There are currently issues with sharing links on LinkedIn, as its sharing API is not fetching display images.
The issue was discovered just today by Search Engine Journal’s lead developer Vahan Petrosyan.
This issue appears to be affecting recently published content only. The issue does not occur when older content is shared.
Here’s an example of the error in action where you can see the difference between an older link and a new link shared in the main feed.
To confirm this is a widespread error we ran a number of links across a variety of sites through LinkedIn’s Post Inspector tool.
The tool allows users to submit a link to see how it will look in the LinkedIn feed when it gets shared.
Sure enough, every new URL we tested came back with no preview image.
Marketers should be aware this issue exists when sharing newly published content on LinkedIn.
The lack of a preview image has the potential to impact click-through rate. So if you’re not receiving as much traffic from LinkedIn as usual, this could be why.
To be absolutely sure of how your content will look on LinkedIn when it gets shared, you can use its Post Inspector tool here.
At this time we’re unsure if LinkedIn is aware of the issue, which appears to be affecting new content from all sites.
Given the severity of the issue, fixing it should be high priority for the company. Otherwise the LinkedIn feed will all be plain text before long.
This story will be updated when more information is available.
