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Why your site shares as a plain, grey link

CloudBuilder AI · 1 min read

Paste your website into a text message or a social post. If what appears is a bare URL with no picture and no headline, your site is missing share tags, and every share it earns is working at a fraction of its value.

What share tags are

Open Graph tags are a few lines of invisible page code that tell messaging and social apps what to show when your link is shared: which image, which title, which sentence. Those details make a shared link display as a preview rather than a bare URL.

Why this matters more than it sounds

Shares are your best marketing because they arrive with a friend's endorsement. A rich preview is far more likely to be tapped than a bare link. You are already earning the shares; the tags determine what each one shows.

What fixing it involves

Choosing a good image and writing a title and description, then setting the tags on your important pages. Our $40 tune-up checks whether these are set up and tells you exactly what's missing, since a good preview image needs a real photo you pick, not something we can choose for you.

Related

Common questions

Which apps use these tags?
Most of the ones your customers share links in: messaging apps, social networks, and workplace chat tools all read the same tags.
I updated the tags but the old preview still shows.
Apps cache previews. They refresh on their own schedule, typically within days.