You probably don't need convincing that posts with images stand out more than those without images.
This little bit of eye candy can mean the difference between your post standing out on social sites like Pinterest and Facebook or getting lost in the crowd.
You may have noticed sometimes when pasting a link into a Facebook post that the system will automatically grab an image, title and description from your link.
This little bit of behind the scenes work that Facebook does, helps your post stand out by displaying visual elements such as an image and bolded title. If your blog has the meta data Facebook is looking for, any blog link pasted from your site will look great on the platform.
Facebook Open Graph
But what exactly is this meta data Facebook is looking for? It is called Facebook Open Graph. Open Graph is a structured, strongly typed API (Open Graph API). It is what your blog post needs if you want to stand out on Facebook.
But is this something you have to crack open each page for and start editing HTML? You can. But you may already have a theme that is using Open Graph. A little later, I'll show how you can test this.
For many, Open Graph meta data will be absent from their site. Fortunately, there's a simple set it and forget it way to fix this.
WP Facebook Open Graph protocol
Using a WordPress plugin named WP Facebook Open Graph protocol, you can stand out from the crowd automatically when pasting your blog post link into a Facebook post. This plugin will make sure Facebook has what it needs to display a visual snippet of your link properly.
As an example, I'll use the post 5 Proven Techniques to Drive Quality Traffic to Your Blog. Here's what the post snippet looks like after being pasted into a Facebook post:
You can see Facebook is able to grab the image, title and a description from the pasted link. If you view source on the above post, you'll see several “og:” Open Graph meta tags. Those meta tags let Facebook know what to grab for its snippet.
Linking Up Your Profile
To use the plugin, you'll need your Facebook ID. To get your profile ID, login into your account. Then paste this URL into your browser http://developers.facebook.com/tools/explorer/. It should display your Facebook ID. Now copy your ID. We'll use it next.
After you've installed WP Facebook Open Graph protocol, in WordPress mouse over Settings in the left menu. You should see Facebook OGP. Click it. Paste your Facebook ID into the first field titled “Facebook User Account ID:”.
Bonus Material: How to Customize Images You Post on Facebook
Ms. Ileane shows you how to Add a custom touch to your images with PicMonkey
Final Tips
I couldn't get Open Graph to work using a business account ID or an app ID. However, I had no problem using the ID from a personal account.
You can view and debug the data Facebook is grabbing from your Open Graph enabled posts by pasting the post URL into the Open Graph Debugger.
After your blog post link has been posted into a Facebook post, you'll see a title, image and description. If you don't see these features, check the above debugger. It will provide a description for any issues.
What Do You Think Of WP Facebook Open Graph protocol?
Is this plugin one you are likely to start using? How have you been implementing Open Graph or were you aware of its impact on your posts? I'd like to know what you think.  Please leave a comment below.
Just a suggestion, I think you need to use a review plugin while doing any review, so that you can give stars ( as how good a service or product is ). These turn up in search results too, which will drastically increase the CTR in results.
Very good plugin! I think almost premium themes (such as Thesis and Genesis framework) and SEO plugins (WP SEO by Yoast) fully support this feature. However, this is the best plugin for people who can not buy premium themes or plugins
These turn up in search results too, which will drastically increase the CTR in results.
I think almost premium themes (such as Thesis and Genesis framework) and SEO plugins (WP SEO by Yoast) fully support this feature.
Great Plugin. Good things in life comes for free. WP SEO by Yoast is another great example.
Going to install it and see if its for me.
Please let us know how it turns out Pitt.
Good plugin, I was having the same issue with my blog, some time it detects wrong title n description of site meta instead of getting the post texts. But after having this i just tested and now it is working smoothly. Thank you Brett for the technical share.
Excellent Sarah. It’s a quick fix when you can’t switch out themes.
Sweet thanks for this! Will look into this plugin tonight
Love SEOProfessor they have so many cool features that you can use in one plugina and this is another great tool to use. Thanks for recommend this WP Facebook Open Graph plugin, definitely gonna try this out.
Hi Brett Romero,
My problem is just opposite. I learned how to configure Facebook Open Graph, but later discovered that many other plugins too add the codes. For long I struggled to solve the ‘double title’ problem in ‘Google+ Snippet’ and finally found that it is due to two Facebook OG codes.
You need to check if other plugins too adds the code or not. You can’t insert multiple OG codes.
Hi Suresh,
You are correct that two of the same OG meta tags won’t work. You can check that in the Open Graph Debugger too (https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug). But Google+ does rely on schema.org meta tags. If they aren’t present, it will try Facebook OG tags.
I definitely want my blog to stand out on Facebook so I’m getting this. I believe standing out on social networking sites is one of the most important steps to a successful blog.
Hello
I am using this plug-in for quite some time now and I can say that it really helped me a lot for my social-media promotions. It basically gives the elements like pictures and descriptions on my post which is a big boost to attract Facebook users to read my post. Definitely a good plug-in to install.
That is a awesome plugin but i use blogger platform for my current blog and i have to do it manually because there is no such plugin for blogger.
Sorry to hear that Leon. That’s always a risk with any plugin. Do you know which one it is conflicting with? You can find it by disabling your plugins, then enable the Open Graph plugin and start enabling your other plugins one at a time.
One know caching and flyout/popup style plugins tend to conflict.
A review plugin will be nice, or a set of review plugins even. But this is great. I think the open graph feature actually needs some basic things in the body of the blogposts like images and stuff so that way it picks it up automatically.
I am using this plug-in for quite some time now and I can say that it really helped me a lot for my social-media promotions. It basically gives the elements like pictures and descriptions on my post which is a big boost to attract Facebook users to read my post. Definitely a good plug-in to install.
If you use Yoast’s SEO plugin you can also put a short description of your article and Facebook will also grab it correctly. Just an alternative..
I’ve been using Word Press, maybe I could try this one..thanks for the update!
The plugin is simple to set up and makes it easy to add OG tags to WP. This plugin creates its own og, description tag based upon content.
Nice Article
Well I’m Glad My Theme Auto Supports it
But i’m glad i found this article it will help When i come across such a theme.
I have been using one by Mahmud Hasan for dealing FB open graph. That was awesome though tricky to integrate. But this one seems to be the perfect solution.
I decided to try this out and install it I will let you know how I make out with it. Thank you for this useful plug-in and tips.