Crawler Resolution Rules
Twitter Open Graph Fallback Explained: How X Parses Metadata
When X's crawler (Twitterbot) fetches a web page, it evaluates metadata tags in a strict 3-tier hierarchy to construct preview cards.
Key Technical Takeaways
- ✓Title Fallback: twitter:title → og:title → <title>
- ✓Description Fallback: twitter:description → og:description → <meta name="description">
- ✓Image Fallback: twitter:image → og:image → (No image rendered)
- ✓Card Type Exception: twitter:card has NO fallback and should be explicitly declared.
Implementation Example
<!-- Minimum Setup Leveraging Fallbacks -->
<meta property="og:title" content="Page Title" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Description" />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/banner.png" />
<!-- Declares card layout for X -->
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" />