Fix · Google and sharing

WhatsApp shows no preview or an old one for my link

Kuwait and Gulf

What you may see

The link appears as plain text in WhatsApp
WhatsApp still shows an old title or picture

Most likely cause

WhatsApp builds a preview from the page's Open Graph tags when it first sees the link, needs an https page that answers fast with a small image, and then remembers it.

Check first (about two minutes)

Is the page public, https, and not blocking unknown visitors (login, bot protection)?
Is the image file small (WhatsApp may skip very big images)?

The fix prompt

What you type here never leaves your browser. The search runs on this page, and nothing is sent to a server or to an AI.

The exact error or what you see

What you did before it happened

Kept only in this browser, on this device. Keys and passwords are removed before anything is saved.

Prompt language

You are a senior engineer who knows search engines and link previews (Open Graph) and explains them to people who are not developers. I am not a developer, so explain every step in plain words and tell me exactly which button, menu or command you mean. If you are not sure about something, say so; do not guess.

I am in Kuwait. If the service has a Kuwait or Gulf rule or option that matters here (for example KNET, Arabic right-to-left text or local time), take it into account.

THE PROBLEM
WhatsApp shows no preview or an old one for my link

THE EXACT ERROR OR WHAT I SEE
[paste the exact error here]

WHAT I DID BEFORE IT HAPPENED
[write in a few words what you did before it happened]

MOST LIKELY CAUSE
WhatsApp builds a preview from the page's Open Graph tags when it first sees the link, needs an https page that answers fast with a small image, and then remembers it.

DO THESE STEPS, IN THIS ORDER
1. Fetch the page as a plain bot would (curl with a simple user agent) and check the Open Graph tags are in the first part of the HTML, not added by script.
2. Keep the image under about 300 KB, 1200 by 630, public, with a full https address; keep the title short.
3. For an already shared link with an old preview, test by adding a harmless extra query to the address (for example ?v=2) which creates a new link to preview.
Stop and tell me if what you see does not match a step. Do not skip ahead.

CHECK THAT IT WORKED
- Sending the link to a test chat shows the title, description and picture.
Tell me exactly what I should see on the screen when it works.

DO NOT CHANGE
- Do not put an invented phone number in the page or the tags.
- Anything I did not ask about: the design, the text, other pages, other settings or the data.
- Do not delete files, data or branches, do not reset or force-push, and do not rewrite history, unless you first show me exactly what would be lost and I say yes.
- Do not paste, print or ask me to paste a password or secret key into this chat. If one is needed, tell me which settings page of the right service to store it in.

WHEN YOU FINISH
Explain in simple words what you changed (file by file or setting by setting), why you changed it, and how I can undo it.

Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Cursor, then follow what it says.

After you tried it, did it work?

Steps

Fetch the page as a plain bot would (curl with a simple user agent) and check the Open Graph tags are in the first part of the HTML, not added by script.
Keep the image under about 300 KB, 1200 by 630, public, with a full https address; keep the title short.
For an already shared link with an old preview, test by adding a harmless extra query to the address (for example ?v=2) which creates a new link to preview.

Do not do this

Do not add scripts that build the tags only in the browser.
Do not put an invented phone number in the page or the tags.

Try another entry