Discord Not Showing Link Preview? Here's the Fix

You paste a link in Discord and nothing happens — no card, no image, just a plain URL. Here's why and how to fix it.

Why Discord Ignores Your Link Preview

Discord link previews (called "embeds") are powered by Open Graph tags, but Discord is pickier than most platforms about what it accepts. Here are the most common reasons your link preview isn't showing:

Embeds are disabled in your server. Discord server admins can disable link previews entirely. If you're in a server where no links show previews, this is likely the cause.

Missing or incomplete OG tags. Discord requires at minimum og:title and og:image to render an embed. If either is missing, Discord just shows the raw URL.

Image is too small or inaccessible. Discord needs the image to be at least 300×300 pixels and publicly fetchable. If your OG image is smaller or behind a paywall, Discord won't display it.

Discord's cache is stale. Discord caches link previews aggressively. Even after you fix your OG tags, Discord may continue showing the old (broken) preview until it re-fetches.

Step-by-Step Fix

Step 1: Check Your OG Tags

Discord relies on these Open Graph tags to render an embed:

<meta property="og:title" content="Your Title" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Your description" />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://yoursite.com/image.jpg" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://yoursite.com/page" />

All four tags should be present. Use Proovd to verify your tags are complete and correctly formatted.

Step 2: Verify Image Size

Discord's minimum requirements for link preview images:

• Minimum dimensions: 300 × 300 pixels
• Recommended: 1200 × 630 (same as the OG standard)
• Maximum file size: 10MB
• Supported formats: JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, AVIF

If your image is smaller than 300×300, Discord will silently skip the preview. Bump it up to at least 1200×630 to cover all platforms.

Step 3: Check Server Embed Settings

If you're the server admin, check that embeds are enabled:

1. Open your server settings (click the server name → Settings)
2. Go to Enabled Text Affordances
3. Make sure "Embeds" is toggled on
4. Check individual channel settings too — channels can override server-level settings

Step 4: Clear Discord's Cache

Discord doesn't have a dedicated cache-clearing tool like LinkedIn's Post Inspector. The workaround:

1. Update your page's OG tags
2. Delete the old message with the broken preview from the Discord channel
3. Re-post the same URL
4. Discord will re-fetch and render the updated preview

Platform-Specific Notes

Discord vs. Slack. Both platforms use similar embed systems, but Slack has additional settings for link unfurling per workspace. Discord's settings are simpler — it's either on or off at the server level. If a Slack link preview isn't working, check your workspace settings too. You can test both with Proovd.

What about bots? If you're using a bot to post links, make sure the bot has the Embed Links permission. Without it, the bot can post messages but Discord won't generate embed previews.

Quick Fix Checklist

Frequently Asked Questions