Featured Image Size for Blogs and Google Discover: 1200px, 16:9 and og:image

The featured image at the top of a blog post does more work than it seems. It is the picture Google may show next to your article in Discover, the preview people see when your link is shared on Facebook, WhatsApp or LinkedIn, and often the largest element on the page, which affects how fast the page feels.

Each of those places has its own size rules. This guide sets out what Google and Facebook actually ask for, shows how to make a single featured image that satisfies them, and covers the settings that decide whether your large image is used at all.

The Short Answer

Make your featured image:

• 1200 × 675 pixels or larger, in a 16:9 shape. 1600 × 900 is a good choice for sharp results on high-resolution screens.
• A relevant photo or illustration, not your logo and not a picture full of text.
• Compressed, ideally to 60–200 KB for the version shown on the page.

Then make sure your page:

• has the max-image-preview:large robots setting,
• names the image in og:image and in your Article structured data,
• gives the image meaningful alt text.

The rest of this article explains why.

What Google Discover Asks For

Discover is the feed of articles on the Google app and on Android home screens. It can send a lot of traffic, and articles with large images get noticeably more attention than those with small thumbnails. Google's Discover documentation, last updated in March 2026, recommends large images that are:

• "At least 1200 px wide"
• "High resolution of more than 300,000 total pixels"
• "16x9 aspect ratio"
• "Enabled by the max-image-preview:large setting, or by using AMP"

Google adds that it "tries to automatically crop the image for use in Discover", and asks publishers to make sure images "are well-cropped and positioned for landscape usage".

It also says what to avoid: "Avoid using generic images (for example, your site logo) in the schema.org markup or og:image meta tag" and "avoid using text-heavy images".

Some quick maths shows how easy the pixel rule is to meet. A 1200 × 675 image is 810,000 pixels, well above 300,000. The width rule is the one that matters: a 1000-pixel-wide image fails it no matter how good it looks.

Meeting these specifications does not guarantee your article appears in Discover. Google chooses content based on interest and quality. But without a qualifying image, your article can only appear with a small thumbnail, which is far less likely to be tapped.

Turn On Large Image Previews

This is the step most blogs miss. Unless you are using AMP, Google will only show a large preview of your image if your page allows it. Add this to the <head> of your pages:

<meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:large">

According to Google's robots meta tag documentation, large means "a larger image preview, up to the width of the viewport, may be shown". Without the setting, Google may show only a default-size preview.

If you already have a robots meta tag, add the rule to it rather than creating a second tag, for example content="index, follow, max-image-preview:large". Many SEO plugins for WordPress add this setting automatically; check your page source to confirm it is there.

Tell Google Which Image to Use

A post may contain many images. Point search engines and social networks to the one that represents the article:

<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/my-post-1600x900.jpg">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1600">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="900">
<meta property="og:image:alt" content="Person comparing two printed photos side by side">

And in your Article structured data:

"image": [
  "https://example.com/images/my-post-1x1.jpg",
  "https://example.com/images/my-post-4x3.jpg",
  "https://example.com/images/my-post-16x9.jpg"
]

Google's Article structured data guidelines recommend "multiple high-resolution images (minimum of 50K pixels when multiplying width and height) with the following aspect ratios: 16x9, 4x3, and 1x1", and images "relevant to the article, rather than logos or captions". Providing the three shapes lets Google pick the best crop for each place it shows your article. If you can only provide one, make it the 16:9 version.

Use absolute URLs (starting with https://), make sure the image is not blocked by robots.txt, and use a format Google Images supports. According to Google's image guidelines, that means BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG or AVIF.

What Facebook, WhatsApp and LinkedIn Use

When someone shares your link, the app reads your og:image tag to build the preview card. Facebook's image guidelines for link shares say:

• "Use images that are at least 1200 x 630 pixels for the best display on high resolution devices."
• At least 600 × 315 for the larger link-preview style; smaller images still show, but much smaller.
• The minimum allowed size is 200 × 200 pixels, and the file "must not exceed 8 MB".
• Keep the image "as close to 1.91:1 aspect ratio as possible to display the full image in Feed without any cropping".

So Facebook prefers a slightly wider shape (1.91:1) than Discover's 16:9 (1.78:1). Other apps, including WhatsApp and LinkedIn, also read og:image, and each crops it a little differently. Some show a square thumbnail.

For the shared image itself, JPG is the safest format. WebP is widely supported now, but some older apps and preview services still handle JPG and PNG more reliably.

