Open Graph (OG) tags are HTML meta tags, originally developed by Facebook, that control how a web page is displayed when shared on social media platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook, Slack, and iMessage. They define the title, description, and preview image that appears in the shared link card.
For AEC firms, Open Graph tags are valuable because LinkedIn is a primary business development channel. When a project or firm page is shared without OG tags, the platform generates a generic or empty preview — losing the opportunity to showcase project photography and firm messaging in the context of a share.
The essential Open Graph tags are: og:title, og:description, og:image, og:type, and og:url. The og:image should be at least 1200 x 630 pixels and clearly represent the page content — for a project page, the hero project photo is ideal. og:type should be "website" for most pages.
Twitter Cards (now X Cards) are a parallel set of meta tags (twitter:card, twitter:title, twitter:description, twitter:image) that control appearance on X/Twitter. Most platforms will fall back to OG tags if Twitter Card tags are absent, but both should be implemented for maximum compatibility.