discord serves the cached version — it doesn't re-fetch the page.
Discord doesn't provide a public cache-clearing tool, so the embed won't update automatically just because you changed your page.
Before assuming it's a caching issue, first confirm your metadata is actually correct. Paste your URL into TryUnfurl.com — it fetches the live page with no cache. If TryUnfurl shows the correct title, description, and image, the problem is definitely Discord's cache. If TryUnfurl also shows the wrong data, the issue is with your page's metadata itself.
How to Fix Discord Preview Not Updating
Method 1 — Add a cache-busting query parameter (fastest)
Append a small query string to the URL when sharing:
https://example.com/page?v=2
Discord treats this as a new, unseen URL and fetches fresh metadata. This is the most reliable immediate fix. Increment the number each time you need to force another refresh.
Method 2 — Wait for the cache to expire
Discord's embed cache typically expires within a few hours to around 24 hours. If the link isn't time-sensitive, simply wait and re-share.
Method 3 — Share in a fresh message
Delete the original message containing the link and paste it again in a new message. This doesn't bypass the cache for the same URL, but combined with method 1 it guarantees a fresh fetch.
Discord Embed Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Old embed still showing after page update | Cached embed | Add ?v=2 to URL or wait for cache to expire |
| No embed appears at all | Missing og:title or og:description |
Add Open Graph tags to the page |
| Embed shows but no image | og:image missing, wrong URL, or too small |
Use absolute HTTPS image URL, min 300 × 157 px |
| Image appears cropped or tiny | Wrong image dimensions | Use 1200 × 630 px image |
| Embed worked before, now broken | og:image URL changed or returning 404 |
Fix the image URL and cache-bust with ?v=2 |
| Embed works in browser but not Discord | JavaScript-rendered meta tags | Use server-side rendering — Discord's crawler doesn't execute JS |
| Title shows but image doesn't | Image blocked or too large | Open image URL directly in private browser to test |
What Discord Reads
Discord generates embeds from these metadata sources, in priority order:
og:titlefor the embed titleog:descriptionfor the embed descriptionog:imagefor the embed imagetwitter:cardandtwitter:imageas fallbackog:site_namefor the site labelog:urlfor the canonical link
Discord does not execute JavaScript when fetching pages. Meta tags must be present in the initial HTML response — not injected by React, Vue, or other client-side frameworks.
Discord Image Requirements
| Requirement | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum size | 300 × 157 px |
| Recommended size | 1200 × 630 px |
| URL type | Absolute HTTPS only |
| Must be public | Yes — not behind login or blocked by robots.txt |
Check Your Metadata First
Before trying cache-busting tricks, confirm the issue is caching and not a broken metadata implementation. Paste your URL into TryUnfurl.com to see exactly what Discord's crawler will read from your page.