Twitter Card Validator: Preview Your Link on X

1. 1

   Paste the URL you want to share. A bare domain works too. We fetch the page the way X does, following redirects.

2. 2

   See the card X will draw. Large image, small summary or plain link, in light and dark mode.

3. 3

   Fix what the checklist flags. Each item names the tag or image problem and the exact change to make.

4. 4

   Check again before you post. Once it is clean, share the link. X caches the first version it sees for about a week.

Put these in the page's <head>. The image should be 1200 x 628 and under 5 MB. X reads the Open Graph tags when the twitter: version is missing, so you only need the twitter: tags shown here.

<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@yourhandle">
<meta property="og:title" content="Under 70 characters, the point first">
<meta property="og:description" content="One or two sentences, under 125 characters.">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://yoursite.com/og/post.jpg">
<meta name="twitter:image:alt" content="What the image shows">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://yoursite.com/post">

Why is my link preview not showing on X?

The usual causes, in order: no og:image or twitter:image tag, an image X cannot load (wrong path, behind a login or firewall, over 5 MB, or an SVG), no og:title, or a robots.txt rule that blocks Twitterbot. Paste the URL above and the checklist names the one that applies to your page.

Does X still have a card validator?

No. X retired the official Card Validator preview in 2022, so the only way to see a card there is to draft a post. This tool fills the gap: it reads the same tags X reads and shows the card it will draw, without posting anything.

What size should the Twitter card image be?

For the large image card (summary_large_image), use 1200 x 628 pixels, about 2:1. The minimum is 300 x 157 and the maximum 4096 x 4096. For the small summary card, use a square image of at least 144 x 144. Keep the file under 5 MB as JPG, PNG, WEBP or GIF.

How do I refresh a cached card on X?

X caches a card for about 7 days per URL. To show your new image sooner, share the URL with a harmless query string added, like ?v=2, which X treats as a new link. Fix the tags first, then run this check again to confirm X will see the change.

Do I need twitter: tags if I already have Open Graph tags?

Mostly no. X falls back to og:title, og:description and og:image. The one tag worth adding is twitter:card, because without it X shows the small summary card instead of the large image.

Do links hurt reach on X?

Yes. Posts with an external link get 50-90% less reach, because X prefers posts that keep people on X. A common fix is to make the point in the post itself and put the link in the first reply.