LinkedIn Link Preview Not Showing — How to Fix It
When a LinkedIn URL unfurl breaks, it breaks in one of three ways: a missing image (so your post looks like plain text), the wrong title or description (usually stale cached data), or no preview card at all (your tags are JS-injected or your image is too small). All three are fixable — and all three share the same two-step playbook: fix your Open Graph tags, then force LinkedIn to re-crawl.
This guide walks through exactly what happens during LinkedIn URL unfurl, the seven most common reasons a LinkedIn link preview fails, a step-by-step fix, advanced troubleshooting for the less-obvious cases, and how to test your LinkedIn link previews before every post.
→ Test your LinkedIn link preview on TryUnfurl
How LinkedIn Generates Link Previews
LinkedIn reads Open Graph tags to build the preview card that appears in feed posts, messages, and comments. When someone pastes or posts a URL, LinkedIn's crawler (user-agent LinkedInBot) fetches the page and extracts:
og:title— shown as the headlineog:description— shown as the subtext (truncated around 100 characters)og:image— must be at least 200×200 px; 1200×627 px is ideal for the full-width cardog:url— the canonical URL LinkedIn uses for deduplication across shares
LinkedIn then caches the result aggressively. After you fix your tags, you must use the LinkedIn Post Inspector to clear the cache before the update shows up in new posts.
A few LinkedIn-specific details worth knowing:
- LinkedIn does not read Twitter Card tags. If your only metadata is
twitter:*, LinkedIn sees nothing and the card will be sparse or blank. - LinkedIn does not execute JavaScript. Open Graph tags must be in the initial server-rendered HTML — React, Vue, or Angular apps that inject tags client-side will fail LinkedIn URL unfurl.
- LinkedIn is stricter about image size than most platforms. Anything under 1200×627 px gets downgraded to a small thumbnail or skipped entirely.
- LinkedIn requires
LinkedInBotto reach your page unauthenticated. Pages behind logins, IP allow-lists, or strict WAF rules will fail silently.
Common Reasons LinkedIn Previews Fail
1. Missing og:image or image too small
LinkedIn requires og:image to be at least 200×200 px. For a full-width preview card, use 1200×627 px (note: 627 px tall, not 630). Images smaller than 200×200 px are ignored and LinkedIn falls back to a thumbnail-only or no-image card.
2. Stale cached data
LinkedIn caches previews for a long time. This is the most frequent cause of "I updated the page but LinkedIn still shows the old preview." You must use the Post Inspector (below) to force a refresh.
3. JavaScript-rendered meta tags
LinkedIn's crawler does not execute JavaScript. If your og: tags are injected by client-side JavaScript, LinkedIn will never read them. Tags must be present in the raw HTML response from the server.
4. og:image URL not publicly accessible
The image URL must return a 200 response without authentication. Test it in a private browser window with no cookies.
5. og:title or og:description missing
LinkedIn will attempt to infer a title from <title> if og:title is absent, but the result is inconsistent. Always set og:title and og:description explicitly.
6. Blocked LinkedInBot user-agent
Aggressive WAFs, bot-protection middleware (Cloudflare "I'm Under Attack" mode), or IP allow-lists sometimes block LinkedInBot. Check your access logs for 403s from that user-agent.
7. Mismatched og:url
If og:url doesn't match the URL being shared, LinkedIn may dedupe the share against an older cached entry — so your new content shows an old preview. Keep og:url aligned with the canonical URL of the page.
Step-by-Step Fix Guide
- Check and update your Open Graph tags — set all four core tags in the HTML
<head>:
<meta property="og:title" content="Your Page Title" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Concise description, ideally under 100 characters." />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/linkedin-preview.jpg" />
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200" />
<meta property="og:image:height" content="627" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/your-page" />
<meta property="og:type" content="website" />
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Your Site Name" />
- Confirm tags are server-rendered — run:
curl -L -A "LinkedInBot" https://example.com/your-page | grep og:
If the tags are missing from the curl output but visible in browser DevTools, they're JavaScript-injected and LinkedIn can't read them. Switch to SSR, SSG, or pre-rendering.
