1. How does Jetpack creates a front page description that Google search results can use if I don’t use a meta tags plugin? And is there a feature in Jetpack to change that?
Jetpack doesn’t include such feature, so you’ll need to continue to use the Add Meta Tags plugin.
2. How do I get Jetpack to take the image I have on my site of the water rocks feature and have it send that over?
Jetpack can’t take care of that for you, for 2 reasons:
- As long as you use the Add Meta Tags plugin, Jetpack won’t add any Open Graph meta tags to your site, and consequently doesn’t have any control over the look of your posts on Facebook.
- If you were to disable Add Meta Tags, Jetpack would start adding Open Graph meta tags to each one of your posts, but it wouldn’t add any Open Graph image tag about the Water Rocks picture. Jetpack only looks for images within the post content, and won’t use an image that comes from somewhere else on the site. That’s also how the Add Meta Tags plugin works: it doesn’t add any Open Graph Image Meta tag to your posts, because your posts don’t include any image.
As a result, Facebook gets to do whatever it wants: either respect the lack of Open Graph Image Meta tag and not display any image, or pick an image at random on the page (like the water rocks picture).
Is there a way to populate an image behind the scenes to use or to use the site’s main image?
Yes. You’ll need to add an Open Graph Image meta tag about the water rocks picture to all your posts, even if the post doesn’t include any image.
You can do this by installing this small plugin I just created for you:
https://i.wpne.ws/Y5uV
Just go to Plugins > Add New > Upload, upload and activate the plugin, and you should be all set for your future posts!
For the curious, here is the code:
function thetwelfthstep_default_og_image() {
$image_url = 'https://thetwelfthstep.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/For-New-Blog4-1024x315.jpg';
$output = "\n<!-- Default Open Graph Image tag for thetwelfthstep.com -->\n";
$output .= '<meta property="og:image" content="' . esc_url( $image_url ) . '" />';
$output .= "\n\n";
echo $output;
}
add_action( 'wp_head', 'thetwelfthstep_default_og_image' );
