# Open Graph tags are present
- **Pattern:** `ab-002539` (`site-health-check.seo-discoverability.open-graph`)
- **Severity:** medium
- **Lifecycle:** active
- **Last modified:** 2026-04-18
- **Canonical URL:** https://auditbuffet.com/patterns/ab-002539
- **License:** CC-BY-4.0 — attribute to AuditBuffet Pattern Catalog (https://auditbuffet.com/patterns/ab-002539)
## Why it matters
When a URL is pasted into Slack, Discord, LinkedIn, X, or iMessage, the preview card is generated entirely from Open Graph tags. Without `og:title` and `og:description`, shared links render as a naked URL with no thumbnail — dramatically lowering click-through on the most common viral distribution channel. This is findability via social graph rather than search, and it costs nothing to fix but directly gates every shared-link impression.
## Severity rationale
Medium because the impact is limited to social-share surfaces rather than search ranking, but preview collapse kills CTR.
## Remediation
Add the four core Open Graph tags to the document head with absolute URLs for `og:image` and `og:url`. In Next.js App Router, use the metadata API so the framework emits the tags correctly:
```ts
// app/layout.tsx
export const metadata = {
openGraph: {
title: 'Page Title',
description: 'Share-surface summary.',
url: 'https://yoursite.com/',
images: ['https://yoursite.com/og-image.png'],
},
};
```
Validate with the LinkedIn Post Inspector and opengraph.xyz.
## Detection
- **ID:** `open-graph`
- **Severity:** `medium`
- **What to look for:** Enumerate all Open Graph `` tags in the HTML. Count how many of the 4 core OG properties are present: `og:title`, `og:description`, `og:image`, `og:url`. Extract and record the values of each found tag.
- **Pass criteria:** At least 2 of the 4 core Open Graph properties are present with non-empty values: `og:title` and `og:description` are both required at minimum. Report the count of OG tags found (e.g., "3 of 4 core OG properties present").
- **Fail criteria:** Either `og:title` or `og:description` is missing or has an empty `content` attribute value.
- **Skip (N/A) when:** The response `Content-Type` is not HTML (e.g., JSON API endpoint).
- **Error when:** SPA detected.
- **Detail on fail:** `"Missing og:title and og:description — links shared on social media will have no preview"`
- **Remediation:** Open Graph tags control how your site appears when shared on social media (Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Discord, Slack). Add the core tags to your ``:
```html
```
In Next.js App Router, use `export const metadata = { openGraph: { title, description, images } }`. Test with https://cards-dev.twitter.com/validator or the Facebook Sharing Debugger.
Taxons: findability
HTML version: https://auditbuffet.com/patterns/ab-002539