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The Secret to Getting a Large Facebook Link Thumbnail

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Want a large Facebook Link Thumbnail? You need a BIG blog post image. Learn the minimum and optimal image sizes so you don't get a teensy link thumbnail.

Are you getting LARGE Facebook Link Thumbnail images?

Or are you stuck with tiny postage-stamp sized link previews?

In 2014, Facebook upped the minimum size required to get those lovely large links!

Now you need to change the way you create blog images, AND share links on Facebook.

Why Care About Facebook Link Thumbnails?

Standard link posts (that is, with the link preview generated by Facebook) are getting better click-throughs than other ways to share links recommended in the past.

With the large preview image, that can only get better – IF you take advantage of it!

We will cover:

  • How to share a link on your Facebook Page
  • Facebook link thumbnail size in the news feed
  • Why don’t I get a large Facebook link thumbnail?
  • Blog image size for best Facebook link preview
  • Facebook link ad size
  • How to preview a Facebook post with the Facebook share debugger
  • How to change or remove a Facebook link preview
  • How to restore a missing link image
  • How to get a link to a Facebook post

Lots of good stuff, so let’s get started!

This post was originally published in June 2014 and last updated March 2020.

The Secret to Getting a Large Facebook Link Thumbnail

How to share a link with preview on your Facebook Page

You can share using the web page’s share button, or paste the link into an update on your Page.

Don’t forget to include a question to generate comments, or a curiosity-provoking description to get clicks to the site.

I recommend posting the link on Facebook, because you get more image options!

When you share a link on your Page, you can include a preview in your post. The preview can include up to 10 images with descriptions and unique destination URLs.

To share a link on your Facebook Page:

1 | Click in Write a post… at the top of your Page’s timeline and enter the link you want to share.

2 |Customize the preview. Images from the webpage may automatically be added to your post’s preview. There are several ways to customize the preview:

  • Add or Remove Images: You can remove an image from the preview by clicking the thumbnail below Available images. Click + to add an image from your computer.
  • Edit Descriptions: If you’ve added multiple images, click the description below each image in the preview to edit it.
  • Edit Destination URLs: To edit the destination URL for an image in the preview, hover over the image and click .

4 | Click Publish. source

What’s the Facebook link thumbnail size in the News Feed?

On desktop, a large link preview will appear at 470 x 246 pixels. On mobile, the link preview will appear at 560×292 pixels.

If your blog post image isn’t big enough, then it will render as 154 x 154 or 90 x 90 px (the largest available size). BIG difference!

Facebook says:

Use images that are at least 1200 x 630 pixels for the best display on high resolution devices. At the minimum, you should use images that are 600 x 315 pixels to display link page posts with larger images. If your image is smaller than 600 x 315 px, it will still display in the link page post, but the size will be much smaller.*

And that nice, big image (with its text box) links to the blog post when clicked, making it much easier for viewers to get to your blog posts.

*Note: Sometimes Facebook says 1200 x 628 and 600 x 314 pixels. I have no idea why this 1-pixel discrepancy, but I doubt it matters.

Why didn’t I get a large Facebook link thumbnail?

There must be a large enough image on the web page you wish to share on Facebook.

The Facebook Help Team says:

Images that are at least 470×246 pixels will display as a rectangle with the title and description below. Images that are smaller than 470×246 pixels will display as a square with the title and description to the right.

The only way to adjust your post back to having a rectangle image is to choose an image that fits the size requirements. source

I hear that the minimum size doesn’t always work. This is still what Facebook is recommending! source

If it’s not working for you, the solution is simple: make it bigger! Go with 1200 x 630.

Additionally, sometimes the preview before you publish looks small, but still posts as large. Try the Facebook link debugger further down.

Blog image sizes for maximum impact on Facebook

Facebook recommends 1200 x 628 pixel size for link share images. The minimum size suggested to ensure a large preview image is 600 x 314 pixels.

The common denominator with all these link thumbnail image sizes is an aspect ratio of 1.91 wide to 1 tall. So you could take the height of your image and multiply it by 1.91 to determine the proper width.

I now make all my blog header images to the width of my blog’s content column – which is 720 pixels.

So my Facebook link shares are 720 x 377, which is a 1.91:1 aspect ratio. My pins are 720 x 1080, which is Pinterest’s recommended 2:3 Pin size.

If you don’t want that horizontal image, use any shape image that’s at least 600 pixels wide to generate a large link preview. NOTE:  the top and bottom will be cut off in the link thumbnail. The image in the thumbnail below was a 624 pixel square on the blog post.

