I have learned so much since becoming a blogger, but I am continually learning new things. One thing I have struggled with is getting my Facebook shares to display the featured image correctly. I couldn’t get it right. I tried multiple things, but I think I now have it figured out. I would like to walk you through step-by-step how to make sure that your Facebook shares show the picture properly. Here are some tips to get Facebook shares to display properly with WordPress.
First: Make sure that you are using the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast:
Second: Go to the SEO Settings in the Sidebar and select Social:
Third: Check to make sure that the Add Open Graph meta data check-box is checked, and fill in the details for your Facebook page. This sets up WordPress to properly share the Facebook images.
Fourth: Now, it is necessary to make sure that the photo is cropped correctly. I found an easy way to do this using Canva. The size that is necessary is their Facebook Ad option: 1200 x 627. This is the next to last option on the Canva frontpage:
Fifth: Upload your picture into Canva using their upload option:
Sixth: After your image is uploaded, you can edit it and add text to it. Have fun and make it look awesome:
Seventh: Download your awesome picture that is the perfect size for Facebook.
Eighth: Canva does a great job with making beautiful pictures, but it is not so hot at making small pictures, so I optimize my pictures using TinyPNG.com.
Ninth: Just drag your picture into the box and it will automatically compress it for you! Now, after that is done you can rename it to make sense by right clicking on the download link and choosing Save link as…:
Almost Done: In WordPress, under your post, in the edit window, find the Yoast WordPress SEO plugin and find the Social Tab:
Finally: Just upload the image by clicking on the Upload Image button.
Now, you have an awesome image optimized for Facebook that WordPress will automatically setup so that whenever anyone does a Facebook share of your post, it will pull the picture correctly!
