How to Fix Facebook Incorrect Thumbnail Issue in WordPress

Operating your first website is hard enough without having to deal with Facebook’s incorrect thumbnail issue in WordPress.

The fact is that WordPress is indeed an advanced platform and comes loaded with all the additional functionality that you would ever need and that’s not all; it also comes loaded with all the tools that you would require to resolve errors like this one.

The problem though is that no platform is perfect and the same can be said of WordPress and chances are that you are bound to come across this thumbnail error at some time or the other.

The error can happen for a lot of reasons stating with multiple images set with OG tag, caching plugins, CDN issues, missing open graph and the list goes on.

So, you need to troubleshoot and see what’s causing the error before you can resolve the same. Or better yet, you may want to try out some of our methods listed below and see if that does the trick.

These directions are simple enough that even a novice should not have much issue in following the same. But make sure that you back up completely before you get started on some of the solutions listed below.

Steps to Fix Facebook Incorrect Thumbnail Issue in WordPress

1. Manually upload your thumbnail:

If you have logged into your Facebook account, and the post that you share does not feature the right thumbnail, then you can manually upload the thumbnail that you want to use with your post and delete the wrong ones from Facebook.

But this does not exactly affect other users as they would continue to see the wrong image, which is why you need to set a specific thumbnail for Facebook.

That’s easily done especially if you are using WordPress Yoast SEO plugin for Facebook. Just scroll down to the Yoast SEO metabox, when you are writing or editing your current post, and you should see a button to upload a thumbnail image to your Facebook post.

Click on the same, and you should be able to upload the right thumbnail image to your Facebook post. If this does not resolve the issue, then you may have to clear out your Facebook cache and start fresh.

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2. Debug:

Facebook debug tool is one of the easiest ways to resolve thumbnail issues with Facebook; just enter the URL for your post on the debugger tool and you should see a response right away.

Usually, the image is either too large or too small; it seems that if Facebook sees larger images within your post, it uses the same for thumbnails but the weird part is that by entering and pressing the button on the same URL on the debugger tool helps to resolve this issue.

3. Facebook OG tags:

The fact is that often Facebook does not have a clue on which image to use with your post especially if it has a lot of choices to go with and often picks out the largest image in your post as the thumbnail.

This can be quite irritating to say the least; images form a critical part of how you market your website, and through various social media platforms like Facebook, twitter and others.

Consumers are attracted by the images you have posted and want to know more so displaying the wrong thumbnail can be a disaster in the making.

One of the ways to resolve the incorrect thumbnail issue is to check and see if any of the requisite images are missing their OG tag, which can cause Facebook to pick up some other image as a thumbnail.

If you do come across a missing OG tag, you may want to correct it right away and reload your website to check and see if Facebook has picked out the right thumbnail or you can reset the same.

4. Plugins:

The easiest way to resolve this issue is by installing any of the appropriate plugins for the same. Just log into your admin dashboard and head over to plugins and click on “Add new”.

Now, search for the appropriate plugin and download the same and install, activate it on your website. This plugin will tell Facebook exactly what image to use as a thumbnail for the preview and all over your website and should also add missing OG tags.

By adding the required OG tags automatically, you would not be required to code anything and what’s more, you can resolve the issue of wrong thumbnails right away.

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5. Cache:

This is plain common sense; if any of the above steps do not work, then it is obvious that you need to clear your Facebook cache right away.

If you have not cleared your cache in sometime, then it is highly likely that your facebook would malfunction and this could be one of the reasons as to why facebook is displaying an incorrect thumbnail along with your post.

Clear your browser cache, your plugin cache and please note, if you are using a cache plugin on your website, then it becomes all the more essential that you clear your cache regularly.

Once you have cleared your cache, your website should start performing normally and more importantly, so should Facebook.

You should be able to log in, and edit, upload your post and Facebook should display the right thumbnails to go with the same, provided that the image in question does not come with open ended OG tags.

These are some of the methods by which you can fix the issue of Facebook displaying wrong thumbnail issue in WordPress.

If you do come across this error, then it is vital that you get the same fixed right away as images and videos can play a critical role as far as marketing and traffic are concerned.

There are several plugins that you can use to make sure that your content and more importantly, your images and videos are optimized, and these plugins can also check and see if your media files have the right codes as well.

You can optimize the lot and upload it to Facebook and it should display the right thumbnails to go with your recent post.