To change the thumbnail that appears when someone shares a webpage, change that page’s Open Graph image, usually its og:image tag. Set it in your CMS or SEO plugin if available; otherwise, update the metadata in the page’s <head>. If you only want a different image on one LinkedIn Page post, an admin can choose an image in LinkedIn’s post composer without changing the website’s default metadata.
Choose which thumbnail you want to change
There are two different controls that can produce a different-looking link preview. Use the website-level setting when you want the page’s sharing image to be represented in its metadata. Use a post composer override when you want to customize one social post and the platform offers that option.
| Method | What it changes | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Page metadata or a CMS social-image setting | The image associated with the webpage for platforms that read its metadata. | You want a durable page-level change for future shares. |
| Social post composer override | The image shown with that individual post; it does not necessarily change the website’s metadata. | You need a one-off choice on a platform that supports it, such as a LinkedIn Page post. |
These methods are not interchangeable. A post override can solve one post without fixing the page’s default preview elsewhere. Conversely, changing the page metadata does not necessarily replace an image already selected for a particular post.
Change the website-level thumbnail
1. Set the social image in your CMS or SEO plugin
- Open the page or post you want to update in your content management system.
- Look for a setting labelled Social image, Social sharing image, Open Graph image, or similar. It may be in an SEO plugin’s social settings.
- Select the image you want associated with this page, save or update the page, and confirm the change has been published.
Some WordPress plugins can use a post’s featured image as an Open Graph source and also provide a way to select an image manually. Check the behavior of the plugin and page you actually use: choosing a new social image may differ from changing the featured image, and a site-wide default may not override a page-specific setting.
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2. If there is no CMS setting, update the page head
Ask your site developer to add or update the Open Graph metadata in the HTML <head> for the specific page. Open Graph’s basic properties include og:title, og:type, og:image, and og:url; og:description is optional but generally recommended. The image property should point to the image you intend platforms to use.
<meta property="og:title" content="Page title">
<meta property="og:type" content="website">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/share-image.jpg">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/page/">
<meta property="og:description" content="A short description of the page.">Replace the example values with the correct title, image URL, canonical page URL, and description for your page. The image URL needs to be publicly reachable by the service fetching the preview; an image that only works while you are signed in may not be usable by a social platform. The Open Graph Protocol also describes optional image dimensions and alt text. Do not add values that do not match the actual page or image.
3. Check the published result, not just the editor
- Open the live page and inspect its page source or rendered metadata to confirm that
og:imagepoints to the intended image. - Check that the page’s other relevant Open Graph values, particularly
og:title,og:description, andog:url, describe the page you are sharing. - Make sure the image itself loads from its URL without requiring your CMS login.
- If a plugin or theme emits more than one conflicting set of metadata, ask the developer to identify which tags are actually present on the published page.
Choose an image that works for LinkedIn
Image requirements vary by platform. LinkedIn’s help for website sharing specifies a minimum image size of 1200 × 627 pixels. Its Page-post guidance recommends a 1.91:1 image, such as 1200 × 627 pixels; that guidance also says an image must be more than 200 pixels wide to show in the large-image format. These are LinkedIn specifications, not a guarantee that every other platform will display the image the same way.
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For a LinkedIn preview, prepare an image at the documented 1200 × 627 size where practical, then confirm the result in LinkedIn’s preview. If the image is too small, poorly cropped, or visually unclear at that aspect ratio, make a version specifically for social sharing rather than assuming a square featured image will display as intended.
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LinkedIn documents a separate route for Page admins who want to edit a URL preview in an individual post. The steps below apply to a LinkedIn Page post, not to changing the website’s Open Graph metadata.
- Open the Page in its super admin or content admin view.
- In Start a post, paste the webpage URL and wait for the preview to appear.
- Click Edit below the text box.
- Use the image icon to choose an image. You can also edit the article title in the preview.
- Set the audience and publish the post.
This changes the preview for that post. If you need the same image to be the page’s default when other people share its URL, change the page-level metadata as well.
If the old thumbnail still appears
A preview can remain unchanged after the source metadata has been corrected. Social platforms may cache a page’s earlier information, and cache duration or refresh behavior varies. Do not assume a change will appear immediately or that one platform’s refresh method applies to another.
- Verify the live page first. Confirm that its published
og:imagetag contains the new, correct image URL. Editing a CMS field is not enough if the page still outputs an old value. - Open the image URL directly. Confirm that the intended image loads publicly and that the URL has not been mistyped or left pointing at an older file.
- Use the target platform’s current sharing debugger or inspector, if available. These tools can help the platform fetch the page again; follow that platform’s current instructions.
- Recheck the preview on the target platform. If it is still wrong, compare the values the platform is reading with the live page’s metadata and look for conflicting tags, a page-specific override, or an old post-level image choice.
A third-party overview discusses aggressive caching and recommends using a platform debugger to force a refresh. Treat that as general guidance rather than a universal refresh guarantee: verify the target platform’s current tool and behavior.
Or skip the browser setup
If you need a clean screenshot of how a webpage currently renders, ScreenshotNeo can return one from a single GET request. This captures the rendered page; it does not change the page’s Open Graph metadata or force a social platform to refresh a link preview. See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request options.
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curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://example.com -o shot.webpScreenshotNeo removes known cookie and consent banners, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture; each of those steps can be turned off. Bot checks and CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and the response identifies the page verdict and billing status in headers. Its MCP server provides take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf tools for AI agents and MCP clients. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 screenshots. Sign up for ScreenshotNeo’s free plan.
Common problems and fixes
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| The old image appears in every preview. | The live page still publishes the old image, or a platform has cached it. | Inspect the published og:image first, then use the target platform’s current inspector or debugger if available. |
| The CMS shows the new image but the shared URL does not. | The editor setting may not be the value the live page emits, or the platform has not fetched the new metadata. | Check the actual page head and any page-specific or theme/plugin settings. |
| The preview has the wrong title or description as well. | Other Open Graph fields may be missing, outdated, or inconsistent. | Verify og:title, og:description, and og:url alongside the image tag. |
| The image cannot be loaded by the preview service. | The image URL may be private, invalid, or inaccessible. | Open the exact URL without being logged in and confirm it serves the intended image. |
| A LinkedIn post uses a different image from the page default. | An image was selected for that individual Page post. | Edit the post preview if it is still editable, or correct the page metadata for future shares. |
FAQ
Does changing a featured image always change a link thumbnail?
No. A CMS or plugin may use the featured image as an Open Graph source, but the actual behavior depends on its settings and any page-specific social image override. Check the published og:image value.
Will a website metadata change update an existing social post?
Not necessarily. An individual post may have its own selected image, and a platform may retain previously fetched preview data. Check the post and the platform’s current preview-refresh options.
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The documented steps here are for LinkedIn Page admins. Other platforms may offer different controls, so use their current sharing or post-composer guidance.
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