Social preview monitoring for content & web teams

Check your link previews for free.

Paste a public URL to check the metadata behind its Slack, LinkedIn and X previews. Check up to 10 pages at once, find missing or broken images, and share the report with your team.

Start with a free scan. No account or credit card. Then choose weekly follow-ups by email or Slack for up to 10 report pages.

Paste a page, a domain, or up to 10 URLs, one per line.

See what the report shows

Quick diagnosis

Choose the next step for your preview problem.

  1. Missing or wrong image

    Check the image URL in the report and whether it can be fetched. If the wrong image is already in the source, update the page or CMS template before trying a platform refresh.

  2. Old image after an update

    Compare the current source with the platform’s card. A fresh scan checks your server; it cannot clear a platform cache. Use the relevant platform’s inspector after correcting the source.

  3. Several pages to check

    Paste up to 10 public URLs, one per line. Review results by URL, then optionally choose weekly email or Slack follow-ups for up to 10 report pages. Monitoring starts only after you complete setup.

From one finding to a fix

The page loads. Its preview image returns 403.

This controlled example uses local HTML and image responses with the ShareScan validator. It shows a source problem you can fix; it is not a live test of Slack, LinkedIn or X.

  1. Find the failing request

    The example page returns HTTP 200, but both image tags point to /private/card.jpg, which returns 403. ShareScan flags the image URLs as invalid. A working page is only half of the check.

  2. Publish the intended share image

    Move the asset to a public URL and update the page template. In this example, the replacement returns HTTP 200 and Content-Type: image/jpeg without cookies or a login.

    <meta property="og:image" content="https://example.test/og/article.jpg">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.test/og/article.jpg">

  3. Check again, then check the platform

    With the corrected tags and image response, the same validator reports no errors or warnings for this fixture. For your real page, run another scan after publishing, then inspect a new share in the platform you use.

A valid image can still be the wrong image for the story. Review the chosen asset as well as the checks. After fixing it, choose confirmed email or Slack follow-ups from your report to catch later changes.

Check your own page

A clear place to start

See the issue. Find the page. Follow up.

  1. Check the sourceInspect titles, descriptions and images in the metadata your pages serve.
  2. Review the findingsOpen affected pages and use the issue details to decide what needs fixing.
  3. Check again after changesRun another scan after a fix, or set up recurring checks for the pages that matter.

Previews are based on fetched metadata. Slack, LinkedIn and X may show a different or cached card.

ShareScan / Preview reportActual product view
A ShareScan report showing a metadata score, checked pages and findings from a scan of sharescan.io.
A real scan of sharescan.io, captured 8 October 2026. A dated snapshot of three pages, not a live status.

From finding to fix

What to check and how to follow up.

Check 01

What goes wrong in link previews

Previews can show the wrong image, stale copy, no card at all, or a different landing page than expected.

Why it happens

  • Missing or low-quality og:image and twitter:image tags.
  • Titles and descriptions that are too long and truncate in feeds.
  • Redirect chains or canonical conflicts that point crawlers to another URL.
  • Bot blocking rules that stop preview scrapers from loading metadata.
  • A private page, missing URL scheme, or recently cached platform preview can hide fresh changes.

What to do next

  • Set one canonical URL and align og:url with that destination.
  • Use a 1200x630 share image and confirm it is fetchable without auth.
  • Keep titles concise and put key context in the first 55-70 characters.
  • Run the check against the final public URL before posting in Slack, LinkedIn, X, or campaign tools.
Check 02

Why previews break after updates

A page can pass a one-time check, then break later when content, templates, redirects, or images change.

Why it happens

  • CMS edits can remove required image or description fields.
  • Deployments can change shared templates, canonical URLs, or redirect behavior.
  • CDN and asset pipeline changes can make preview images unreachable to crawlers.

What to do next

  • Run a new scan after publish to confirm source metadata is still correct.
  • Use platform troubleshooting tools such as LinkedIn Post Inspector or Facebook Sharing Debugger when needed.
  • Choose email or Slack follow-ups from the report, or use a verified workspace for broader coverage.
Check 03

Practical checklist before launch

Most preview incidents are preventable with a short preflight pass before publish or deploy.

Why it happens

  • No consistent QA step for metadata across content and engineering teams.
  • No regression monitoring between releases.

What to do next

  • Scan your first URL free before launch and review issue-level guidance.
  • Connect Slack to receive setup instructions and route preview alerts to the owning team.
  • Use monitoring to catch metadata regressions after deploys, CMS edits, and preview image changes.

When your team needs broader coverage

Bring recurring checks into your publishing workflow.

Create a workspace and verify your domain to schedule scans, manage URLs and connect CMS or GitHub Actions triggers. The Free workspace plan covers up to 100 pages.

Create free workspaceCompare monitoring plans

Before you start

A few useful details.

How do I check a link preview before posting?

Paste the final public URL into ShareScan and review the resolved title, description, image, canonical URL, Open Graph tags, Twitter/X card fields, redirects, and fetchability signals before you share it.

Why does my preview show the wrong image?

The image tag might be missing, blocked, too small, or cached. Check og:image and twitter:image values, then verify the image URL can be fetched directly.

What metadata does a link preview checker read?

A good checker reads the server-rendered HTML, Open Graph tags, Twitter/X card tags, canonical URL, status code, redirects, and image response details. That is the same source most social preview crawlers depend on.

Why does the preview not update after I publish changes?

Most platforms cache metadata and refresh on their own schedule. Make sure the canonical URL now serves updated tags and use each platform's inspector/debug tool if available.

Why are title and description getting cut off?

Different feeds reserve different character space. Keep titles tight and move critical context to the first sentence of the description.

How do I catch regressions right after deploy?

Run a scan after deploy. In a verified workspace, use GitHub Actions or a CMS webhook to trigger checks and review scan history with the team that owns the fix.

Explore a related check

More ways to keep previews in view.

Social Preview Testing

Use a broader pre-share QA flow for Slack, LinkedIn, X, and Open Graph cards.

Open Graph Checker

Validate og:* tags and fix structural metadata issues.

Slack Link Preview Checker

Debug Slack unfurls, then connect Slack to set up preview alerts.