Guide

Open Graph title and description length

Link cards live or die on og:title and og:description. Platforms truncate differently—by client, font, and layout—so treat character counts as soft guidance, not hard guarantees. Aim for a specific page title around ~60 characters and a description that still reads well around ~110–200 before truncation, then verify the live tags.

CardScope fetches the URL from the edge and rebuilds diagnostic shells from the tags it finds. It is not a pixel-perfect Facebook, X, or Discord UI. Use CardScope to confirm the live title and description; use each platform’s debugger or a fresh share when you need to refresh a cache.

Practical soft guidance

• Titles ~60 characters — useful across many cards; put the page topic first, brand second if at all.
• Descriptions ~110–200 characters — enough for a clear sentence before common truncation; lead with value, not fluff.
• Set both og:title and og:description — do not leave them empty or identical to a brand-only string.
• Prefer specific page titles over keyword stuffing. “Pricing for CardScope” beats “SEO marketing growth hacks | Brand | Brand”.
• twitter:title / twitter:description — optional mirrors; helpful when you care about X or Discord large cards.
• Stable og:url — same permalink you want people to share.

Platform notes (not hard guarantees)

After you change title or description, live HTML can be correct while a client still shows an old card. Use the clear Open Graph cache workflow: fix → verify → rescrape where a tool exists. Pair text with a solid image size — see OG image size.

A minimal set

If you only set the title and description tags once for every network, set these:

<meta property="og:title" content="Specific page title, not brand alone">
<meta property="og:description" content="One clear sentence about what this page offers.">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/this-page">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Specific page title, not brand alone">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="One clear sentence about what this page offers.">

Add og:image (absolute https://) and twitter:card=summary_large_image when you want large cards. Same foundation as the Facebook, LinkedIn vs X, Slack vs Discord, WhatsApp / Telegram, and iMessage guides — one solid OG set, then client-specific tools where they exist.

Checklist before you ship the copy

1. Write a specific og:title (~60 characters soft target) with the page topic first.
2. Write a clear og:description (~110–200 characters soft target) that still makes sense if truncated.
3. Avoid empty or brand-only values — and do not duplicate the same keyword soup in both fields.
4. Set stable og:url to the permalink you want shared.
5. Optionally mirror with twitter:title and twitter:description for X / Discord.
6. Verify with CardScope, then rescrape platform caches if an old title or snippet is stuck.

FAQ

How long should an Open Graph title be?

Treat ~60 characters as useful soft guidance for og:title. Platforms truncate differently by client, font, and layout. Put the specific page topic first; avoid stuffing keywords or repeating the brand alone.

How long should an Open Graph description be?

Descriptions are often useful around ~110–200 characters before many clients truncate. Lead with the value of the page. Empty, duplicate, or brand-only descriptions waste the card.

Do I need twitter:title and twitter:description?

They are optional mirrors. X and Discord often fall back to Open Graph when Twitter tags are missing. Setting both OG and Twitter title/description keeps large cards consistent when you care about those clients — details in the LinkedIn vs X and Slack vs Discord guides.

Should og:title match the HTML title tag?

Often yes in spirit: a specific page title, not a site-wide brand string. They do not have to be identical character-for-character. Prefer clarity for the share card over keyword stuffing.

Is CardScope free?

Three free checks per day per IP, no account. Pro is $19 once for unlimited checks. We parse HTML in memory and discard it — rate limits store a hash of your IP for 48 hours, not the page.