What is LinkedIn Post Inspector?
LinkedIn Post Inspector is LinkedIn's own free tool for checking how a URL will look when someone shares it on LinkedIn. You enter a web address, and the tool shows the link preview LinkedIn will build: the image, the title, the description and the source URL.
It lives at linkedin.com/post-inspector, and the single field on the page asks you to enter a URL to see how it is shared on LinkedIn. It is sometimes called the LinkedIn debugger, the LinkedIn cache checker or the LinkedIn link preview tool. All of these names mean the same official tool.
LinkedIn describes three jobs for it. It helps you find the data missing on your page and what to add for better previews. It lets you refresh the data LinkedIn has about your page. And it helps you debug how LinkedIn extracts your metadata and what went wrong.
What LinkedIn Post Inspector shows you
An inspection report answers three questions: what the preview will look like, what LinkedIn found on the page, and how fresh that information is.
| Part of the report | What it tells you | What to do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Preview | The card as it will appear in a new post | Check the image, title and description read correctly |
| Metadata found | The values LinkedIn extracted from your page | Compare them with the Open Graph tags you meant to set |
| Missing data | Properties LinkedIn could not find | Add the missing tags to the page |
| Last updated | When LinkedIn last refreshed its data on the URL | Confirm the tool fetched your edited version |
The report is a diagnosis, not a fix. Post Inspector reads your page and tells you what it sees. The changes themselves happen in your page's HTML, your CMS or your SEO settings. If your URL redirects, compare the address in the preview with the one you entered.
How a LinkedIn link preview is built
When you paste a URL into a post, LinkedIn fetches the page and looks for metadata that describes it. Microsoft Learn's documentation for the LinkedIn connector puts it simply: LinkedIn analyzes the included URL and automatically identifies the title, description and image.
The metadata it looks for is the Open Graph protocol, a set of meta tags in the head of the page. LinkedIn Help asks site owners to follow the Open Graph protocol and lists the og: tags that must exist.
LinkedIn then stores what it found. LinkedIn Help explains that if you have shared the same URL before, the image may already be in the cache, and that is what you see when you add the URL to a new post, message or article.
That cache is why edits to a page do not always show up, and why a broken preview can outlive the fix. Post Inspector is the LinkedIn debugger that tells LinkedIn to look again.
How to use LinkedIn Post Inspector, step by step
LinkedIn Help gives the short version: open Post Inspector, enter the URL you want to share, and confirm the preview window shows the correct content. These steps add what makes the check reliable.
Publish the page and clear your own cache
Make sure the page is live and public, and purge your site cache or CDN, so the crawler sees the version you edited.
Open Post Inspector
Go to linkedin.com/post-inspector. The page offers one field that asks you to enter a URL to see how it is shared on LinkedIn.
Enter the exact URL you will share
Paste the full address, with https and the same path and tracking parameters you plan to post, then select Inspect.
Read the preview and the metadata
Check the image, title, description and URL in the preview, then look at what the tool says is missing and when it last updated its data.
Fix the tags and inspect again
If something is wrong, correct the Open Graph tags on the page, clear your cache again, and run a new inspection.
Share the link in a new post
Once the preview is right, create a new post. Posts published before the refresh keep their old card.
The tool may ask you to sign in to LinkedIn before it runs an inspection. Keep a logged-in browser handy if you check links often.
When to run Post Inspector
- Before you share a new page. A first share is the one most people see. Checking takes a minute and catches a missing image before it is public.
- After you edit a page you shared before. A new headline or image will not appear until LinkedIn refreshes its cached copy.
- When a preview looks wrong in the composer. If the card shows an old image, a logo or no image at all, inspect before you post.
- Before a campaign or a sales sequence. Links in posts, messages and follow-ups all show the same card, so check the URL once before it goes out many times.
- After a site migration or redesign. New templates often drop or duplicate Open Graph tags without anyone noticing.
The Open Graph tags behind a LinkedIn link preview
Open Graph is a protocol that, in the words of ogp.me, enables any web page to become a rich object in a social graph. The protocol site notes it is used on Facebook, and LinkedIn Help asks site owners to follow it for LinkedIn previews too.
| Tag | What it sets | LinkedIn Help | ogp.me |
|---|---|---|---|
| og:title | The title shown on the card | Must exist | Required |
| og:image | The image URL shown on the card | Must exist | Required |
| og:description | The short summary under the title | Must exist | Optional |
| og:url | The canonical URL of the page | Must exist | Required |
| og:type | The type of object, such as website or article | Not listed | Required |
| og:site_name | The name of the larger site | Not listed | Optional |
| og:image:alt | A description of what is in the image | Not listed | Optional |
The safe set is the union of both lists: og:title, og:type, og:image, og:description and og:url. The og:image tag also takes structured properties from ogp.me, such as og:image:width, og:image:height, og:image:type and og:image:secure_url.
og:title and og:description
The og:title tag is what LinkedIn shows as the headline of the card. It can differ from the HTML title tag and from the headline on the page, which is useful: the search title can carry keywords while og:title reads like a headline for a feed.