The Secret to Getting a Large Facebook Link Thumbnail

I recommend creating an image at least 600 x 314 pixels for each of your new blog posts going forward. Any smaller, and your link posts will be at a big disadvantage in the news feed.

If you have older posts that you (or readers) will be sharing on Facebook, and especially if you plan to run one as a Page Post Link Ad, you’d be smart to create a new, larger image for that blog post. Bigger images on blog posts look more up-to-date, too.

If you don’t want the image to be visible on your blog at all, you can set the link preview image using Open Graph (og:image) tags. A WordPress plugin like Yoast SEO makes this easy to do.

What’s the Facebook link ad size?

You can use the same 1.91:1 aspect ratio image as a normal, organic, non-paid link share.

But you can go larger! Facebook recommends a square for link ads.

NEW: You can go up to 4:5 aspect ratio now, which is a portrait image size on Instagram.

Larger images are always more eye-catching. And if you’re popping for an ad, might as well get your money’s worth, right?

Use images that are at least 1080 pixels in width for best display on high resolution devices. At the minimum, you should use images that are 600 pixels in width to display image link ads. We recommend using 1:1 images in your ad creatives for better performance with image link ads.

1:1 images with image link ads

LEARN MORE: Everything you need to know about Facebook ad sizes

How to preview your post with the Facebook share debugger

When content is shared for the first time, the Facebook crawler will scrape and cache the metadata from the URL shared. The crawler has to see an image at least once before it can be rendered.

This means that the first person who shares a piece of content won’t see a rendered image:

the first person who shares a piece of content won't see a link share image

There are two ways to avoid this and have images render on the first Like or Share action:

1. Pre-cache the image with the Sharing Debugger

Run the URL through the URL debugger to pre-fetch metadata for the page. You should also do this if you update the image for a piece of content.

2. Use og:image:width and og:image:height Open Graph tags

Using these tags will specify the image dimensions to the crawler so that it can render the image immediately without having to asynchronously download and process it.

As mentioned above, you can use a plugin like Yoast SEO if you’re not a techie!

Getting your meta-tags and social plugins correct can take a bit of tweaking, so use the debug tool to test how your pages are viewed by Facebook’s scraper.

Just enter your page URL, and you’ll get a page of useful information, such as the meta-tags that are being picked up from your page and any errors or warnings with your content that might affect social plugins. source

Facebook object debugger

Please consult your website developer or tech-savvy friend with questions about this stuff, as I’m not qualified to troubleshoot!

How can I change or remove my Facebook link preview?

If you’re posting your link right on Facebook – as opposed to sharing from your blog’s social sharing buttons – you can select which image to use as the link preview.

All images picked up by Facebook are pulled in and highlighted as tiny images at the bottom of the Publish box (note blue outline).

Deselect any you don’t want to show in your Facebook post by clicking on it. The blue outline will disappear.

You can delete all but one if you like – up to you.

If you leave several outlined, viewers will be able to scroll through them in a “carousel.”

To remove the preview from your post:

  1. Unselect all images by clicking the thumbnails at the bottom.
  2. Hover over the preview image.
  3. Click x in the top-right corner. source

Deselect any images you don't want to show in your Facebook post. You can delete all but one if you like – up to you.

Facebook announced on June 28 2017, you will no longer be able to customize link metadata (i.e. headline, description, OR thumbnail image) in any link shares on Facebook.

While you can still choose which pulled-in image becomes the preview, you’ll no longer be able to edit the link thumbnail image, title, or description of a link preview.

Facebook explained why you can’t edit link metadata:

By removing the ability to customize link metadata (i.e. headline, description, image) from all link sharing entry points on Facebook, we are eliminating a channel that has been abused to post false news.

We’re working to find other solutions that allow publishers to share customized content on our platform, and we will have more to share in the coming weeks. As we make these changes, content creators maintain the ability to control how their links appear on Facebook using Open Graph meta tags. source

You’ll no longer be able to edit the link thumbnail image, title, or description of a Facebook link preview.

Be sure to set your Open Graph meta tags the way you want your link share to look before you publish your blog post!

To preview how your link will look when posted on Facebook, use the sharing debugger.

Note that you can remove the URL from the text when you’re happy with the link preview. It’s no longer needed.

Facebook Link Thumbnail Missing? Restore it!

If you’ve followed these tips, your thumbnail should show up – particularly if you’ve set og tags manually, or with a plugin like Yoast.

Still having problems?

