How content displays in social posts

Tips to ensure the correct information appears when you share your content to social media.

Last updated January 9, 2025

Some social media platforms automatically display text and images from your site when you share links. This content gives followers a preview of what they can expect to find on your site. Clicking the preview leads to the linked page.

What displays depends on the type of content you’re sharing, the social network you’re using, and how you shared the link. We help social networks automatically find content to display based on the rules in this guide. However, the social network ultimately controls what appears in the post, not Squarespace.

Tips

Follow these tips to ensure your content looks great on social networks:

  • Add SEO titles and descriptions to pages - Make SEO titles and descriptions concise and consistent across every page. Pay attention to how you begin descriptions, as social media platforms have character limits and may only display the first sentence or two.
  • Add SEO titles and descriptions to collection items - Add SEO titles and descriptions to individual blog posts, products, events, and portfolio sub-pages. For other collection items, write their titles and descriptions as you’d like them to display in social posts.
  • Add an SEO site description - Add an SEO site description to represent the main idea or purpose of your site or brand. This may display in some social posts.
  • Add the images you want to display - Add images to appear with your posts. The image that displays depends on where it was uploaded to your site.

Adding this content is an overall best practice for your brand, as some of this information could also display in search engine results and when you share a URL from your site in text messaging applications.

Text on Facebook

Here's what displays on Facebook for different types of site content:

  • Homepage - Homepage title (per the homepage title format), SEO site description, primary domain
  • Other pages, blog posts, events, products - SEO title, SEO description, primary domain
  • Gallery items, project items, album tracks - Item title, item description, primary domain

Learn which images display below.

Text on X

Here's what displays on X, formerly know as Twitter, for different types of site content:

  • Pages, blog posts, events, products - SEO title, SEO description, primary domain
  • Gallery items, project items, album tracks - Item title, primary domain

To display more information, like product images and prices, enable Twitter Cards.

Learn which images display below.

Text on LinkedIn

Here's what displays on LinkedIn for different types of site content:

  • Homepage - Homepage title (per the homepage title format), primary domain
  • Cover pages - SEO title, SEO description, primary domain
  • Other pages, blog posts, events, products - SEO title, primary domain
  • Gallery items, project items, album tracks - Item title, primary domain

Learn which images display below.

Text on Pinterest

To post links to Pinterest, first add Pinterest Save buttons. You and your visitors can only pin blogs, pages, and products that have featured images.

On Pinterest:

  • The primary domain always displays.
  • The description isn't pulled automatically from your site. Instead, the person sharing it writes the description on Pinterest.

Error: 429 Response Code on Pinterest

If you see an "Error: 429 Response Code" message when posting to Pinterest, the page you're sharing doesn't have a featured image, so it can't be shared. To fix the issue, add a featured image.

Which images display

The image that displays depends on the type of post and the images you’ve added to your site. Visit the links below to learn about each image that may appear in social posts:

Posts linking to layout pages, collection pages, or Indexes

When sharing a layout page, collection page, or Index, the social network uses the first available image on this list:

  • Alternate Social Sharing Image
  • Social sharing logo
  • Site logo (for homepages)
  • Social network’s best guess

Posts linking to a collection item

When sharing a collection item (like a specific blog post, product, or event), the social network uses the first available image on this list:

  • Alternate Social Sharing Image (only blog posts, products, and events have this option)
  • Item featured image
  • First product image (only products have this option)
  • Social sharing logo
  • Social network’s best guess

Posts linking to gallery page images are the exception, which always display the social sharing logo.

Posts linking to a cover page

When sharing a cover page, the social network uses the first available image on this list:

  • Alternate Social Sharing Image
  • Social sharing logo

If neither exists, no image is used.

Posts linking to a campaign

When sharing a campaign, the social network uses the first available image on this list:

  • Image or logo in the header
  • First image not in the header
  • Squarespace badge

If none of these are available and the Squarespace badge is toggled off, no image is used.

The wrong content is displaying

If the wrong information displays when you post to social media, it's most likely because the social network is sharing an older version of the page. Usually, you can resolve this by telling the social network to fetch the most updated version, although keep in mind that the social network ultimately controls what content appears.

Facebook

If Facebook doesn't show the correct information, it could be an issue with the image size, or because Facebook needs to clear its cache. You can usually fix this with Facebook's Debugger tool. To learn more, visit Troubleshooting Facebook sharing issues.

X

If a post displays outdated content, enter the URL into the Card Validator. This tells X to fetch the most updated version of the page.

To preview the post, open X.com and paste your link into the post composer. The card preview will automatically appear. You don't need to publish the post to preview how it'll appear. 

LinkedIn

If a LinkedIn post displays outdated content, ensure it's fetching the most up-to-date version of your site:

  1. If you have a site-wide password or a page password on your homepage, remove it for this process. You can re-add it after the correct image appears.
  2. Open LinkedIn's Post Inspector.
  3. Add the URL you want to share and click Inspect. If you have multiple custom domains, use your primary domain.
  4. Scroll down to review the preview image and see more detailed information about the URL.
  5. If you don't see the correct content, review any warnings and edit your site if needed.
  6. After editing, add the URL to the Post Inspector to check it again.
  7. If you make changes to your site, share the content to LinkedIn again. The Post Inspector doesn't update content previously pushed to LinkedIn.
Footer Image
  • Get help from our community

  • Get help from our community on advanced customizations.

  • Hire a Squarespace Expert

  • Stand out online with the help of an experienced designer or developer.

How content displays in social posts