The LinkedIn Post Inspector is LinkedIn's official tool for testing link previews. Paste your URL, see what LinkedInBot fetched, and click Refresh to update the cache. Use it after every OG image change and before sharing on LinkedIn.
Short answer
Open linkedin.com/post-inspector, enter your URL, click Inspect, review title, description, and image, fix issues on your live page, then click Refresh. Verify tags first with OpenGraph Check.
What the Post Inspector does
LinkedInBot crawls your page and reads Open Graph tags. The Post Inspector shows:
- Extracted
og:title,og:description, andog:image - A preview of how the link card will look
- The last inspection timestamp
- Whether a refresh was triggered
It uses the same crawler as real LinkedIn shares. What you see in the inspector is what new posts will display.
When to use the Post Inspector
| Situation | Action |
|---|---|
| New blog post before sharing | Inspect and confirm image |
| Updated OG image not showing | Refresh after versioning image URL |
| Text preview but no thumbnail | Inspect to see image fetch failure |
| After site migration | Re-inspect all shared URLs |
| Before a LinkedIn campaign | Inspect key landing pages |
For cache behavior background, see LinkedIn Preview Not Updating. For missing images specifically, see LinkedIn Preview Image Not Showing.
Step-by-step walkthrough
1. Open the Post Inspector
Go to linkedin.com/post-inspector. You need a LinkedIn account to access the tool.
2. Enter your URL
Paste the full URL with https://:
https://example.com/article
Use the same URL you plan to share. Redirects may cause mismatches between what you share and what gets cached.
3. Click Inspect
LinkedInBot fetches your page. Results appear in a few seconds. Slow servers may cause timeouts.
4. Review the preview card
Check:
- Title - matches your
og:title? - Description - matches
og:description? - Image - thumbnail visible and correct?
An empty image area means LinkedInBot could not download og:image.
5. Fix issues on your site
Common fixes before refreshing:
- Add or correct
og:imagewith absolute HTTPS URL - Resize image to 1200 × 627 px
- Allow LinkedInBot in robots.txt
- Move meta tags from client-side JS to server HTML
6. Click Refresh
After fixing your page, click Refresh in the Post Inspector. This forces LinkedIn to re-crawl and update its cache.
Click Refresh twice if the image thumbnail still shows old content.
7. Test a new share
Already-published LinkedIn posts do not update. Create a new post or share in a draft to confirm the refreshed preview.
Reading Post Inspector results
Title fallback chain
LinkedIn uses this priority:
og:title<title>tag- First
<h1>on the page
If the title is wrong, check which source LinkedIn picked.
Image requirements
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Recommended | 1200 × 627 px |
| Minimum width | 200 px |
| Formats | JPG, PNG, GIF |
| Max size | 5 MB |
Images below recommended size may show with letterboxing.
Last inspected date
Shows when LinkedIn last crawled the URL. If the date is old and you just clicked Refresh, wait a moment and inspect again.
Allow LinkedInBot access
Your robots.txt must permit the crawler:
User-agent: LinkedInBot
Allow: /
Also check firewall rules, Cloudflare bot protection, and CDN settings that may block LinkedInBot while allowing other crawlers.
Post Inspector vs. other tools
| Tool | Platform |
|---|---|
| LinkedIn Post Inspector | LinkedIn only |
| Facebook Sharing Debugger | Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger) |
| Twitter Card Validator | X (Twitter) |
| OpenGraph Check | All platforms side by side |
Fixing LinkedIn previews does not update Facebook or X caches. Run each platform's tool separately.
Common mistakes
Inspecting before deploy is live
Confirm changes in page source (incognito) before clicking Refresh. Otherwise you re-cache stale data.
Only updating twitter:image
LinkedIn reads Open Graph tags. Set og:image, not just twitter:image.
Expecting old posts to update
Refresh updates LinkedIn's cache for new shares only. Edit or delete old posts if the preview is wrong there.
Using relative image URLs
og:image must be absolute: https://example.com/og.jpg, not /og.jpg.
FAQ
Is the LinkedIn Post Inspector free?
Yes. Requires a LinkedIn login but no paid plan.
How often should I refresh?
Only when OG tags or images change. No need to refresh on every deploy.
Does Refresh affect existing LinkedIn posts?
No. Only future shares of the URL use the updated cache.
Can I inspect URLs I do not own?
Yes. Any public URL can be inspected.
Why does the inspector show an image but my post does not?
Timing or a different URL variant (with/without trailing slash, www vs. non-www). Align og:url with the shared URL.
How long until Refresh takes effect?
Usually minutes. Allow up to a few hours in rare cases.
Bottom line
The LinkedIn Post Inspector is the fastest way to test and refresh LinkedIn link previews. Inspect your URL, fix OG tags on the server, refresh the cache, and confirm with a new share. Pair it with OpenGraph Check to catch issues on other platforms at the same time.
