If you want to add a custom Facebook image for your homepage via Yoast’s Social box, you’ll notice that it won’t appear on Facebook or other social media websites.
Note that this only happens on a static page that is set as a homepage in Settings -> Reading, in WordPress.
The og:image properties won’t appear inside your homepage source code, therefore, the image will not be displayed on Facebook or other social media websites that rely on Open Graph properties to display rich snippets.
The good news is that this is a known bug, and the Yoast developers are aware of it and plan to fix it in July, with the release of Yoast 7.8.
We apologize for the inconvenience. There’s currently an open issue with our developers regarding featured image is not outputted as og:image on static homepage. You can check the GH issue here: https://github.com/Yoast/wordpress-seo/issues/9730
The fix will be included on Yoast SEO 7.8 which is set to be released this July.
The bad news is that, until then, if anyone shares your homepage, you won’t have a proper image attached to it.
Either no image will appear, or a random one, like your logo, might be grabbed by Facebook or other social media websites.
So, in this post, I’ll show you a temporary fix, which is more of a workaround, to be honest.
Fix Yoast missing og:image properties on homepage
The fix simply consists of adding a default Facebook image in SEO -> Social -> Facebook.
This will make the og:image properties appear on your homepage.
The default image will only appear on posts / pages that don’t have any images set for them.
So, think about it.
Your posts are covered, because they have featured images added, right?
You most likely have, or need to add anyway, an image to every page via Yoast Social box, so images appear in snippets when pages are shared.
So, that would only leave your homepage “uncovered”, because of the bug, but adding a default Facebook image will fix that. It will fill in the gap.
Am I right or am I right? :D
Looking forward for the real fix, though.
That’s a wrap
Hope you found the post comprehensive and used the solution to fix Yoast’s missing og:image properties on your homepage.
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I have Yoast 7.9 but am still experiencing the same problem. I have set a default featured image AND a frontpage image in SEO > Social but Facebook does not pull any image and the Facebook debugger has a blank where the image should be. Been trawling the web for hours trying to find a fix with no luck.
Hello! That’s weird because the issue was solved with the 7.8 update.
Try uploading an image to your homepage like you see in the first screenshot (via Yoast meta box). Then remove the default image from SEO -> Social like you see in the 4th screenshot. Now clear your browser and any website cache. Check your homepage’s source code. If the code’s there, as it should be, go to Facebook Debugger and scrape your homepage again, but push the button several times, since it doesn’t always work from the start.
I’ve written more info about the Facebook debugging in this tutorial.
This tool:
https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/sharing/
Shows these error messages:
– The ‘og:image’ property should be explicitly provided, even if a value can be inferred from other tags.
– The following required properties are missing: og:image, fb:app_id
I use the latest versions of WP, Avada, Yoast (8.0) etc. Linked the image correctly in Yoast under fb-settings. Cant see the link in the source code.
Everything worked with earlier versions of Yoast.
Hello!
The problem seems to be solved since version 7.8. I haven’t experienced the issue anymore, and I’m using Avada too.
If you want to have an image set for your homepage, you can now set it directly into the Yoast meta box from within your homepage’s editing area, as you can see in the first screenshot. You don’t have to use a default image anymore in Social -> Facebook.
Do that and clear both your website and browser cache, then try the debugger again, but click several times on the scrape button because it doesn’t always “grab” your meta correctly from the first time.
The issue has not been solved as of today (August 31) – I have all settings correct and Yoast is (in my case) getting the image of the last post instead of the inserted image for the homepage. Tried the debug tool a million times and the issue is still there.
If you have a blog and your latest posts are showing on your homepage (Settings -> Reading -> Your homepage displays), then you basically don’t have a static page/homepage, so you don’t have where to add a specific image for it because it doesn’t exist. That’s not a static page that you have to create. Therefore, to add an image for your homepage, which displays your latest posts, go to SEO -> Social -> Facebook and add it there.
It’s already done like that; I have all settings correct including the one that you mentioned. Issue is still there. Even with the update that as released today (8.1.1. – September 3)
That’s strange because the issue was only happening with a static page that was selected as the Homepage. This sounds like a new one, or it’s something that you are experiencing in particular. Try disabling your plugins one by one and see if one of them is creating a conflict, preventing Yoast to function properly. If the plugins are not to blame, then change to a default WordPress theme (e.g. Twenty Seventeen). Create a backup before doing all this.
It’s weird because I can check on the source code that the image that Yoast fetches is the one from the last post instead of the image uploaded to appear there.
If you performed the troubleshooting, but it still doesn’t work, ask them for support on GitHub.
It’s best to perform the troubleshooting before because they’ll ask you to do it anyway, so you’ll save time.
Forgot to mention I currently have version 8.1 of Yoast
This issue is still reoccuring for my blog posts. I have to keep reverting back to 7.3 so that it pulls my featured image. On the newer versions it says og: image missing
If it’s happening with your posts, then it’s another type of issue. Where does it say ‘og:image’ missing? On Facebook? Or did you check the source code of the posts and it’s missing there?
I don’t think it’s a Yoast issue, though. I suggest updating Yoast, then performing the above troubleshooting that I mentioned to Mario. At first glance, it looks like a theme or plugin conflict.
Hello. Version: 8.2, Default image was set and og:image is not appearing for home.
Do you want a default image for all your pages? Or you want one only for your homepage? If you just want it for your homepage, then you can add it directly on your homepage in the Yoast meta box, without adding a default one in Social – Facebook.
I am getting the same issue with the Facebook Open Graph debug tool pulling through the last blog post’s image as my homepage image despite me putting in the URL of the image I’d like to have set for the homepage.
Clear your site’s cache and make sure that the image you set is inside the homepage’s source code. After that, go into the Facebook debug tool and scrape the post several times.
Facebook has its own cache and, sometimes, you need to click the button 2-3 times to get it right.
I believe they still have this issue. I use latest posts for homepage. Set default image for homepage through social -> facebook setting. Clear cached and everything. I review it on my website. it is still missing. Twitter card image is accepting the default image though. You can check it out on my site
https://www.clipsify.com/It seems fine to me. I can see your
og:imagein your source code:<meta property="og:image" content="https://www.clipsify.com/images/square.png"/>.Something is still caching your site, I think. That’s why it doesn’t appear on your end.
Using 7.8 and this fix is definitely not working on our site. All it does is now set the same default set image for ALL pages and posts. if i omit the default image, then all posts/pages just have a missing og:image tag.
Starting with 7.8, this issue shouldn’t appear anymore in Yoast because they fixed it. This was a workaround needed until 7.8. Perhaps it’s another issue that is causing your og:image not to appear on your site. A plugin conflict, for example.
Whether I put the image in the main Yoast settings (as you suggest above) or individually on the front page, the og:image tag simply does not show up in the code. I have cleared all caches on the site and in the browser and I have updated Yoast to the latest version 10.1.3, deactivated and reactivated – To no avail. This plugin just sucks. Anybody has any other fixes or solutions?
Ok, I found the issue here: https://github.com/Yoast/wordpress-seo/issues/12087
The mage has to have dimensions of 200 pixels min and 2000 pixels max. Of course it would be nice to get a warning about that by Yoast..
I’m glad you found the solution. And yes, as per Facebook’s requirements, you need at least an image that’s 200×200. Yoast doesn’t allow a smaller one since it would be useless, basically. Nevertheless, a notification would be helpful.
Thanks very much for this fix! I’m not sure Yoast fixed it, the problem is still happening for me in version 11.5. But your workaround saved the day. :)
I’m happy the workaround fixed the issue for you, although this bug should be long gone by now.