One Image That Works Everywhere

Rather than designing a separate picture for every platform, design one 16:9 image with a safe centre:

1. Work on a 1600 × 900 canvas (or 1200 × 675).
2. Keep the main subject, such as a face, product or key object, inside the central square of the image, about 900 × 900 in the middle of a 1600 × 900 canvas.
3. Leave some breathing room at the top and bottom edges, because a 1.91:1 crop trims a little there.
4. If you add a short title, keep it large, centred and short. Remember Google's advice against text-heavy images.

With this layout:

• Discover and Google Search get a full 16:9 landscape image.
• Facebook crops a thin strip from the top and bottom for 1.91:1, and nothing important is lost.
• Square thumbnails in apps and in the 1:1 structured data image show the central square, which contains your subject.

To produce the 4:3 and 1:1 versions for structured data, crop from the same master with the crop tool, which has 16:9, 4:3 and 1:1 presets, then size each one with the resize tool.

Keep the File Small

A large featured image does not have to make the page heavy. It is often the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) element, the biggest thing visible when the page loads, so its download time directly affects your Core Web Vitals.

• Compress it. A 1600 × 900 photo saved as WebP at quality 75–80 is typically 80–200 KB; as JPG at quality 80, a little more. Use the image compressor and compare the preview before saving.
• Serve WebP on the page. Convert with JPG to WebP, and keep a JPG copy for og:image.
• Give phones a smaller file. Use srcset so a phone downloads an 800-pixel version while a large monitor gets the 1600-pixel one.
• Do not lazy-load the featured image. It is at the top of the page; lazy loading delays it. Load it normally, and consider fetchpriority="high".
• Set width and height so the layout does not jump while the image loads.

For example:

<img src="/images/my-post-1600x900.webp"
     srcset="/images/my-post-800x450.webp 800w,
             /images/my-post-1200x675.webp 1200w,
             /images/my-post-1600x900.webp 1600w"
     sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"
     width="1600" height="900"
     alt="Person comparing two printed photos side by side"
     fetchpriority="high">

Our guide on optimizing images for SEO covers file names, alt text and image sitemaps in more depth, and image optimization for websites explains responsive images and caching.

Choosing a Good Featured Image

Size rules get your image accepted; the picture itself decides whether people click.

• Make it relevant. Show the actual subject of the article: the product, the place, the result of the tutorial.
• Use your own images where you can. Original photos and screenshots stand out from stock images that appear on hundreds of other sites.
• Avoid tiny text. Thumbnails in feeds can be small. If the image only makes sense with its text, it will not work at thumbnail size.
• Check the licence. Use images you own, created yourself, or have a licence for. Our list of free stock image websites and their licences explains what each allows.
• Write proper alt text. Describe what the image shows in a short sentence. Google calls alt text "the most important attribute" for image metadata.

Checking That It Works

1. View your page source and confirm max-image-preview:large, og:image and the structured data image are present, with full https:// URLs.
2. Open the image URL directly in a browser to make sure it loads and is the size you expect.
3. Test your structured data with Google's Rich Results Test.
4. Preview a share by pasting your link into Facebook's Sharing Debugger or into a private chat, and check the card.
5. Watch Search Console. If your site gets Discover traffic, the Discover performance report shows which articles appear there.

If a social app shows an old image after you changed it, the app has cached the previous version. Facebook's Sharing Debugger has a "Scrape Again" button; other apps update on their own after a while.

Frequently Asked Questions

What image size does Google Discover need?

Google's Discover documentation asks for large images that are at least 1200 pixels wide, have more than 300,000 total pixels and a 16:9 aspect ratio, and are enabled with the max-image-preview:large robots setting or by using AMP. A 1200 x 675 or 1600 x 900 image meets all of these.

What is the best og:image size?

Facebook recommends at least 1200 x 630 pixels, close to a 1.91:1 ratio, with a file under 8 MB. A 16:9 image such as 1200 x 675 also works well; it is cropped slightly at the top and bottom, so keep the subject in the centre.

Should I use my logo as the featured image?

No. Google specifically advises against using a generic image such as your site logo, or a text-heavy image, in the og:image tag or schema markup. Use a relevant photo or illustration that represents the article.

Will a 1200 pixel image slow down my page?

Not if it is compressed well. A 1200 x 675 photo saved as WebP at quality 75 to 80 is often 60 to 150 KB. Serve smaller versions to phones with srcset, and keep the 1200 px file for the og:image and structured data.