The og:description tag is the short summary LinkedIn Help calls the description that will show in the preview. Write it as one clear sentence about what the reader gets. The LinkedIn pages checked for this guide do not publish a character limit, so put the point first.
og:image:alt
The og:image:alt tag describes what is in the image, not a caption. The protocol site says that if a page specifies an og:image, it should specify og:image:alt as well. It costs one line and helps people who use screen readers.
og:url and og:type
The og:url tag names the canonical URL of the page, which ogp.me describes as its permanent ID in the graph. Point it to the clean address you want people to land on, without session or tracking parameters.
The og:type tag says what kind of object the page is. Most pages use website, and posts on a blog often use article. LinkedIn Help does not list it, but it is one of the four properties ogp.me calls required.
Open Graph code example for a shareable page
This example was written for this page. It goes inside the head element of the page you want to share. Replace each placeholder with your own values, and use full https addresses for the page and the image.
<meta property="og:title" content="{{title}}" /> <meta property="og:type" content="{{website or article}}" /> <meta property="og:url" content="{{https://example.com/page/}}" /> <meta property="og:image" content="{{https://example.com/images/share-1200x627.jpg}}" /> <meta property="og:image:width" content="{{1200}}" /> <meta property="og:image:height" content="{{627}}" /> <meta property="og:image:alt" content="{{what the image shows}}" /> <meta property="og:description" content="{{one sentence on what the reader gets}}" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="{{site name}}" />
A plugin or theme already prints its own Open Graph tags. Two og:image tags on one page leave the choice to the crawler. View the page source, search for og:, and keep one set.
The examples in LinkedIn Help write the image address without the protocol, starting with two slashes. A full https address is the safer choice, because every crawler and every tool reads it the same way. The Open Graph protocol also defines og:image:secure_url for an https version of the image.
og:image and the image size for link preview cards
The image is the largest part of the card, and it is where most broken previews break. LinkedIn Help lists these requirements for images in the LinkedIn sharing module:
| Requirement | Value from LinkedIn Help | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum dimensions | 1200 (w) x 627 (h) pixels | Export the share image at least this size |
| Recommended ratio | 1.91:1 | A wide landscape image, not a square |
| Maximum file size | 5 MB | Compress large photos before you upload them |
| Narrow images | Less than 401 pixels wide display as a thumbnail | A small logo gives you a small card |
Keep text away from the edges of the image and keep it large. The card is read on phones as often as on desktops, and small type in a share image turns into noise.
LinkedIn Help lists separate, wider specifications for single image ads, including JPG, PNG and GIF files and several aspect ratios. Those apply to ads, not to the preview of a link you share organically.
How to clear LinkedIn cache for a URL
LinkedIn Help points to Post Inspector as the way to refresh a cached URL, so the way to clear LinkedIn cache for a link is to run it through the tool. The tool lets you see when LinkedIn last updated its data on the page and request a re-scrape.
- Change the Open Graph tags on your page and publish the change.
- Purge your site cache, page cache plugin or CDN for that URL.
- Open the page in a private window and view the source to confirm the new tags are live.
- Enter the URL in Post Inspector and check the last updated time and the preview.
- Create a new post with the URL.
Step 2 is the one people skip. If your server still serves the old HTML, LinkedIn refreshes its cache with the old tags, and the preview does not change.
LinkedIn preview not updating: causes and fixes
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Old image or title in the composer | LinkedIn is using its cached copy | Run the URL through Post Inspector, then paste it again |
| Old tags even after inspecting | Your site cache or CDN served the old page | Purge your cache, then inspect again |
| Published post still shows the old card | Refreshes apply to new posts only | Share the link in a new post |
| Preview shows a different page | A redirect or og:url points elsewhere | Fix the redirect or the og:url value |
| Wrong image from the page | og:image is missing, so LinkedIn picked one | Set og:image explicitly |
| Tiny image beside the text | The image is less than 401 pixels wide | Use an image of at least 1200 x 627 |
| No preview at all | The page blocks the crawler or needs a login | Make the page public and check your firewall rules |
Work through the table from the top. Most cases of a preview not updating are a cache problem, either LinkedIn's or your own, and they are fixed in minutes.
