Google Plus share dialog showing wrong image, using OpenGraph meta tags

Question

I am using OpenGraph tags so when I share my page on Facebook or Google+, those services will know what image should be displayed in the share dialog.

<meta property="og:title" content="Best Site Ever" />
<meta property="og:description" content="This website rules" />
<meta property="og:image" content="http://example.com/image.png" />

Both services were displaying the correct image, but I changed the image (and filename) in og:image. Only Facebook is showing the new image, after running it through their URL debugger. Google+ is showing the old image, I also ran my URL through their debugger, but the image will not update. Anyone know why?

Solution

Use the structured data tool to check what metadata / schema Google is parsing out. Also, sometimes the service is caching data, try appending an anchor or parameter to your URL while testing (e.g. https://foo.com becomes https://foo.com/#test1 https://foo.com?bar=1). The time it takes for the cache to invalidate is not known, so the only consistent way to force the crawler to recalculate the snippet that appears for your page is to change the url.

You might want to try generating schema using the Google+ snippet tool. Also, note that article rendering has requirements that you can follow to control how images appear in the stream. Note that if you want your content to render with a large image, you must specify article, blog, or blog posting for the schema type.

Comments

[JohnWick]

Hey class, thanks for taking the time to respond. The second sentence really interests me. If it is a caching issue, would it sometimes take over 12 hours to update? Because it has been that long now. And I used the structured data tool and it didn't mention any errors or anything. I tried access my page by adding a random param, it loaded and I clicked my G+ share button and the dialog still had the wrong image, so maybe I'm doing something wrong?

[JohnWick]

Also just tried generating a schema using their tool (for the 2nd time btw) and still didn't update the image in my share dialog :\

[class]

Hey @DavidStampher, I don't know how long it takes for the caches to invalidate - it could be longer than 12 hours which is why I always add an anchor tag while testing. The structured data tool will not throw errors but will tell you the tags that the Google crawler sees. Adding more suggestions to original response.

[JohnWick]

Hi class thanks for the response. I have added a random param to the URL I am passing too G+ when a user clicks the share button, and I am now seeing the correct OpenGraph meta information being displayed in the snippet. By the way, I marked your response as the answer too my question.

[Timo Denk]

For me it helped to place the following meta tag in addition to name, headline, description and image: <meta itemscope itemtype="schema.org/Organization" />