To answer the question, “What is a Twitter Card Validator?” you first need to know what a Twitter Card is.
In this blog, we’re going to cover Twitter Cards, Twitter Card Validators, and how to use them to make the most of your Twitter marketing.
If you’re using Twitter for business, this post is a must-read!
What is a Twitter Card?
Twitter Cards are the design that make links in Tweets more appealing and easier to understand.
If you’ve ever seen a link shared on Twitter and noticed that the Tweet shared a preview of the photo, URL, or video like this…
Or like this…
Then you’ve seen a Twitter Card.
The trick here is that Twitter does not automatically create these cards upon seeing a URL in a tweet.
You have to input code on your website so that when someone shares a link from your website on Twitter, the URL appears in the form of a Twitter Card.
These are the different types of Twitter Cards:
- Twitter Summary Card
- Twitter Summary Card with large image
- Twitter App Card
- Twitter Player Card
A Summary Card includes a title, description, and thumbnail.
A Summary Card with a large image includes everything the regular summary card does with, surprise surprise, a large image.
The App Card includes a direct link to a mobile app to download.
And the Player Card can show video, audio, and other media.
How to Set Up Twitter Cards
Twitter claims it takes less than 15 minutes to install the code necessary to display your website links as Twitter Cards.
Let’s see if it’s true!
- Determine which Twitter Card type you want to use.
- Add the corresponding meta tags for that Card type to your website.
Here are the pieces of code you’ll need to install on your website for each Twitter Card type.
Add <meta name=”twitter:card” content=”summary”></meta> to the header of your webpage.
Where it says, “summary” either keep it as summary if that’s the card type you want, or change it to “summary_large_image”, “app”, or “player” for the other card types.
Then, to credit your Twitter account, you’ll want to input your username in the code:
<meta name=”twitter:site” content=”@username” />
Then, insert a title of your webpage that is 70 characters or less by using this code:
<meta name=”twitter:title” content=”Title of your webpage” />
Then, include a description that is 200 characters or less to summarize what this page is about:
<meta name=”twitter:description” content=”Description” />
Then, include the image URL you want to appear on the card:
<meta name=”twitter:image” content=”image URL” />
Make sure the image is less than 5MB in size and has an aspect ratio of 1:1, a dimension of 144×144, and a pixel size of no more than 4096×4096.
For Summary Cards with a large image, you can use all of the above meta tags except you’ll need to change the card type.
<meta name=”twitter:card” content=”summary_large_image”>
And then you can add your website.
<meta name=”twitter:site” content=”@yourwebsite”>
Large images still have to be less than 5MB and have a maximum of 4096×4096 pixels, but can have an aspect ratio of 2:1 with minimum dimensions of 300×157.
Here are the meta tags for an App Card.
<meta name=”twitter:card” content=”app”>
<meta name=”twitter:site” content=”@yourwebsite”>
<meta name=”twitter:description” content=”your description”>
If your app is available to download in different countries outside of the U.S., add the following meta tag as well to define which country.
<meta name=”twitter:app:country” content=”your country like US”>
Then, include these 3 codes of text to define the app name, ID, and application URL in the App store.
<meta name=”twitter:app:name:iphone” content=”your iphone app name”>
<meta name=”twitter:app:id:iphone” content=”your iphone app ID”>
<meta name=”twitter:app:url:iphone” content=”your iphone app URL”>
These are additional meta tags you can add if your app is iPad-compatible.
<meta name=”twitter:app:name:ipad” content=”your ipad app name”>
<meta name=”twitter:app:id:ipad” content=”your ipad app ID”>
<meta name=”twitter:app:url:ipad” content=”your ipad app URL”>
The meta tags you use for your app available in the Google Play store are close to the same.
<meta name=”twitter:app:name:googleplay” content=”your googleplay app name”>
<meta name=”twitter:app:id:googleplay” content=”your googleplay app ID”>
<meta name=”twitter:app:url:googleplay” content=”your Google Play app URL”>
The photo uploaded to the App Store or Google Play must be less than 1 MB in size.
Here are the codes you can paste into your website and edit for Player Cards.
<meta name=”twitter:card” content=”player” />
<meta name=”twitter:site” content=”@username” />
<meta name=”twitter:title” content=”Title of your video” />
<meta name=”twitter:description” content=”Description.” />
<meta name=”twitter:image” content=”Image URL” />
<meta name=”twitter:player” content=”https://ift.tt/rnfhYgx; />
<meta name=”twitter:player:width” content=”Width” />
<meta name=”twitter:player:height” content=”Height” />
What is a Twitter Card Validator?
A Twitter Card Validator is a tool that checks your Twitter Cards to make sure they’re validated and working correctly.
After you’ve put in all this hard work installing codes on your website, make sure they’re functioning correctly by running your Card URL through the Twitter Card Validator.
Why Are Twitter Cards Important?
Twitter Cards are important for small businesses because they do 2 key things for you:
- Make your tweets more likely to get favorited and retweeted.
- Make your website more accessible thus resulting in more traffic from Twitter.
Setting your website up to produce Twitter Cards will make your Tweets that much more impactful.
Now if you want more tips on how to increase your Twitter engagement, read this post next.
How Do I Fix My Card On Twitter?
Make sure none of the meta tags are broken and that they provide Twitter with all the information needed to produce a Twitter Card.
Twitter’s Developer platform also has a troubleshooting guide linked there to help you fix your card on Twitter.
And if you want to maximize your marketing on this platform, check out our Twitter marketing services today!
Other Twitter Marketing Resources
The post What is a Twitter Card Validator & How to Use One appeared first on Digital Marketing Blog.
0 Commentaires