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When sharing a link, a post or a tweet on a Facebook is it possible to set an image using OG meta tags that is not actually on the page you are sharing.

Example: You share example.com/mypage.html and has a img OG of /example.png

Does example.png actually have to be used on mypage.html to be displayed (as a thumbnail for example) on Facebook? Must mypage.html contain an <img> tag with a reference to this page? Is this mandatory?

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  • This seems like an very simple thing to test :) But I'd go with yes. If you delete that image, it will be deleted from FB.
    – Martijn
    Oct 20, 2014 at 8:26
  • @Martijn: That does not appear to be the question. Related: webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/70952/…
    – MrWhite
    Oct 20, 2014 at 9:09
  • Make a page, add the OG tag but no images, click share. Now you know if it works and have an answer to te question.
    – Martijn
    Oct 20, 2014 at 9:29

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Must mypage.html contain an tag with a reference to this page?

No, the image does not need to be visible on the page you are linking to. The OG image represents/summarises the resource, it does not need to be part of its contents.

In this related question the OP is advertantly linking to a (default) blank image on their WordPress blog (which doesn't appear on the page being linked to). Facebook is picking up the blank image.

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