Like many long-time bloggers, I update older posts regularly with new content, adding new info as well as resources and a new featured image to draw interest to the updated post.
For example, for my How to Find the Original Source for an Image post, I knew some of the content was outdated.
I wanted a fresher look for the post, so I created a new featured image and updated the content.
Before I published the changes, I checked the featured image for the post to confirm it was configured with the new image.
It was.
So I went ahead and published my post.
But when I shared my updated post on Twitter later that day, the old featured image displayed on my Tweet.
What happened?
Why wasn’t my new featured image displayed on Twitter?
I quickly switched into troubleshooting mode to figure out what was going on.
If you run into this issue when you tweet a link, here’s how you can resolve it.
How Twitter Determines Which Image to Display
Twitter relies on Twitter Cards to display an image.
Twitter Cards allow you to display an image, title, and description when you share a link on Twitter, rather than only the link.
Your site needs to support Twitter Cards in order for an image to display.
In WordPress, there are multiple ways to do that. Here are three methods:
- Yoast SEO plugin, in the Twitter tab of their Social section (how to set up Twitter Cards in Yoast SEO)
- As of Jetpack 8.5 (released in May 2020), the Jetpack plugin no longer adds the featured image to tweets, it only does Twitter cards. There is no setup needed in Jetpack for Twitter cards.
- Add a filter to your theme’s functions.php file
I knew Twitter Cards were working on my pages and posts since I regularly tweet links and the appropriate featured images display.
What could be causing the problem?
Twitter Image Requirements
I researched online and discovered Twitter has specific image requirements:
- Minimum dimension of 300 pixels x 157 pixels
- Maximum dimension of 4096 pixels x 4096 pixels
- Less than 5MB in size
- JPG, PNG, WEBP, and GIF format
- SVG is not supported
I checked my image and confirmed it met all of the Twitter card image requirements.
Prior to August 2022, Twitter used an online tool similar to how Facebook confirms what image to display for a post. Read on to learn what’s changed and what Twitter now recommends.
Twitter Card Validator
Update: In August 2022, Twitter Development announced they removed the preview functionality from the Twitter Card Validator, their online tool to confirm Twitter card images.
Why?
Because the display previews didn’t always align with how Twitter cards displayed on different platforms.
So how do you confirm your Twitter card image displays correctly?
Twitter Development recommends you create a tweet in Twitter, whether on the web Twitter or the app.
The preview image should display the correct view.
Note you don’t have to publish the tweet. The card preview will display the image if the URL has the correct card metadata.
Now called the legacy Twitter Card Validator, you can use the validator to:
- Submit new domains
- Use logs to confirm cards are accessible
You’ll no longer find any previews on the Card Validator page.
Here’s a test of one of my already published posts, displaying the logs confirming Twitter found the card image successfully.
But if it shows the image was found correctly, but it’s not displaying the image you want, there may be another common issue.
Be sure to clear your browser cache.
Summary
You might always get the correct image to display in a tweet when you share your links on Twitter.
But if you don’t, confirm your Twitter Cards are set up correctly and your image meets Twitter Cards requirements.
If you’re submitting a new domain or want to confirm the log files find your card image successfully, use the legacy Twitter Card Validator.
What methods do you use to troubleshoot Twitter displaying the correct image for posts? Share your recommendations in the comments.
Originally published June 13, 2018. Updated December 2020 with details about Jetpack and Yoast SEO methods for Twitter Cards. Updated October 31, 2022 with info about legacy Twitter Card Validator.