When the link preview shows no image
A card with a title and no picture usually means one of three things: the og:image tag is missing, the image does not meet the size rules, or LinkedIn could not download it.
LinkedIn Help addresses the last case directly. If the image meets the requirements but still does not appear, your website may be blocking LinkedIn from pulling the image, or the image may sit in a protected directory or website.
- Open the image URL in a private window. If it asks for a login or returns an error, LinkedIn cannot load it either.
- Check security and bot rules. Firewalls, hotlink protection and bot filters can block social crawlers while letting browsers through.
- Check the address. A relative path, a typo or a staging domain in og:image points LinkedIn to nothing.
- Check the size. Compare the file with the 1200 x 627 minimum and the 5 MB maximum.
Why existing posts keep the old preview
This is the rule that surprises most people. LinkedIn Help says the changes only affect the preview image and information for new posts that include the URL. The preview for any existing post with this URL stays the same.
So Post Inspector cannot repair a card that is already in the feed. If a post went out with the wrong image, your options are to leave it, or to delete it and share the corrected link in a new post. Deleting also removes the reactions and comments it collected, so weigh that first.
Some tool vendors publish figures on how much a good preview image raises clicks, measured on their own users. None are quoted on this page. Compare clicks on your own posts with and without a proper card, using LinkedIn analytics.
Fixing Open Graph tags in a CMS or by hand
Where you fix the tags depends on how your site is built. This page does not rank vendors; these are the usual places the tags come from.
Many CMS setups use an SEO plugin that prints Open Graph tags and adds a social title, description and image field to each page.
Some themes add their own og: tags. If a plugin does too, you get duplicates and should turn one off.
On a static site, add the tags from the code example to the head of each page and fill them per page.
Hosted site builders usually offer a social image and description field in page settings, which prints the tags for you.
Whichever route you use, check the result in the page source, not only in the editor. The HTML the crawler receives is the only version that counts.
Link previews for posts published through the API
Scheduling tools and other apps that publish through LinkedIn's API work differently. Microsoft Learn says the Posts API does not support URL scraping for article posts, because it makes the result unpredictable. API partners must set the thumbnail, title and description themselves.
In practice, if a post from a scheduling tool shows the wrong card, look at what that tool sent, not only at your page. Many tools read your Open Graph tags when you add the link, so a stale value there can outlive a fix on the page.
What LinkedIn Post Inspector cannot do
- It cannot change your page. It reads your tags; you or your developer edit them.
- It cannot update published posts. The refresh applies to new posts that include the URL.
- It cannot read private pages. Pages behind a login, a password or a staging gate return nothing useful.
- It does not check other networks. Other platforms keep their own caches and have their own debug tools.
- It does not measure results. For clicks and reach, use your post analytics, see LinkedIn impressions.
Why link previews matter for sales and outreach
Link previews are not only a content marketing concern. LinkedIn Help notes that the cached preview appears when you post, message or write an article with a URL. A case study link in a prospecting message shows the same card as a post.
A clean card makes a shared resource look deliberate. A logo thumbnail or an old headline makes it look like an afterthought. If your LinkedIn prospecting sequence or a sales follow-up links to the same page many times, inspect it once before the first message goes out.
Every channel in a LinkedIn lead generation program that shares a link benefits from the same check.
The same applies to company pages and events. Before you promote a registration page through LinkedIn Events or a post from your LinkedIn marketing strategy, check that its card shows the right title and image.
A pre-share checklist for every link
Carousels and other document posts do not use a link preview, because the file itself is the content. For those, the checks in our LinkedIn carousel guide apply instead.
Common LinkedIn link preview mistakes
- Editing the page and posting right away, without clearing LinkedIn's cache in Post Inspector.
- Running Post Inspector before purging your own site cache, so LinkedIn stores the old tags again.
- Expecting a refresh to fix posts that are already published.
- Using a logo or a square icon as og:image, which gives a small, easily missed card.
- Leaving two sets of Open Graph tags on a page, one from the theme and one from a plugin.
- Pointing og:image at a staging site, a relative path or a protected folder.
- Inspecting a URL without the tracking parameters, then posting the version with them.
- Letting og:url point to a different page, so the card and the click disagree.
The note to send your web developer
If you do not edit the site yourself, the fastest fix is a precise request. The template below tells a developer what is wrong, what Post Inspector reported and what LinkedIn requires, so the fix takes one round instead of three.
