Open Graph (OG) is a protocol that lets any web page define how it should be represented when shared as a link on social platforms. LinkedIn, Slack, WhatsApp, Discord, and many other platforms read OG tags to generate rich link previews.
Core Open Graph tags:
og:title— the title shown in the previewog:description— the description textog:image— the thumbnail imageog:url— the canonical URL of the pageog:type— the content type (website, article, product, etc.)
Twitter/X has its own equivalent tags (twitter:card, etc.) but falls back to Open Graph if its own tags are absent.
Why it matters for SEO: While OG tags are not a direct ranking factor, well-optimised social previews increase the likelihood that shared links generate clicks — amplifying content distribution and potentially earning natural backlinks.
What SearchVitals checks: The Technical SEO audit checks for the presence of og:title, og:description, and og:image on crawled pages. Missing or empty tags are flagged as a notice or warning.