thedaviddias / og-url-match
Use when auditing Open Graph tags or investigating why social share counts appear low. Applies to any page with both canonical-url and og:url tags.
OG URL Match
When og:url doesn't match the canonical URL, social platforms track share counts separately for each URL variant—published share counts get split across multiple URLs and appear lower than they actually are.
Quick Reference
- og:url must exactly match the <link rel='canonical-url'> URL
- Use absolute HTTPS URLs for both og:url and canonical-url
- Mismatched URLs cause social platforms to aggregate share counts on the wrong URL
- og:url should be the clean canonical URL without tracking parameters
Check
Compare the og:url meta tag value with the <link rel='canonical'> href value. Both must be identical absolute HTTPS URLs. Flag any page where they differ, either in protocol, domain, path, or query string.
Fix
Set og:url to exactly the same absolute HTTPS URL as the canonical tag. Remove any UTM parameters, session IDs, or tracking tokens from og:url. If no canonical tag exists, add one and set og:url to match it.
Explain
Social platforms use og:url as the canonical identifier for aggregating share counts and comments. If og:url differs from the canonical tag, shares on the page URL and shares of the og:url accumulate separately, making your content appear less popular than it is and creating attribution confusion.
Code Review
Compare the value of <meta property='og:url' content='...'> with the value of <link rel='canonical' href='...'>. They must be identical character-for-character. Check for: different protocols (http vs https), www vs non-www mismatch, query string differences, trailing slash inconsistencies. Flag any page where the two values differ.
For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance,
see references/rule.md.
Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/rules/seo/og-url-match