Missing og description
Quick winFound on 43% of audited stores.
Add an og:description meta tag to every page so social platforms display a compelling preview when your store's links are shared.
What it is
The og:description tag is a small piece of HTML that tells social networks — Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, iMessage, and many others — what text to show beneath your page title when someone shares a link. It is part of the Open Graph protocol, a standard originally created by Facebook and now used across virtually every social and messaging platform. Without it, those platforms either scrape random text from the page or show nothing at all, resulting in unappealing, confusing link previews. Think of it as writing the caption for your own story before someone else writes it for you.
Why it matters
When customers share a product or category page on social media without an og:description, the preview looks bare or shows irrelevant boilerplate text — which dramatically reduces the chance someone clicks through. Studies consistently show that rich, well-written link previews generate far more clicks than bare URLs, directly affecting referral traffic and sales. For ecommerce stores, social sharing is a meaningful free-traffic channel, and Pinterest and Facebook in particular use the Open Graph tags to populate shoppable pins and ads; missing tags can break or degrade those integrations. While og:description is not a direct Google ranking signal, higher click-through rates from social traffic indirectly reinforce your site's authority and revenue.
How to fix it
- Decide on the og:description content for each page type: for products use the first 1–2 benefit-focused sentences of the product description (keep it under 160 characters to avoid truncation); for categories use a short, keyword-rich summary of what's in that collection; for the homepage use your core value proposition.
- Place the tag inside the <head> section of your page's HTML, before the closing </head> tag.
- Use the format: <meta property="og:description" content="Your compelling description here.">
- Make the content unique per page — do not reuse the same description site-wide, and avoid simply copying the standard meta description verbatim (though they can be similar).
- After publishing, validate the tag using the Facebook Sharing Debugger (developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/) or LinkedIn Post Inspector by pasting in the page URL — confirm the og:description field is populated with your intended text.
- If your platform caches Open Graph data, use the debugger's 'Scrape Again' button to force a refresh, then re-share the link to verify the live preview looks correct.
<meta property="og:description" content="Handcrafted leather wallets built to last — shop bifolds, cardholders, and money clips with free shipping over $50." />Fix it on your platform
Pick your platform for the exact steps.
How to fix missing og description on Shopify
- Shopify automatically populates og:description from each page's 'Search engine listing preview' description field — fill that in first.
- In the Shopify admin go to Online Store → Themes → click 'Customize' on your active theme.
- For global control: go to Online Store → Themes → Actions → Edit Code, then open theme.liquid (or snippets/seo.liquid if your theme separates it) and locate or add: <meta property="og:description" content="{{ page_description | escape }}"> inside the <head> block.
- For a specific product: Products → select the product → scroll to 'Search engine listing preview' → click 'Edit website SEO' → fill in the Meta description field. Shopify maps this value to og:description automatically.
- For a specific page or blog post: Online Store → Pages (or Blog Posts) → select the item → 'Edit website SEO' → fill in Meta description.
- Validate with the Facebook Sharing Debugger after saving.
How to fix missing og description on WooCommerce
- Install the free Yoast SEO or Rank Math plugin if not already active (Plugins → Add New → search and install).
- For Yoast SEO: edit any product, page, or post → scroll to the 'Yoast SEO' meta box → click the 'Social' tab → enter your og:description in the 'Facebook description' field, or leave it blank to inherit from the SEO meta description field on the 'SEO' tab.
- For Rank Math: edit the item → open the Rank Math meta box → go to the 'Social' tab → fill in 'Facebook Description'.
- To set a site-wide fallback in Yoast: Yoast SEO → Social → Facebook → enable Open Graph → save. Yoast will then fall back to the meta description for og:description when no explicit value is set.
- For programmatic control in your theme, add to functions.php or a custom plugin (only if not using an SEO plugin): add_action('wp_head', function(){ if(is_product()){ global $post; echo '<meta property="og:description" content="' . esc_attr(get_the_excerpt()) . '">'; } });
- Validate with Facebook Sharing Debugger.
How to fix missing og description on BigCommerce
- BigCommerce uses Handlebars templates. Open your control panel and go to Storefront → My Themes → click 'Advanced' → Edit Theme Files (or download the theme to edit locally).
- Open templates/layout/base.html (or the equivalent head partial in your theme) and locate the Open Graph block.
- Add or confirm this line exists inside <head>: <meta property="og:description" content="{{#if page.meta_description}}{{page.meta_description}}{{else}}{{settings.meta_description}}{{/if}}">
- For individual products, go to Products → Edit a product → scroll to 'Search Engine Optimization' section → fill in the 'Meta Description' field; this value is exposed as page.meta_description in templates.
- For categories: Products → Product Categories → select a category → fill in 'Meta Description'.
- Save and publish the theme, then validate with Facebook Sharing Debugger.
How to fix missing og description on Wix
- In the Wix Editor, click on the page you want to edit in the Pages & Menu panel.
- Click the three-dot (⋯) menu next to the page name → SEO Basics → fill in the 'Meta Description' field. Wix automatically maps this to og:description.
- For products in Wix eCommerce: go to your live site dashboard → Store Products → select a product → SEO & Social tab → fill in 'Meta Description' and optionally the dedicated 'Social description' field.
- For site-wide defaults: Wix dashboard → Marketing & SEO → SEO Settings → set a default meta description pattern.
