How to Create OG Images That Get Clicks on Twitter and LinkedIn

You wrote a great blog post. You share it on Twitter. The preview card shows a blurry logo on a white background. Three people click it.

Your competitor shares a mediocre post. Their preview card has a bold, eye-catching image with a clear headline. Three hundred people click it.

The difference isn't the content. It's the OG image.

Here's how to create social cards that actually get clicks on Twitter and LinkedIn — the two platforms where link sharing matters most.

What Makes People Click on a Social Card?

Before getting into tactics, understand what's happening psychologically. When someone sees a link in their timeline, they make a split-second decision: click or scroll.

Three things drive that decision:

• Visual pattern interrupt — Does the card stand out from surrounding content?
• Value clarity — Can I tell what I'll get if I click?
• Trust signals — Does this look professional and credible?

Your OG image needs to deliver all three in under a second. That's the game.

Most OG images fail because they try to do too much. They cram in logos, subtitles, author photos, and decorative elements. The result is visual noise. In a noisy feed, noise gets ignored.

The best-performing social cards are simple. A clear headline, a strong visual, and enough branding to establish credibility. Nothing more.

Twitter/X: What Actually Works

Twitter is fast-paced. Users scroll aggressively. Your card competes with memes, threads, and hot takes. Subtlety doesn't work here.

Card format matters

Twitter supports two card types: summary (small image) and summary_large_image (large image). Always use large image. The extra visual real estate is the difference between getting noticed and getting skipped.

Set this in your HTML:

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Design rules for Twitter:

• Use bold, saturated colors. Twitter timelines are mostly text with occasional photos. Bright gradients and strong colors pop against the white (or dark) feed background.
• Put the headline in the image. Don't rely on og:title text below the card. Many people only look at the image. If your key message isn't in the visual, they'll miss it.
• Keep aspect ratio at 1.91:1. Twitter crops to this ratio. Design at 1200 x 628 pixels to avoid losing important content to auto-cropping.
• Test in dark mode. More than 80% of Twitter users are on dark mode. If your OG image uses a white or very light background, it can look washed out. Darker or more saturated backgrounds tend to perform better.

What gets engagement on Twitter:

• Numbers in the headline ("7 ways to...", "We grew 300%...")
• Before/after visuals showing a transformation
• Screenshots of real products or dashboards
• Bold, single-color backgrounds with large text

LinkedIn: A Different Audience, Different Approach

LinkedIn is slower and more intentional. People are in professional mode. The aesthetic that works on Twitter can feel out of place here.

Design rules for LinkedIn:

• Cleaner, more professional look. Subtle gradients, neutral tones, and polished typography signal credibility to a professional audience.
• Show data and results. LinkedIn users respond to charts, metrics, and case study visuals. An OG image showing a graph or key metric can outperform a generic branded card.
• Include your brand clearly. LinkedIn audiences care about who's sharing. A recognizable brand element (logo, color scheme) builds trust.
• Use 1200 x 627 pixels. LinkedIn has its own ratio. Design specifically for it rather than hoping a Twitter-sized image works. A LinkedIn image generator ensures your images are sized correctly for this platform.

What gets engagement on LinkedIn:

• Professional-looking mockups of your product
• Clean cards with a single strong stat or insight
• Industry-relevant imagery (not generic stock photos)
• Thought leadership-style text cards with quotable lines

A/B Testing Your OG Images

Most people create one OG image and forget about it. That's leaving clicks on the table.

Here's a simple approach to testing:

1. Create two variations — Same content, different visual treatment (e.g., different background color, different headline emphasis)

2. Share each version on different days — Track clicks using UTM parameters or your analytics tool

3. Compare click-through rates — Not just likes. Actual clicks to your site

4. Keep the winner — Update your og:image tag to the better performer

Things worth testing:

• Dark vs. light backgrounds
• With product screenshot vs. text-only
• Different headline phrasings
• With author photo vs. without
• Minimal design vs. information-rich

Even small improvements compound. A 10% lift in CTR on every shared link adds up to significant traffic over time.

Building a Reusable Template

Creating OG images from scratch for every page isn't sustainable. You need a template.

A good OG image template has:

• Fixed elements: Logo position, brand colors, font choices
• Variable elements: Headline text, optional screenshot/visual
• Safe zones: Areas where text won't get cropped by any platform
• Consistent dimensions: 1200 x 630 as the universal starting point

Once you have a template, creating a new OG image should take under two minutes. A social card generator can speed this up even further with built-in templates optimized for each platform.

The Quick Way

You don't need Figma, Photoshop, or a designer on retainer. A dedicated tool gets you there faster.

With Screenhance, the process is:

• Upload your screenshot or product image
• Choose a background and device frame that matches your brand
• Export at the right dimensions for social sharing
• Set it as your og:image and you're done

The advantage of using a tool built for this: every export is already sized correctly, the backgrounds are designed to pop in social feeds, and the whole thing takes a couple of minutes.

For detailed design principles, check the OG Image Best Practices guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I put text in my OG image?

Yes, in most cases. The og:title text that appears below the card is often truncated or ignored. Putting your key message directly in the image ensures people see it. Keep it to 5-7 words max — enough to communicate value, not so much that it becomes unreadable at small sizes.

How do I test what my OG image looks like before sharing?

Use platform-specific testing tools. Twitter has the Card Validator, LinkedIn has the Post Inspector, and Facebook has the Sharing Debugger. These tools fetch your page's OG metadata and show exactly how your card will render. Always test before sharing important content.

Do I need different OG images for Twitter and LinkedIn?

Ideally, yes. Twitter supports its own meta tags (twitter:image) that override the default og:image. This lets you serve a Twitter-optimized image to Twitter and a LinkedIn-optimized image via the standard og:image tag. If you can only create one, design for 1200 x 630 and it will work reasonably well on both.

Related Reading

• OG Image Best Practices: The Complete Guide to Social Share Images - Foundational design principles
• How to Make Screenshots That Go Viral on Twitter/X - Twitter-specific visual strategies
• How to Create LinkedIn Post Images That Get Engagement - LinkedIn image optimization
• Free OG Image Generator: Create Social Cards Without Design Skills - Tool comparison and guide

Conclusion

Creating OG images that get clicks isn't about being a designer. It's about understanding what makes people stop scrolling.

On Twitter, that means bold colors and clear headlines. On LinkedIn, it means professional polish and value-driven visuals. On both, it means consistency and intentional design.

Invest a few minutes per page. The return shows up in every single share.