What is OG?

Open Graph (OG) is a protocol developed by Facebook to set guidelines for how webpages are structured and formatted. OG was designed to help content become accessible and shareable on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others. OG provides a structured way of displaying content, allowing users to easily understand the format of the page and more accurately interact with it.

OG enables websites to determine the type of content present on the page, the language used, and the title and description used for that page when it is accessed from a social media platform. This is done by adding a few lines of code in the header of the HTML document which will specify the type of the content and other associated information.

Benefits of OG

OG is beneficial to both website owners and users. By properly coding Open Graph properties into a website, the information that is shared on social media will be lacking any errors and be accurately represented. To website visitors, OG can enable more detailed information about the page to be presented when it is shared on social platforms. With Open Graph, the title, description, and images that can be included in the post are customizable, allowing for more control on how content is presented.

SEO and OG

Using OG to display accurate information about the page can be beneficial for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes. Having improperly formatted titles and descriptions in search results can be a bad user experience, and having relevant titles, descriptions, and images accurately displayed can have an impact on a website’s ranking. Open Graph is also beneficial in increasing visibility by providing people a way to share content instantly with friends, increasing the chances of a website appearing in search engine results.

Using OG

Utilizing OG on a website is fairly simple. All that’s needed is to add the Open Graph tags in the HTML document of the page in order to specify the type of content, titles, images, and other associated information. Many platforms, such as WordPress, offer plugins and tools to assist with the implementation of OG on a website. With OG, website owners can ensure that their content is accurately represented when it is shared on social media and search engine result pages.