- Use Wix's built-in SEO Wiz or the 'Social Posts' preview in the product SEO tab to verify the og:description renders correctly.
- Validate externally with Facebook Sharing Debugger.
How to fix missing og description on Squarespace
- For a regular page: in the Pages panel, hover over the page → click the gear icon (Page Settings) → SEO tab → fill in 'SEO Description'. Squarespace uses this value as og:description.
- For a product: open the product editor → click the gear/settings icon → SEO tab → fill in 'SEO Description'.
- For a blog post: open the post editor → Post Settings → SEO tab → fill in 'SEO Description'.
- For a site-wide fallback: Settings → SEO → Site Description — Squarespace falls back to this when no page-level description is set.
- Preview how the share card looks via Settings → Social Links → connect your Facebook account, or paste the URL into the Facebook Sharing Debugger.
- Note: Squarespace does not expose direct HTML head editing on most plans; using the SEO Description fields is the supported path.
How to fix missing og description on Webflow
- In the Webflow Designer, click the Pages panel (page icon, top-left) → hover over the page → click the Settings gear icon.
- In the 'SEO Settings' section, fill in the 'Meta Description' field. Webflow automatically outputs this as og:description.
- For the dedicated Open Graph description (if you want it to differ): scroll down to the 'Open Graph Settings' section in the same page settings panel → fill in the 'Open Graph Description' field.
- For CMS collection items (e.g. products or blog posts): open the Collection Settings → add or bind a plain-text field (e.g. 'SEO Description') → in the Collection Page template, open Page Settings → bind the 'Meta Description' and 'Open Graph Description' to that CMS field.
- Publish the site, then validate with Facebook Sharing Debugger.
How to fix missing og description on Adobe Commerce (Magento)
- Log in to the Admin Panel → go to Catalog → Products → select the product to edit.
- In the product edit screen, click the 'Search Engine Optimization' accordion section → fill in the 'Meta Description' field.
- To output this as og:description, open your theme's default_head_blocks.xml or the relevant layout XML (e.g. catalog_product_view.xml) and confirm or add: <meta property="og:description" content="{{escapeHtmlAttr $description}}" /> via a custom block or by editing app/design/frontend/<Vendor>/<theme>/Magento_Catalog/layout/catalog_product_view.xml.
- Alternatively, install a dedicated Open Graph extension from the Adobe Commerce Marketplace (search 'Open Graph') to handle og tags automatically from meta description fields.
- For categories: Catalog → Categories → select category → expand 'Search Engine Optimization' → fill in Meta Description.
- Clear the full-page cache (System → Cache Management → Flush Magento Cache), then validate with Facebook Sharing Debugger.
How to fix missing og description on PrestaShop
- Go to your PrestaShop admin → Catalog → Products → select a product → click the 'SEO' tab → fill in the 'Meta description' field.
- PrestaShop's default themes use this value in the og:description tag. Confirm by checking themes/[your-theme]/templates/_partials/head.tpl for the og:description line.
- If the line is missing, add: {if $page.meta.description}<meta property="og:description" content="{$page.meta.description|escape:'html':'UTF-8'}">{/if} inside the <head> block in head.tpl.
- For categories: Catalog → Categories → select category → SEO tab → Meta description.
- Flush the cache: Advanced Parameters → Performance → Clear cache, then validate with Facebook Sharing Debugger.
How to fix missing og description on OpenCart
- Admin → Catalog → Products → select a product → click the 'SEO' tab (or 'Data' tab depending on version) → fill in 'Meta Tag Description'.
- OpenCart's default Storefront themes render og:description from this value. Check catalog/view/theme/[your-theme]/template/common/head.twig (or head.tpl in older versions) for the og:description meta tag.
- If missing from the template, add: {% if description %}<meta property="og:description" content="{{ description }}">{% endif %} inside the <head> block.
- For categories: Catalog → Categories → select category → fill in 'Meta Tag Description'.
- Install an SEO extension from the OpenCart marketplace (search 'Open Graph') for a no-code solution.
- Validate with Facebook Sharing Debugger after saving.
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Scan my site freeFrequently asked questions
What is Missing og description?
The og:description tag is a small piece of HTML that tells social networks — Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, iMessage, and many others — what text to show beneath your page title when someone shares a link. It is part of the Open Graph protocol, a standard originally created by Facebook and now used across virtually every social and messaging platform. Without it, those platforms either scrape random text from the page or show nothing at all, resulting in unappealing, confusing link previews. Think of it as writing the caption for your own story before someone else writes it for you.
Why does missing og description matter?
When customers share a product or category page on social media without an og:description, the preview looks bare or shows irrelevant boilerplate text — which dramatically reduces the chance someone clicks through. Studies consistently show that rich, well-written link previews generate far more clicks than bare URLs, directly affecting referral traffic and sales. For ecommerce stores, social sharing is a meaningful free-traffic channel, and Pinterest and Facebook in particular use the Open Graph tags to populate shoppable pins and ads; missing tags can break or degrade those integrations. While og:description is not a direct Google ranking signal, higher click-through rates from social traffic indirectly reinforce your site's authority and revenue.
How do I fix missing og description?
Add an og:description meta tag to every page so social platforms display a compelling preview when your store's links are shared.
Authoritative references
- Control your snippets & meta description — Google Search Central
- SEO Starter Guide — Google Search Central