Subject: LinkedIn preview for {{pageName}} shows the wrong {{problem}} Hi {{developerName}}, When I share {{pageUrl}} on LinkedIn, the preview shows {{whatIsWrong}}. I checked it in LinkedIn Post Inspector, and it reports {{inspectorFinding}}. Could you check the Open Graph tags on that page? LinkedIn Help says it needs og:title, og:image, og:description and og:url, with an image of at least 1200 x 627 pixels at 1.91:1 and 5 MB or less. The image I would like to use is {{imageUrl}}, and the title should read {{title}}. Once it is live, please purge the site cache and tell me, and I will run Post Inspector again before we post. Thanks, {{senderName}}
You have not run Post Inspector yourself. Then the note sends a developer hunting for a problem you have not located. Inspect the exact URL first and paste what the tool reports into the note.
Frequently asked questions
What is LinkedIn Post Inspector?
LinkedIn Post Inspector is LinkedIn's official tool for checking how a URL will look when shared on LinkedIn. You enter a URL, and it shows the preview, the data it found, what is missing, and when LinkedIn last updated its data about the page.
How do I use LinkedIn Post Inspector?
Go to linkedin.com/post-inspector, paste the exact URL you plan to share, and select Inspect. Check the image, title and description in the preview. If something is wrong, fix the Open Graph tags on the page and inspect again.
How do I clear LinkedIn cache for a link?
Run the URL through Post Inspector. The tool shows when LinkedIn last updated its data on the page and requests a fresh scrape. Clear your own site cache or CDN first, or LinkedIn may fetch the old version again.
Why is my LinkedIn link preview not updating?
Usually LinkedIn is still using a cached copy, your own site cache is serving the old page, or the post was published before the refresh. Clear your cache, run Post Inspector, and share the link in a new post.
Can I change the link preview on a LinkedIn post that is already published?
No. LinkedIn Help says a Post Inspector refresh only changes the preview for new posts that include the URL. Existing posts keep their old preview, so you need a new post to show the new card.
What image size does LinkedIn use for link previews?
LinkedIn Help lists a minimum of 1200 by 627 pixels, a recommended ratio of 1.91:1 and a maximum file size of 5 MB. Images less than 401 pixels wide display as a small thumbnail instead of a large image.
Why is my og:image not showing on LinkedIn?
Check that the og:image tag exists and points to a public image that meets LinkedIn's size rules. LinkedIn Help notes that a site may block it from pulling the image, or the image may sit in a protected directory.
What Open Graph tags does LinkedIn need?
LinkedIn Help lists og:title, og:image, og:description and og:url as the tags that must exist. The Open Graph protocol also defines og:type as a required property, so it is worth adding too.
How do I change the title of a LinkedIn link preview?
Edit the og:title tag on the page, not the post. Publish the change, clear your site cache, and run the URL through Post Inspector. The new title appears in posts you create after the refresh.
Is LinkedIn Post Inspector free?
Yes. Post Inspector is a free tool on linkedin.com. You do not install anything; you enter a URL and read the result. The tool may ask you to sign in to LinkedIn before it runs an inspection.
Does LinkedIn Post Inspector work for LinkedIn messages?
The cache it refreshes applies wherever you add a URL. LinkedIn Help describes the old cached image in posts, messages and articles, and Post Inspector refreshes the preview for new ones.
What does "request a re-scrape" mean in Post Inspector?
It asks LinkedIn to fetch the page again and read its metadata fresh, instead of using what it stored earlier. The tool shows when LinkedIn last updated its data on the page, so you can see whether the fetch happened.
Does Post Inspector work for posts created through the LinkedIn API?
Not in the same way. Microsoft Learn says the Posts API does not scrape URLs for article posts; API partners set the thumbnail, title and description themselves. Fix the values in the tool that publishes.
Why does LinkedIn show a different title than my page?
LinkedIn reads the og:title tag, which can differ from the HTML title tag or the headline on the page. If og:title is missing, LinkedIn has to work the title out from the rest of the page, so set it to the title you want shown.
- LinkedIn, Post Inspector, for what the tool does and its input, checked Sep 18, 2026.
- LinkedIn Help, Use Post Inspector to refresh URL, for the cached preview, the refresh steps and the new posts only rule, checked Sep 18, 2026.
- LinkedIn Help, Make your website shareable on LinkedIn, for the required og: tags and the image requirements, checked Sep 18, 2026.
- The Open Graph protocol, ogp.me, for the required and optional properties and the og:image structured properties, checked Sep 18, 2026.
- Microsoft Learn, Posts API, for article posts created through the API, checked Sep 18, 2026.
- Microsoft Learn, LinkedIn V2 connector, for how LinkedIn identifies the title, description and image of a shared URL, checked Sep 18, 2026.
- Jeluvi entries this guide builds on: LinkedIn marketing strategy, LinkedIn carousel, LinkedIn impressions, LinkedIn prospecting.
- The Open Graph code example and the template were written for this page. No click-through or engagement figures are quoted.