Open Graph Metadata Checker

Check public web pages for declared Open Graph tags and canonical links. This open graph checker exports one row per URL, including fetch status, resolved image URL, declared image dimensions, missing fields, and validation warnings. Use it to catch broken social previews before publishing or to review a recurring editorial batch.

Who is this for?

SEO teams reviewing campaign landing pages, editors checking documentation releases, and developers validating metadata changes across multiple public URLs. Supply the exact pages you want inspected; this Actor does not discover pages or crawl a whole website.

Why use it?

A spreadsheet of URLs is hard to audit manually. Each run produces consistent typed rows, including an explicit HTTP/non-HTML/network failure status rather than treating a blocked page as missing metadata. Relative OG image and canonical links resolve against the fetched page URL. Duplicate declarations and missing core fields are called out separately.

What data is returned?

Field	Meaning
sourceUrl, finalUrl	Requested URL and last reached URL after redirects
httpStatus, fetchStatus	HTTP code and ok, http_error, non_html, or network_error
validationStatus	valid, warnings, or fetch_failed
ogTitle, ogDescription, ogImage, ogUrl, ogType	Declared Open Graph fields; URLs resolved against the final page
ogImageWidth, ogImageHeight	Positive integer dimensions declared in tags, not measured from image bytes
canonicalUrl	Resolved HTML canonical link, if present
missingFields, warnings	Missing OG fields and duplicate/invalid/fetch findings
checkedAt	UTC time of the check

Absent values are null. No image bytes are fetched: an ogImage value is a resolved URL, not proof that the image loads or meets social platform crop requirements.

Getting started

1. Add one or more public HTTP(S) pages under Public page URLs.
2. Set Maximum pages to cap the number of distinct URLs inspected.
3. Run the Actor and open the default dataset's Open Graph checks view.
4. Filter validationStatus=warnings, inspect missingFields, and fix the source HTML. Schedule another run to check the same URLs after deployment.

For example:

{"startUrls":[{"url":"https://github.com/"},{"url":"https://nodejs.org/en"}],"maxItems":2}

Input parameters

startUrls is required (1–10,000 entries). Each entry is a URL object in the Console or a URL string through the API. Duplicate exact URLs are checked once in input order. maxItems defaults to 10 and is capped at 10,000. Private/local targets and credential-bearing URLs are rejected. A single blocked page produces a status row so the rest of the batch can proceed.

Example output

A local run against https://nodejs.org/en returned an ok fetch, title Node.js — Run JavaScript Everywhere, and missingFields containing og:url and og:type. Actual metadata can change on the source site; a status of warnings means the page was fetched but one or more declared fields failed the validation checks.

Validation rules

The core fields checked are og:title, og:description, og:image, og:url, and og:type. Empty tags count as missing. The first value wins when a field is repeated; duplicates add a warning. Relative image, OG URL and canonical values resolve to absolute HTTP(S) URLs. Canonical is exported independently and is not a substitute for a missing og:url.

How much does it cost to check Open Graph metadata on web pages?

The Actor charges a $0.001 one-time start event and a per-page item event for successfully parsed HTML pages. At the BRONZE spend tier an item is $0.00248: one successful page costs an estimated $0.00348, five cost $0.0134, and 25 cost $0.063. FREE is $0.002852/item; SILVER $0.0019344/item; GOLD, PLATINUM and DIAMOND $0.001488/item. Spend tiers depend on your total qualifying monthly Store spend, not how many pages you submit here. A failed HTTP fetch still produces a status row but has no item charge. The active Apify Console pricing panel is authoritative. Costs and payouts are estimates and can be affected by refunds, fraud, disputes, taxes, corrections and clawbacks.

Integrations and repeat checks

Schedule the same URL list after each content deployment. Export the default dataset to CSV for editorial review, or use the Apify API or Make/Zapier to compare missingFields between runs keyed by sourceUrl. This Actor emits point-in-time checks; it does not retain prior values, send alerts, or monitor sites between scheduled runs.

Output automation tips

For a recurring editorial review, keep the same URL list in a scheduled Task and compare successive datasets by sourceUrl. Treat a fetch_failed row as an access diagnostic, not an OG regression. A page can declare an image URL whose content is unavailable; this checker deliberately does not verify image bytes or Facebook/LinkedIn cache state.

Run through the API

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~open-graph-metadata-validator/runs?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"startUrls":[{"url":"https://github.com/"}],"maxItems":1}'

JavaScript:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/open-graph-metadata-validator').call({
  startUrls: [{ url: 'https://github.com/' }], maxItems: 1,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient
import os
client = ApifyClient(os.environ['APIFY_TOKEN'])
run = client.actor('automation-lab/open-graph-metadata-validator').call(
    run_input={'startUrls': [{'url': 'https://github.com/'}], 'maxItems': 1})
print(client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items)

Use with MCP

Expose this Actor to Claude Code through Apify MCP:

claude mcp add --transport http apify \
  'https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/open-graph-metadata-validator'

Claude Desktop, Cursor, and VS Code MCP clients can use an HTTP server configuration like this (supply Apify authentication through your client):

{"mcpServers":{"apify":{"url":"https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/open-graph-metadata-validator"}}}

Example prompts: “Check the Open Graph title and image on github.com and list any missing tags.” “Compare the missing OG fields on the Node.js documentation and GitHub Docs homepages.”

Legality and responsible use

Only anonymously accessible public HTML pages are supported. Some domains return 403, rate-limit automated requests, or render metadata in JavaScript after navigation; these return a fetch status or missing fields, not a guaranteed platform preview. HTML bodies over 2 MB are rejected. Redirects are capped at five; request timeouts are bounded. Respect the target's terms, robots policies, and rate limits. Do not use this Actor to probe private networks or process URLs with credentials.

FAQ and troubleshooting

Why is the title missing? Inspect the original HTML response for a nonempty <meta property="og:title" content="...">. An ordinary <title> is not silently substituted.

Why is a page marked fetch_failed? Inspect httpStatus, fetchStatus and warnings. A site may block anonymous HTTP or serve a non-HTML response. Retry after confirming the URL is publicly accessible; do not interpret a blocked response as missing OG tags.

Data handling

The Actor reads only the supplied public URLs and writes the parsed metadata and request status to the run's default dataset. It does not request credentials or use an external AI provider. Apify storage retention follows your account settings; delete runs and datasets using the Console or API when no longer needed. Avoid submitting confidential URL paths, query tokens, or personal data in page addresses.

Related tools

For Twitter-specific card fields, see Twitter Card Metadata Validator. For sitemap syntax and location checks, see XML Sitemap Validator. Neither substitutes for the page-level Open Graph output here.