If you want to create your own images for social media and your blogs, check out these free services: I have no preferences here, so I’ve listed them in alphabetical order. Knowing your dimensions is all well and good, but what if you’re struggling to find some good images to begin with? Try these free resources: The free version of Yoast doesn’t display a preview of the image in your WordPress editor, but that doesn’t matter if you’ve followed the sizing guidelines above.īelow is a screenshot of the premium version of Yoast, which does display a preview: A view of the premium Yoast SEO plug-in for WordPress This will add an extra panel at the bottom of your WordPress editor.Īs well as its other search engine optimisation (SEO) features, the Yoast plug-in lets you nominate the image you want to associate with each blog post, so that social shares include that image with the link.
To do that, install the Yoast SEO plug-in on your WordPress website. If you use WordPress, you can include the right hero image whenever you post a blog link on social media. Including hero images when sharing links on social media. Take a look at this Buffer post for more on this. 1024×576 pixels), and things can get a little messy because of display adjustments that are based on the orientation of your device. 1080×1080 pixels.īut … both platforms support landscape images (e.g. Instagram and Facebook work well with square images, e.g. LinkedIn articles look good with a landscape cover image, but the cover image preview is presented on your profile page in square format, which means it’s best to keep the important information in a 630×630 square in the middle of the 1200×630 image ( see more).
I’ve covered how to check pixel sizes in macOS, Windows and on the web in How do I check image dimensions?ĭo you write a blog? Make your hero images 1200×630 pixels. Adding an image to your post in WordPress Once you’ve got the image you want, you can insert it at the top of your post or, if your blog theme supports it, set it as a ‘Featured Image’ for the post.
If you know how to use Photoshop, you can download this PSD original instead. Here’s what that looks like: Ideal sizes for a blog hero imageįeel free to save the image and use it for comparison with your own images. Hero image sizes and safe area dimensions.
You can make sure your social shares include an image by using the Yoast SEO plugin covered below.īut what about the hero image itself? How big should that be? When your blogs are shared on social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, it’s good for them to include the hero image, as that makes the content more appealing than a plain and boring link. I’ve got one of these at the top of this post, for example. If you write a blog, the most important image is the one that’s most often splashed across the top of the page – the so-called ‘hero’ image.