If you try to post a link on Facebook and see something like this:

Facebook Link Thumbnail Missing

Follow these steps:

  1. Ensure that you have an image on the page that’s at least 200 x 200 pixels.
  2. If so, head over to the Facebook Object Debugger. Enter the page URL.
  3. You may get some techy solutions – but for now, go back to Facebook and try posting your link again.
  4. Success!

Facebook Link Thumbnail Found!

That should do the trick!

How to get a link to a Facebook post on computer or mobile

This is a somewhat different topic, but the wording and search terms are so similar, I wanted to cover it too.

Sometimes you want to point followers or friends to a specific post on Facebook. Each Facebook post does have a unique link that you can share anywhere that accepts hyperlinks!

It’s a great idea to share these to your email list, asking them for comments on your post.

First, be sure that it’s a Public post, or your audience will be limited to the audience specified for the post.

right click on the timestamp and Copy Link address

To copy the URL of a Facebook post while on a computer browser, simply right click on the timestamp below the original poster’s name, and Copy Link Address.

Or, when you get a notification about a post, the URL you’re taken to is the URL of the post. You can copy the link in your browser bar.

Now go paste it wherever you like!

To grab the Facebook post link while on mobile:

This seems to keep changing, but here’s what worked in March 2019:

1 | Find the post and tap the Share icon below.

2 | Choose More Options…

3 | Choose Message.

4 | Copy the link out of the message. You don’t need to send it.

That’s it! Now you’ve got a shareable link to a Facebook post.

how to get Facebook post link on mobile

Facebook link previews: Conclusion

We covered a lot! Scroll back to review as needed:

  • How to share a link on your Facebook Page
  • Facebook link thumbnail size in the news feed
  • How to get a large Facebook link image
  • Blog image size to get the best Facebook link preview
  • Facebook link ad size options
  • Preview your Facebook post with the Facebook share debugger
  • Change or remove your Facebook link preview
  • How to restore a missing link image
  • How to get the link to a Facebook post

For general help with improving your Facebook Page:

READ: How to Promote Your Small Business on Facebook

If this post has helped you with Facebook Link Thumbnail image sizes, please share!

The Secret to Getting a Large Facebook Link Thumbnail

Comments

  1. Hello! I tried all the sizes in this post but none of them worked. I couldn’t make a big image, just the “little, totally square” one. What could be the problem? Thank you! 🙂

  2. When I post a link on FB it shows me 2 thumbnails. I want to remove the post thumbnail and keep the new…. how to fix it?

    • X it out.

      BTW for future reference I don’t allow use of a keyword instead of a real name. I remove the keywords as well as the URL on comments like this (or mark them as spam).

  3. Oh, my goodness. I have been trying for 3 days to figure out how to make the thumbnail show up properly.

    Your blog answered my question, and I am now so HAPPY!!!!!!!

  4. Thanks for this. I was able to change my song artwork previews to full size on FB using 1200 x 630 pixels for my music download website. 600 x 315 doesn’t seem to work (any longer).

  5. Thanks for the detailed writeup, Louise! It’s such a shame that Facebook decided to disable customizing link previews. Have you seen sharekit.io, which brings back the ability to edit link previews? I’m using it for the pages that I manage and so far it’s working well.

  6. Thanks for this. I was able to change my song artwork previews to full size on FB using 1200 x 630 pixels for my music download website. 600 x 315 doesn’t seem to work (any longer).

    Thanks again.

  7. Hi and thanks for that post,
    Facebook fetches a preview images, then I’m adding a picture and then, when i’m trying to de-select the preview it wouldn’t let me.
    I’ve tried switching between them (so that my image would be “1” and the preview “2”) but even after that, i can only deselect my image and not the preview.
    Any suggestions?

  8. Hi, I want to show a preview on my own website before feed is published to facebook. I see that facebook is cropping image in 476*248px and showing on page timeline but when I am resizing image in same dimensions both the images look different.

    My image is complete with new dimensions while Facebook’s image is not complete if original image size is not in ration e.g 1000*1000px.

    please help me

  9. When I post a link on FB it shows me 2 thumbnails. I want to remove the post thumbnail and keep the new. Please tell me how can I fix it. Thanks

  11. Thanks for the July update! You saved me a lot of time I would have wasted trying to figure out how to do something that can’t actually be done 🙂

    Facebook — so useful, so fickle!

  12. I have a problem, because 2 of my 3 pages suddenly cannot post large thumbnail meanwhile I didn’t do any change on it and in my another page the feature adding extra image is still working.

