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To check a page’s Open Graph tags, open its delivered HTML source, search for og:, and inspect the content values of tags such as og:title and og:image. Then inspect the live DOM if scripts may change the page, and use the destination platform’s debugger or preview tool to confirm how it interprets the markup.

Check the Open Graph tags in the page source

  1. Open the exact page URL you want to check in a browser.
  2. Open the page source. In many browsers, right-click the page and choose View page source; the exact menu label can vary. This view shows the HTML delivered for the page.
  3. Use the browser’s find command to search for og:, or search for a specific property such as og:title.
  4. For each matching tag, read the property attribute to identify the field and the content attribute to find its value.

Open Graph metadata belongs in the document’s <head>. A typical tag looks like <meta property="og:title" content="Example page title">: property names the metadata field, and content supplies its value.

Which Open Graph properties should you check?

The Open Graph Protocol defines four basic required properties. Check their values against the page you intend people to share:

Property What to verify
og:title The title that should represent the page.
og:type The object type, such as website. Some types may require additional properties.
og:image The URL of the representative image, and whether it points to the intended image.
og:url The canonical URL and permanent identifier intended for the object.

Also check og:description if the share description matters. The protocol describes it as optional but generally recommended. If the page specifies og:image, the protocol says it should also specify og:image:alt to describe the image. Other image metadata can include a secure URL, MIME type, width, and height.

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Check for duplicate or conflicting tags

Search the full source for each property, not just its first occurrence. Open Graph permits array properties; when conflicting values appear, the first matching tag in document order takes preference. A later duplicate therefore may not replace the earlier value. Record the tags in order and check that the first value is the one you want platforms to use.

Compare page source with the live DOM

Page source and the live DOM answer different questions. Source shows the markup delivered in the inspected response. The live DOM, visible in browser developer tools, shows the document after scripts may have run and altered it.

If a tag is missing or has a different value in the live DOM, inspect the page’s scripts or client-side rendering. A browser can display a script-modified value even when that value was not present in the initially delivered source. Social crawlers may parse what they can retrieve from the response rather than the browser state a person sees, and their behavior varies by platform.

Validate what the sharing platform sees

Finding tags in source confirms what that response declares; it does not prove that a particular service can fetch the page or image, or that it will display them as expected. For a Facebook share, use Facebook’s Sharing Debugger to check Facebook’s interpretation. For another destination, use that service’s current official preview or debugger when available. Platform-specific fetching behavior, cache lifetime, and image requirements can differ, so verify those details with the destination service rather than assuming one platform’s result applies everywhere.

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Troubleshoot common Open Graph checks

A tag is absent from page source

The inspected response does not contain that tag. Check the page template or CMS output that generates the delivered HTML, then reload and inspect the source again.

A tag appears in source but differs in the live DOM

Scripts or client-side rendering may be changing the document after load. Compare the two views to identify the changed value, then consider what the target platform can retrieve from the response.

The same property appears more than once

Inspect every occurrence and keep their order. The first value takes preference in conflicts, so remove or correct unintended earlier values in the template or generated markup.

The markup looks right but the preview does not

Use the target platform’s own debugger or preview to see what it parsed. A correct-looking tag list alone does not establish that the platform can fetch the page or image. Check that service’s current documentation for crawler access, caching, and image constraints; these are platform-specific.

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Or skip the browser setup

If you need a screenshot of how a page looks, ScreenshotNeo can capture it with one GET request. A screenshot can help you review the rendered page, but it does not replace checking the HTML metadata or validating a platform’s interpretation.

See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request options and response details.

curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://example.com -o shot.webp

ScreenshotNeo removes cookie and consent banners, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture; each step can be turned off. Bot checks, blank pages, and failed loads are not billed, and the response identifies the page verdict and billing status. Its MCP server lets AI agents use screenshot tools. 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.

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