Facebook Update: Why Your Shared Links Aren’t Displaying Properly
Have you been having trouble getting your shared links to display properly on Facebook?
Is your social media scheduler not working correctly?
Actually, it isn’t your scheduler, but a Facebook update that is changing the way we can edit the links we share on Facebook.
In July, Facebook announced an update and what they did was change the editing capabilities of the metadata in a link post.
What the heck does that mean?
It means that if you are sharing content from other websites, and pasting the link into an update, you can no longer update the photo and description that goes with that link.
Facebook is trying to cut down on the amount of false news shared on their platform, which is why this update happened. It’s actually a good thing that Facebook is trying to cut back on false news, though it does make it harder to share great information and still have your post look great.
Previously, when I found a great article to share from someone else’s blog, I would copy the blog URL, paste into my Facebook update, and if no photo showed up, I would upload my own so it displayed properly. That capability to edit is now gone.
There are a couple ways to get around this and still have your updates look great, here are some tips.
When You Share Your Own Blog Posts to Facebook
Good news for anyone who shares their own blog posts is that this can easily be controlled on your end.
By adding a featured image to your blog post and making sure that you include a title, description, etc. your link should display properly on Facebook.
Things to include on each blog post you write:
Featured image
Title
Description (I use the Yoast plugin to add the description and keyword)
Custom images for Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest (I use Social Warfare)
When you include all of these, your Facebook post show show up correctly. Make sure to test it out after you write a blog post.
Test your blog post to see if an image and description uploads
What To Do When You Share a URL From Another Website
If you do happen to try and share a URL and notice it doesn’t display properly, there is a work -around.
Step 1
When you find a URL you want to share, paste it into your Facebook update and notice there isn’t a photo or description showing, simply delete the link and preview.
Step 2
Find a suitable image that reflects the article you are sharing. You want to make sure this image accurately reflects what the article is about and gives a glimpse into what the article is about.
Step 3
Upload the image to Facebook as an update.
Step 4
Write a description about the article, why you are sharing the link, etc. (this is totally up to you what you want to write, but I recommend telling people what the link is and why it would be useful for them).
Once the image is loaded and the description is there,
Step 5
Paste the link you want to share underneath the description.
Now when you publish the update, the post looks great, with a nice description, great image, and the link is still there for people to read more.
Have you noticed this latest update? What are you doing to work around it? Share with me in the comments!
