When you share your Pixieset Website on social media like Facebook or messaging platforms like WhatsApp or iMessage, a preview will often be shown with the link’s page title and description, as well as a social sharing image. This article will cover how to set up a social image for your entire site, as well for a specific page.
Note: Setting up a social sharing images is optional but recommended. If you do not set up a site social image, the first image on your home page will be used.
On this page:
- Best practices for social sharing images
- Adding a site social image
- Adding a page social image
- Troubleshooting
Best practices for social sharing images
- Use a landscape image with subjects centred whenever possible. Many social platforms crop to 1200 x 630px, so selecting images with this in mind will help your previews look their best.
- Choose an image that accurately reflects the content of your brand and page. For example, if your page is promoting your maternity sessions, use a standout image from a recent maternity shoot.
- Keep your social sharing images simple. Remember that your social sharing image will appear alongside your page’s title and description, so avoid busy backgrounds or imposing text on the image.
Adding a site social image
Your site social image is the default image that appears when someone shares a link to your homepage or any page that does not have a page social image set.
To set up a site social image:
- Go to Settings > Social.
- Scroll down to Site Social Image and upload a photo.
- Re-publish your site so your changes go live.
Adding a page social image
Your page social image is the default image that appears when you share a specific webpage. It will override your site social image.
To set up a social image for a page:
- Click ••• > Settings next to the page.
- Scroll down to Social Image and upload a photo.
- Re-publish your site so your changes go live.
Troubleshooting
- When I share my link, the social preview doesn’t appear.
- When I share my link, my old social image still appears.
When I share my link, the social preview doesn’t appear.
If you don’t share the full URL for your website, the platform you are using may not be able to pull a preview. Ensure your direct link includes https:// for optimal results:
- Correct: https://patriciajohnsonphoto.com/portfolio
- Incorrect: patriciajohnsonphoto.com/portfolio
Keep in mind that some platforms have specific rules for when they show social previews. For example, if your post includes multiple links, a preview might not generate at all.
When I share my link, my old social image still appears.
If you shared your link on the same platform previously, it may still show your old social image even if you already updated it on Pixieset. This is usually because the platform has cached the old image and requires time to automatically update to the new image.
If you are sharing on a Meta platform like Facebook or WhatsApp, you can use their debugger tool to manually speed up the process. This involves entering your link to be debugged and then clicking Scrape Again to request that Meta re-scan your webpage.