How to Fix Facebook Incorrect Thumbnail Issue in WordPress

Are you looking incorrect facebook thumbnail issue when sharing your WordPress blog post on Facebook?

WordPress has made our life a lot easier. However, it is not without problems. As you continue to work with WordPress, you will encounter a variety of issues such as 404 errors, 403 errors, memory limit errors, and so on.

One such common but easily fixable error is the incorrect Facebook thumbnail issue.

Many users encounter this problem and are unable to resolve it. Well, look no further.

In this article, we’ll show you how to fix the Facebook incorrect thumbnail issue. And also show you some of the possible causes for this issue.

Let’s get started.

Why Doesn’t Facebook Pick up the Correct Thumbnail?

There are many reasons why Facebook could not display the featured image on your post correctly.

One of the most common causes is having many images set in the og:image tag. This shows your featured image smaller than the other images.

Facebook uses Open Graph (og) tags, which are automatically added to your site by various SEO WordPress plugins, such as AIOSEO and Yoast SEO, to prevent the missing thumbnail issue.

Other causes include caching plugins, CDN conflicts, or a missing open graph meta tag for the thumbnail image.

It’s difficult to find what’s causing the problem because no specific error messages are given while using the debugging tool.

With that said, let’s take a look at some ways to fix the Facebook thumbnail issue.

Fixing Incorrect Facebook Thumbnail Issue

Here are different ways that you can use to fix the wrong Facebook thumbnail issue for your blog post.

1. Fix Incorrect Facebook Thumbnail Issue Using AIOSEO Plugin

Using the AIOSEO plugin is a simple solution to fix the wrong Facebook thumbnail in WordPress.

AIOSEO is a full-featured WordPress SEO plugin that helps you to optimize your content for search engines and boost ranks with only a few clicks. It’s also useful for optimizing your site for social media and ensuring that your thumbnails are seen.

To start, you must first install and activate AIOSEO on your WordPress website. If you’ve never installed a plugin before, see our article on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After installing the plugin, you may quickly change the Facebook thumbnail when creating a post. Simply scroll down to the AIOSEO Settings meta box below the post editor and select the Social tab.

AIOSEO Social Settings Tab

Next, scroll down to the Image Source dropdown, where you can select the Facebook thumbnail image. You can, for example, use your featured image or upload a custom image instead.

Choose Your Facebook Thumbnail Image Source

Once you’ve added your Facebook thumbnail image, save your post, and the problem should be solved in most cases.

Here is how the Facebook thumbnail looks like for our article on how to submit a WordPress website to Google Search Console:

AIOSEO Fixed Thumbnail

Pro tip: If this doesn’t work, make sure you’ve cleared your WordPress cache and refreshed the post in the Facebook debug tool, both of which are described further down in the article.

2. Solve Wrong Facebook Thumbnail Issue Using Yoast SEO Plugin

The Yoast SEO Plugin also lets you upload a custom Facebook thumbnail to each individual post or page.

Simply install the Yoast SEO Plugin. After you’ve installed and activated it, you can insert a Facebook thumbnail into any post you want.

When creating a post, scroll down to the Yoast SEO meta box below the post editor, and then select the Social tab. There you’ll see a button to add a thumbnail image for Facebook.

Yoast SEO Social Settings Tab

Here is how the Facebook thumbnail looks like for our article on how to build an online store in less than 1 hour:

Yoast Facebook Thumbnail Image

3. Using Facebook Debug Tool

If you’ve added the correct thumbnail and Facebook is still not showing it, the issue is related to caching.

First, ensure that you have cleared the page cache in WordPress.

Following that, you must use Facebook debug tool to reset the cache.

The Facebook debug tool is the simplest way to troubleshoot Facebook thumbnail issues.

Simply copy and paste the URL of your WordPress post into the input field. Then, click on Debug.

After that, you should see a list of post metrics. Simply click on the Scrape Again button.

Facebook Debug Tool

By clicking on it, the platform will re-check your post for the updated thumbnail image. Remember that you may need to repeat this process twice to fully resolve the Facebook wrong thumbnail error.

Conclusion

We know that having a clear and well-adjusted featured image is important for visitors to click on the post. In addition, the featured image must be relevant to the text of the post. Posts with irrelevant thumbnails appear to be clickbait, which you are not. As a result, fixing this issue is essential.

We discussed three ways for the incorrect Facebook thumbnail problem. Following these steps will ensure that your post always has the correct thumbnail. They also allow you to add meta descriptions and titles to your posts as needed.

You May Also Check: