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WP Visibility

Everyday SEO

Set a Default Social Image

Pick one image in the Social section to use when a page has no image of its own. Each page chooses its own social image first, then its featured image, then the default.

Updated September 27, 2026

Docs

Open WP Visibility → Settings, scroll to the Social section, and under Default social image click Select image and choose a picture from the media library. Any page without an image of its own, including the homepage and archives, then shares with that picture.

How the image for a page is chosen

WP Visibility picks one image per page and uses it for the Open Graph tags and the structured data alike. The order is:

  1. The page’s own Social image, set in the editor’s Social sharing panel.
  2. The page’s featured image.
  3. The Default social image.
  4. Nothing. No image tag is printed, and each network decides what to show.

The full-size file is used, with its width, height and alternative text, so a network can lay out the card before it downloads the picture. The alternative text comes from the image’s entry in the media library.

Choose a good default

  • A landscape image about 1200 by 630 pixels suits most link previews. WP Visibility does not check the size, so choose it yourself.
  • Keep the subject and any text away from the edges; networks crop.
  • Use a file from your own media library. The image must load for someone who is not logged in.
  • Give it alternative text in the media library.

Override it for one post

In the block editor, open the WP Visibility sidebar and expand Social sharing. Click Select social image to choose a picture for that post only, Replace social image to change it, or Remove to fall back to the featured image. Social title and Social description sit in the same panel; left empty, they use the search title and description.

The classic editor’s metabox has no social fields, and categories and tags have no social image field. Those pages use their featured image, if any, and then the default.

Check it

View the source of a post with no featured image and look for og:image. It should be your default’s URL, followed by og:image:width, og:image:height and, when set, og:image:alt.

WP Visibility prints no twitter:image tag. X reads the Open Graph image instead. The Twitter/X card type setting decides whether the card is Summary (a small square) or Summary with large image (the default).

Two warnings to read with care:

  • The editor’s pre-publish panel says a post has “no featured or social image” even when a site default is set. With a default in place, the post still shares with an image.
  • The site audit reports “No default social image is set” until you choose one.

If a network still shows an old picture, see Fix the Wrong Image in a Social Link Preview.

Behavior checked against WP Visibility 2.10.3.