Troubleshooting Link Previews in Publlish

Learn why link previews look wrong or fail to generate in Publlish, how to fix incorrect preview images and titles for Facebook and LinkedIn posts, and how to force a metadata refresh.

Bhanu Prasad

— 3 min read
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When you paste a URL into Publlish, it automatically fetches a link preview — the title, description, and image that appear as a card in the post. When that preview is wrong, missing, or showing outdated information, there are specific fixes for each scenario.

Publlish fetches link preview data from the URL's Open Graph (OG) meta tags — og:title, og:description, and og:image. These are HTML tags on the linked page that tell social platforms (and tools like Publlish) how to display a link when shared.

If these tags are missing, incorrect, or cached with outdated data, the preview will look wrong.

Issue 1 — Preview Image Is Wrong or Outdated

What's happening: The preview image is showing an old image that's been replaced on the website, or showing the wrong image entirely.

Fix:

Step 1 — Use the Facebook Sharing Debugger (for Facebook posts)

  1. Go to developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/
  2. Paste the URL and click Debug
  3. Click Scrape Again to force Facebook to refresh its cached version
  4. Once updated, reschedule the post in Publlish — the updated preview should appear

Step 2 — Check the page's Open Graph tags If the debugger shows an image you didn't expect, the issue is with the og:image tag on the linked page. This needs to be fixed by whoever manages the website. Common tools for checking OG tags: metatags.io or opengraph.xyz.

Step 3 — Override the preview in Publlish If you can't change the website's OG tags, Publlish lets you replace the preview image manually. Click the preview image in the composer and upload a custom replacement image for this post.

Issue 2 — No Preview Is Generated

What's happening: You paste a URL but no preview card appears — just the plain URL text.

Causes and fixes:

The page has no Open Graph tags Many internal tools, staging environments, and older websites have no OG tags. Publlish can't generate a preview from a page with no metadata. Either add OG tags to the page, or manually upload an image as a photo post with the link in the caption instead of as a link post.

The URL is behind a login or paywall Publlish cannot access pages that require authentication. Use a public URL instead.

The URL returned an error (404, 500, etc.) Check that the URL is live and accessible. Paste it in a browser to confirm it loads correctly.

The URL is a redirect Some redirect chains confuse preview fetchers. Try using the final destination URL directly.

Issue 3 — Preview Title or Description Is Wrong

What's happening: The preview fetches successfully but the title or description doesn't match the page's current content.

Fix:

  • Use the Facebook Sharing Debugger to clear the cache (for Facebook posts)
  • Manually edit the preview title and description in the Publlish composer — click on the text fields in the preview card and type your replacement text
  • The edited title/description will appear in the published post, overriding the auto-fetched version

Issue 4 — Multiple Images Are Shown as Options

What's happening: Publlish is showing multiple image options for the link preview and you're not sure which to choose.

What's happening: Publlish found multiple images on the linked page (from the OG tags or page content) and is giving you a choice. This is normal behaviour for pages with multiple images.

Fix: Select the image that best represents the linked content. Usually this is the main hero image or the article's featured image.

Issue 5 — LinkedIn Preview Looks Fine in Publlish But Wrong on LinkedIn

What's happening: The preview looks correct in the Publlish composer but shows differently once published to LinkedIn.

Fix: LinkedIn has its own cache for link previews. Use LinkedIn's Post Inspector to force a refresh of LinkedIn's cached version of the URL. Paste the URL, click Inspect, and LinkedIn will re-fetch the current metadata.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my Facebook link preview showing the wrong image? Facebook caches link previews. Use the Facebook Sharing Debugger to clear the cache and force a refresh. If the image is still wrong after clearing, the website's og:image tag needs to be updated.

Can I manually override the link preview image in Publlish? Yes — click on the preview image in the Publlish composer to replace it with a custom image for that specific post.

Why doesn't my link generate a preview at all? The most common reasons are: the page has no Open Graph meta tags, the URL is behind a login, or the page returns an error. Check the URL is publicly accessible and has og:title and og:image tags.

Does changing the preview in Publlish change it on the website? No — editing the preview in Publlish only affects how that specific post appears. It doesn't change the website's metadata.

How do I fix a link preview on LinkedIn? Use LinkedIn's Post Inspector at linkedin.com/post-inspector/ to force LinkedIn to re-fetch the URL's metadata.

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