# Twitter card

A Twitter card, now the card on X, is the preview drawn when someone posts a link: an image, a title and a description instead of a bare URL. It is set with twitter: meta tags, and falls back to your Open Graph tags when those tags are absent.

Updated 2026-09-15 · Source: https://porteur.ai/glossary/twitter-card

## The tags and the two types

```html
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Invoicing for freelancers">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Send an invoice in twenty seconds.">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://yourproduct.com/og.png">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@yourproduct">
```

| Type | What it draws | When to use it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| summary | A small square image beside the text | Rarely; it makes a link look like a footnote |
| summary_large_image | A wide image above the text | Almost always, for a product or an article |

## The fallback to Open Graph

X reads the twitter: tags first and falls back to the Open Graph tags for anything missing. A page with og:title, og:description and og:image already previews correctly, with one exception: without twitter:card the platform may draw the small card rather than the wide one.

- Set twitter:card to summary_large_image, and let the rest fall back to Open Graph.
- Add twitter:image only when you want a different image there than on the other platforms.
- twitter:site names the account, which is shown on the card in some contexts.

## How to check it now

1. **Read the tags** View source on the page and confirm twitter:card is present and the image URL is absolute.
2. **Post the link in a draft** The card validator was retired. Composing a post without sending it shows the real card, which is the test that counts.
3. **Check one page per template** The home page, the pricing page and a library page usually use different templates; the missing image is always on the one nobody posts.
4. **Expect caching** Cards are cached, so a link already shared may keep the old image for a while after you change it.

> X strips links from some posts and shows them poorly in others, which is why many accounts put the link in the first reply. The card still draws from these tags when the link is shown.

## Questions

### Do I need Twitter card tags if I have Open Graph?

Usually only one: twitter:card set to summary_large_image. The title, description and image fall back to your Open Graph tags.

### What is the difference between summary and summary_large_image?

The first draws a small square image beside the text, the second a wide image above it. The wide card is the one people click.

### How do I test a card now that the validator is gone?

Compose a post with the link and look at the preview without sending it. That is the real rendering, including the cache.

### Why does my card show an old image?

The platform caches cards. After changing the image, the new card appears on new shares; links already posted can keep the old one.

### Do Twitter cards affect Google rankings?

No. They affect how a link looks when shared, which affects clicks and mentions, not ranking directly.

## Read next

- [Open Graph](https://porteur.ai/glossary/open-graph): Open Graph tags tell other platforms how to draw a link to your page: title, description and image. The tags that matter, image sizes and how to test.
- [Social preview checker](https://porteur.ai/tools/social-preview-checker): Paste a URL and see the card a share produces on X, LinkedIn and Slack: the Open Graph tags read, the image fetched and measured, and what to fix first.
- [Meta description](https://porteur.ai/glossary/meta-description): What a meta description is, how long to make it, why Google rewrites it, how to check yours, and what to write anyway for higher CTR.
- [Title tag](https://porteur.ai/glossary/title-tag): A title tag is the HTML title of a page. See how long it should be, why Google rewrites it, what to put in it, and how to fix weak titles.
- [On-page SEO checklist: the twelve things on the page](https://porteur.ai/guides/on-page-seo-checklist): The twelve page elements that move clicks and rankings, with examples you can copy to your own product pages today.
- [Brand mention](https://porteur.ai/glossary/brand-mention): What brand mentions are, why they matter for a small site, how to find and measure them, and how to turn unlinked mentions into links.

The free check reads the tags your pages carry for search and for shares, and names what is missing, in about thirty seconds. Free check: https://porteur.ai/