    Could you please help to give me the solution?
    Thanks in advance.

  14. Facebook debugger is telling my my share image is larger than 8MB, when in actuality it is only 23K. It is defaulting to another undesired image on my site. Is there any interactive way, or FB phone number to call to get a real answer as to why this is happening, other than trying to guess what the problem is through trial and error? FB is pathetic.

    • There’s no phone support unless you’re a big advertiser. Depending on your website platform, you can look for a plugin that allows you to specify the FB image to be shared, or learn how to specify that with code.

  15. Hi Louise, I was wondering if you can help me as you are the Fb guru. When I post a link to my website on my Business FB page using Business Manager then try to replace the image, the TXT moves from the bottom to the right hand side and the image gets cropped into a Portrait. I have tried both recomended image sizes of 470×246 and 1200×628. I have also googled the heck out of it and cant seem to find a solution. Just wondering if you have any ideas I could try. Here is an image of the undesired result.

    • Hi Steve,

      Have you tried to see if it actually posts that way? I’ve noticed this too, but it always posts like a normal, landscape image for me.

  16. Hi Louise,

    Do you also know how to make the thumbnails smaller?
    Whenever I share a post on Facebook, the thumbnails are so big for my liking. So I want it to be like the tiny postage-stamp size in the link preview.

    I have tried sharing it in different ways and using different sized photos to no avail.

    Thank you in advance for your help. (sorry my previous question was confusing)

    -Olivia

    • Hi Olivia,

      I honestly don’t think we have much control over how our posts look on Facebook. I haven’t tried to make a small thumbnail, but it sounds like you have, without success.

      It’s Facebook – it’s frustrating. 😉

  17. I’m so glad I found this site! I was able to create a clickable image on Facebook posts to send people to my website. It looked good on my laptop, but it was reduced to a little thumbnail with a description to the right on my phone. I tried sorting through the updates and comments, but I’m not sure what size I should use. I was creating Facebook post graphics using Canva’s “Facebook Post” template, but that must be too large because it cut off parts of my graphic when I made it clickable. Can you tell me what size I should use to have a large, but not cutoff, image on both desktop and mobile? Thanks so much!

    • Sorry Karie, I haven’t figured that out. I’mm not sure why FB started doing the little links on mobile 🙁

  18. Hello Louise,
    thank you very much for your post . Previously I struggling with the matter , how to post in facebook with larger , more appealing pictures . But now with the help of your advice , I can do it very easily . I am very much happy , now . In one word , I can describe your post is GORGEOUS . Just keep it up , so that many people can be benefited from it . My heartily greetings for you and thank you again . Have a nice day .

  19. Thank you so much i really need this information i have been google for find this kind of information but i saw your site on google and solved my problem thank you so much again

  20. 600 x 315 doesn’t work for me. On mobile, it still gets cropped into a little thumbnail. Mind updating your article with the actual minimum dimensions?

    • I just checked, and this is still what Facebook recommends as the minimum image size (source).

      If it doesn’t work for you, go with 1200 x 630.

      Easy peasy.

  21. Hello Louise,

    I’ve tried so many different advises on getting a full sized thumbnail when posting a link on facebook and uploading a custom image that I’m going crazy. It looks like there are no rules at all, sometimes it works, most of the time not. I tried to upload 1200 x 630, and some other sizes, saved in different qualities, but nothing works this time. Any thoughts?

    • Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that, Marko.

      Once in a while I need to pull in an image for a client’s posts, and I just use the ones from their blog, which are 800 x 533. I haven’t had problems, but I can say that Facebook isn’t known for its reliability! Sorry.

  22. Hey Louise,

    I found your post really helpful.I have a motivational blog named “Think Inside-Out”. I was having this problem of not netting proper thumbnail on FB. This post helped me a lot. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.

    -Aadesh

  23. Hi Louise!
    This blog post was fantastic! I blog on WordPress and was able to create large images and designate them for the FB share. I also had to use the Debugger tool, but now most of my posts show the large preview image on FB. Here’s my problem! Facebook is still showing the small, square, thumbnail on mobile. For example, my most recent post includes a designated FB image that is 1030 x 540. On Desktop, it shows the large preview, but on mobile is shows the ugly square. Any idea on why this would be happening? Thanks in advance for any help!! 🙂

    • Hi Katherine,

      Sorry, I don’t use FB enough any more to have a clue. They don’t make it easy to figure things out, that’s for sure.

