# What is Open Graph?

**Concept**

## TL;DR

Open Graph (OG) is a small set of `og:` meta tags in a page's HTML that control how it looks when shared — the title, image, and description in the preview card on iMessage, Slack, LinkedIn, Facebook, WhatsApp, and more. It's not the same as the knowledge graph.

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## What it is

When you paste a link into a chat and a tidy card pops up — image, headline, blurb — that card is built from Open Graph tags. OG is the "trading card" for your link: a handful of tags in the page's `<head>` (`og:title`, `og:description`, `og:image`, `og:type`, `og:url`) that tell platforms exactly how to present it. Without them, each platform guesses — often grabbing the wrong image or a truncated title.

It's invisible on the page itself; it only shapes how the link appears *elsewhere*. (X/Twitter has its own `twitter:` card tags, usually derived from the same values.)

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## Why it matters

- **Clicks and trust.** A clean preview with the right image and headline gets shared and clicked far more than a bare URL.
- **Consistency.** You control the image and wording, so your brand looks the same everywhere a link travels.
- **No nasty surprises.** Without OG, a platform might pull a random logo, an ad, or nothing at all.

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## Open Graph vs the knowledge graph — not the same thing

Both say "graph," so they get mixed up constantly:

- **Open Graph (`og:` tags)** — *presentation* for humans: how your link looks when shared on social and chat.
- **Knowledge graph / schema.org `@graph`** — *facts* for machines: the entities on your page and how they relate, so engines understand what it's about.

Different jobs, different audiences. MetaPilot generates both.

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## How MetaPilot handles it

Alongside structured data, MetaPilot generates accurate Open Graph tags for each page in your sitemap — from the same read of the page — and serves them live at the edge, so your link previews are correct without touching your templates.

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## FAQ

**Is Open Graph the same as structured data?**
No. Open Graph controls the *social preview* of a link; structured data states machine-readable *facts* for search and AI engines. Most sites want both.

**What size should my og:image be?**
1200×630 pixels is the widely supported default for a large preview card.

**Does Open Graph affect my search ranking?**
Not directly — but better previews earn more clicks and shares, which can help indirectly.

**What happens if I don't set Open Graph tags?**
Platforms fall back to guessing, and the preview is often wrong or empty.

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## Related

- What is a knowledge graph?
- What is structured data?
- What is MetaPilot?
- What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?