Verify the image URL directly — open the
og:imageURL in an incognito window. If it doesn't load, neither will LinkedIn's crawler.Clear LinkedIn's cache with the Post Inspector:
- Go to LinkedIn Post Inspector
- Paste your URL
- Click Inspect to see what LinkedIn currently has cached
- Click Regenerate preview to force LinkedIn to re-crawl the page
Test the updated preview — create a new LinkedIn post and paste the URL. The preview should reflect your updated og: tags and the cleared cache.
Check image dimensions live — use TryUnfurl to see the detected
og:imagesize, confirm it meets LinkedIn's minimum, and spot any other Open Graph tag issues.
Advanced LinkedIn Troubleshooting
Once the basics are correct, these are the edge cases that catch out even experienced teams:
- CDN serving stale HTML. Post Inspector re-scrapes, but your CDN still serves the old HTML. Clear your CDN cache (Cloudflare, Fastly, CloudFront, Vercel, Netlify) before re-running Regenerate preview.
- Dynamic og:image URLs that expire. If your
og:imageURL is a signed CDN URL with a short expiry (e.g. S3 presigned URLs), LinkedIn's cached image may return 403 an hour later. Use permanent image URLs for OG tags. - Redirects and canonical mismatches. If you share
https://example.com/pagebut the page canonicals tohttps://www.example.com/page/, LinkedIn may dedupe or cache against the wrong URL. Keep canonical and shared URLs consistent. - Company Page vs personal share differences. LinkedIn sometimes renders company page shares differently than personal posts. Test both contexts if your campaign uses both.
- Mobile vs desktop layout. LinkedIn crops the
og:imagedifferently on mobile than on the desktop web client. Keep critical text and logos within the central 800×400 px of your image. - Image hotlink protection. If your image server blocks hotlinking or unfamiliar
Refererheaders, LinkedInBot may get 403. Whitelist LinkedIn's crawler or remove hotlink protection for OG image paths. - Multiple og:image tags. LinkedIn tends to pick the first
og:imageit finds. Make sure duplicates aren't being injected by a theme + plugin combo.
Testing Your LinkedIn Previews
Before any high-value LinkedIn post — a product launch, a hiring push, a thought-leadership article — run the URL through a live URL unfurl tool that shows the LinkedIn preview alongside every other platform's card.
TryUnfurl fetches your page fresh (no internal cache) and renders the LinkedIn card, plus Facebook, Twitter/X, Slack, Discord, and iMessage, in one view. It lists every detected Open Graph tag, flags missing values, and surfaces image size issues — so you can fix LinkedIn URL unfurl problems before you post.
For content migrations, campaigns, or monthly evergreen audits, use the bulk URL unfurl checker to test up to 100 URLs in one pass and export the results as CSV.
How to Clear LinkedIn's Link Preview Cache
- Go to https://www.linkedin.com/post-inspector/
- Enter your URL and click Inspect
- Review the preview LinkedIn currently shows
- Click Regenerate preview to force a fresh crawl
Note: you must be logged into LinkedIn to use the Post Inspector.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my LinkedIn preview show an old image after I changed it?
LinkedIn caches previews aggressively. Even after updating your og:image, existing cached data persists. Use the LinkedIn Post Inspector and click Regenerate preview to force LinkedIn to re-crawl your page. If the CDN is also cached, clear that first.
Does LinkedIn support Twitter Card tags?
No. LinkedIn only reads Open Graph (og:) tags. Twitter Card tags are ignored.
What size should my og:image be for LinkedIn?
Minimum 200×200 px; recommended 1200×627 px for full-width link posts. See the og:image size guide for a full platform comparison.
Why does my LinkedIn preview work in Post Inspector but not when I post?
There can be a short delay between the Post Inspector refresh and what appears in the app. Try posting 5–10 minutes after running the Post Inspector.
Can I change the LinkedIn preview image for a URL I don't own?
No. LinkedIn reads the og: tags from the page HTML — only the page owner can change what appears. LinkedIn does not expose an API to override link previews for third-party URLs.
Why is my LinkedIn description cut off?
LinkedIn truncates og:description at around 100 characters. Keep your description concise and front-load the most important information.
How do I test my LinkedIn URL unfurl without actually posting?
Use TryUnfurl for a live preview of the LinkedIn card (and every other platform) without publishing anything. Follow it up with LinkedIn's Post Inspector to force a cache refresh.