  24. Hi Louise, thank you for this helpful post!

    I’m trying to post a link to a third-party article and it’s not including our product image within the selectable options (this is a list of “best new products” and we’re number 8. It’s only pulling the first few images). I plugged the URL into the debugger link you shared, and it is showing our product photo as an OG image. However, it’s still not an option when publishing to our brand page. Since we do not manage this website, I cannot make any changes to the URL itself.

    When I try uploading a new image, even at 1200×630 pixels, it makes it a tiny cropped thumbnail on the left-hand side of the publishing link. Any ideas??

    Many thanks!

    • I’ve found that it shows as a small image before publishing, but becomes a full size image on the page.

  25. I think it depends on other factors. I shared a link on my page, and a buddy shared the same link on his. He got the large preview. I got the little one. He has tons of fb friends and a lot of interaction. I have limited. I think that’s also a factor. When I look at facebook debugger, it also shows the small image.

    Large (might not be viewable to all…)
    facebook.com/matt.barnick/posts/10155476458166808

    Small
    facebook.com/stephenegibson/posts/10154854560517048

    Same youtube link.
    youtube.com/watch?v=12sR4uM6w5Q

  26. It didn’t work for me. I’m not a blogger. I’m trying to post our logo or a graphic with a link to a site that is selling our Trivia Night. Please help, if you can.
    Thanks

    • Type in your text and link. If no image is pulled in, use the + sign below the link box to add your image.

      If it doesn’t fit the proportions of 600×315, it will be cropped. If it doesn’t meet the minimum size, you’ll get a tiny thumbnail.

  27. Hello!

    Thank you for this post is was very very helpful!

    I have a question for you about photo sizes to use when having MailChimp post to Facebook for you when you send out an email….it always crops my ‘social post’ images funny for Facebook and I’d love to know what the optimal image dimensions are getting them to show best when using this feature in MailChimp.

    Thank you again!!
    Sarah

    • Hi Sarah,

      I don’t know anything bout MailChimp, and I don’t even use that feature in AWeber. Do you get good engagement with those posts?

      For an answer to your question, though, I would try MailChimp support. Best!

  28. Hi There!

    I found your pages and I’ve bookmarked them all as I find them extremely easy to read and informative!

    I am having issues still getting a large link image.

    I have debugged my link and resized my photo to 484×252 pixels, 600×315 pixels, AND 1200×630 pixels, NONE of which produce a large image link.

    What am I doing wrong? What do you suggest?

  29. Thanks for the tip! I have a question: my featured images are 656×300 and display in a big format, though they aren’t as sharp and clear as shown on the website (it doesn’t show pixelated or stretch, just not so sharp the letters, for instance) . As FB would take the resolution out of it. Any recommendation?

    • This is a tough one with website links. Your best bet is to upload a high-resolution (1200 pixels wide) PNG image directly to Facebook. That would suffer less compression. But you don’t want images that large on your web page as they would slow it down.

  30. how to post a link on facebook comment with large image thumbnail
    i ask large image in comments . not on page post

  31. Hi, I’ve recently try to create a custom thumbnail on my youtube channel and I wanted to get the big image on facebook. I’ve followed a couple of tutorials.

    Saying I had to make my thumbnail 1200 x 628. It doesn’t seems to work on facebook. I still get a small image with the text to the right in stead of under. Any idea why ?!

    Thanks!

    • I believe he’s talking about sharing a video from your blog post, not directly from YouTube. Rather misleading.

      You need a third-party app for videos. Check this blog post. Readers have left other options in comments.

  32. This didn’t work for me? The image I am using is 1201X936. Let me know if I am doing anything wrong.

  33. Thanks so much. Fabulous timing. It’s been so troublesome trying to make sense of the FB nuances and your blog made it easy to fix. Good on you. Justine

  34. Hi!!! i just found your website! and i’m sure i can learn a lot from these tricks!!!

    Although the article is what i came looking for, it did not work for me. The image I used was 1000px wide, and i had even used one the same size that did show horizontal on another post. You think maybe the link title also influences how the image is displayed?

  36. Hi Louise!
    I discovered your site a week+ago as I’m refreshing my memory on the nuances of FB posting, having taken a (ahem!) 19 month sabbatical on both my personal and FB page!

    I appreciate all of the clear and helpful information you share!

    Thanks and I shall be sure to point more folks here!

    In Delight! In Gratitude!
    Frances

    Moxie Powered Delight Detective

    • I’m so glad to hear you’re finding useful tips here, Frances! Thanks for your kind comment.