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No Image when sharing on Facebook

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10 Jun 2009, 12:20 AM
#1
whywaitweb avatar

whywaitweb

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No Image when sharing on Facebook

Hi.. I searched the forum and couldn't find an answer.

I'm running:
Zen Cart 1.3.8
Database Patch Level: 1.3.8
I've installed
ImageHandler2
RSS feeds
Google Base Feeder
Simple SEO URL (which I thought might fix my issue.. but no)
Module Manager
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When I share a link on facebook, no images show up for a thumbnail. Am I missing something obvious? Thinking that it has to do with ImageHandler2, but I tried sticking a plain old image in the description (using the img tag) and facebook can't find that one either. I only started using Facebook and the only thing I installed since then in an attempt to resolve this wa the Simple SEO URL, which now that I think about it probably wouldn't have helped anyway.

My store is

http://sewcrazydoglady.com/shop

Suggestions?

Thank you!

3 Jul 2009, 2:58 PM
#2
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

Hey there, I'm using ZC 1.3.8a without ImageHandler2 and am having the same problem. Regardless of whether I link to the main page, or a specific product, Facebook can not seem to find ANY images to use as a thumbnail. This is a real bummer since Facebook is arguably the biggest thing since sliced bread.

Would LOVE to get those images showing, but don't have a clue as to what the issue could be. Any expert insight into this matter would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks,
-Dan

4 Jul 2009, 7:08 PM
#3
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

sigh.. I guess we are the two "odd men out".

6 Jul 2009, 3:37 PM
#4
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

We can't be the only ones interested in this issue. Facebook is too huge for more zenners not to care... somebody, anybody... Bueller?

:eek:

7 Jul 2009, 4:52 PM
#5
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

OK, I've made some progress on this issue, but I still haven't figured everything out. Here's what I know so far...

There is a bug and a fix described in the following thread that is pretty key, and for far greater reasons than this issue. It is in regards to Googlebot and other search engine bots being able to index your store's homepage:

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84387

So once that was done, I went to try and share my store (http://www.villageproduce.com/Store/) and Facebook found 10 thumbnails, but it had all the links wrong. My store is clearly not in the root directory, but rather in a "/Store" sub-directory, but Facebook somehow ignored the sub-directory when attempting to link to the images... so this is still a point of confusion.

Also, I discovered that you can include links to images that are not even displayed on a webpage by adding the following into the <head> of a page:

<link rel="image_src" href="http://www.MYSITE.com/SOMETHING.jpg" />

I was able to get this to work successfully on a test page outside of my store, and Facebook grabbed the image no problem, but I tried to employ this tactic by adding such a line into includes/templates/CUSTOM/common/html_header.php and it did not work... another unsolved mystery at this point.

If any of the experts here can shed some light on the above mysteries in red, that would be a great help.

Regards,
-Dan

7 Jul 2009, 5:26 PM
#6
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

Made another discovery...

If I try to share on FB using http://www.villageproduce.com/Store/ as the link, no thumbnail is available.

BUT, as soon as I share and leave off the trailing "/" -- http://www.villageproduce.com/Store -- the image I linked to in the <head></head> of my document pops up just fine. Also, the meta-description comes up correctly (as it was recently changed).

No idea why the trailing "/" wreaks so much havoc and pain (I was always led to believe it's better to include them whenever possible), somehow they manage to trip up Facebook when ZC is involved. Hope some of this info is useful to other users.

Peas,
-Dan

7 Jul 2009, 6:25 PM
#7
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

oh... thank you for all your hard work.. I"m going to follow that link and make any changes necessary.. I also do not have my store in the root directory so we'll see what happens

24 Jul 2009, 12:53 AM
#8
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

Well, I did the first bit.. with the no index no follow and at least Facebook isn't trying like mad to FIND a thumnail. Now it tells me it has 6 thumbnails but they are all blank. meh

16 Sep 2009, 4:48 PM
#9
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

Has anyone figured this problem out yet?

18 Sep 2009, 1:34 AM
#10
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

nope.. the only thing I can figure is some mod is not playing nicely and the fact that the shop is in a subdirectory might be part of the problem too.. no clue.

18 Sep 2009, 1:44 AM
#11
kim avatar

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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

Has anyone asked facebook why they can't find your images?

23 Nov 2009, 1:08 PM
#12
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

I'm struggling with this too. Also I doubt facebook would even reply if they were asked.

If I link a product page directly I get no thumbnails at all. Also the only thumbnails that show up when linked to the main page are those that I have inserted into the main page file via the admin and html. No other images show!

Found this on the help page but now sure where/how to execute it and what it will do?

**> I don’t have a preview for my link.

If a preview is not displaying correctly for your URL, you may need to...
If a preview is not displaying correctly for your URL, you may need to contact the webmaster of the site you are trying to share to check whether it meets Facebook's requirements.

In order to generate a Share preview successfully, a website must include the following three meta tags in its source HTML:

<meta name="title" content="Article headline here" /> <meta name="description" content="Article summary here" /> <link rel="image_src" href="http://www.example.com" />

Please make sure that this site includes these tags in the section of its HTML. Also, note that these tags are case-sensitive and URLs must be absolute. For more information, click the "How do I make sure the Share Preview works?" link at the bottom of http://www.facebook.com/share_partners.php.**

23 Nov 2009, 9:43 PM
#13
stuff4toys avatar

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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

whywaitweb:

Hi..

When I share a link on facebook, no images show up for a thumbnail. Am I missing something obvious?
http://sewcrazydoglady.com/shop

Suggestions?

Thank you!
I have hound that FaceBook sees the pixel_trans.gif first. all the other images should be there if you click the right arrow nest to the pictures.

My store is NOT in a subfolder like your /shop folder. Don't know if htis helps, but a new face in the thread.

JOhn ><>

23 Nov 2009, 9:47 PM
#14
stuff4toys avatar

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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

I tried linking to your site and see that Facebook is waiting forever for the images to show up.

Try the Clear Image Cache then un-install and re-install option in IH2 from your admin.

24 Nov 2009, 3:03 PM
#15
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

Stuff4Toys:

I have hound that FaceBook sees the pixel_trans.gif first. all the other images should be there if you click the right arrow nest to the pictures.

My store is NOT in a subfolder like your /shop folder. Don't know if htis helps, but a new face in the thread.

JOhn ><>
How could this affect it?

24 Nov 2009, 3:47 PM
#16
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stuff4toys

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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

Stuff4Toys:

I tried linking to your site and see that Facebook is waiting forever for the images to show up.

Try the Clear Image Cache then un-install and re-install option in IH2 from your admin.
Did you try this?

24 Nov 2009, 3:49 PM
#17
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

I think i may need a step by step guide for that! :P

25 Nov 2009, 3:32 PM
#18
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

Can anybody tell me which file this code is meant to go in?

In order to generate a Share preview successfully, a website must include the following three meta tags in its source HTML:

<meta name="title" content="Article headline here" /> <meta name="description" content="Article summary here" /> <link rel="image_src" href="http://www.example.com" />
23 Jan 2010, 1:15 PM
#19
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

I'm struggling with this too... Any solution to the meta tag-question?

The only image tag on my product page is this: <meta http-equiv="imagetoolbar" content="no" />

And that can't be good, if Facebook needs a <link rel="image_src" href="http://www.example.com" /> ?

11 Feb 2010, 6:46 PM
#20
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Re: No Image when sharing on Facebook

Well I've been struggling with this issue as well but someone gently suggested to me that I move my shop to root and it did indeed fix this issue. I am so happy and so grateful!