Branded Share Images,
Generated Automatically
A free WordPress plugin that builds the image people see when your posts are shared. Every link gets a 1200x630 card carrying its own headline and your logo, composed on the server and cached, with no per-post design work.
Apptimatic OG Image Overlay
Install it the same way as any other WordPress plugin. Free, GPL licensed, and no account or licence key required.
- 1Download the ZIP file - no need to unzip it.
- 2In WordPress go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
- 3Choose the ZIP, click Install Now, then Activate.
Requirements
- WordPress 5.0 or newer
- PHP 7.2+ with the GD extension
- A .ttf font file for sharp titles
- Works with or without an SEO plugin
The Image Is the Headline
In a crowded feed the card does the persuading long before anyone reads your title. A plain link, or a badly cropped photo, quietly costs you the click.
Every Link Looks Deliberate
Shares stop falling back to whatever image happened to be attached. Each post gets a branded card carrying its own headline.
Consistent BrandingNever Cropped Wrong
The card is composed at exactly 1200x630, the size Facebook and LinkedIn expect, so nothing important gets sliced off.
True DimensionsRendered Once, Cached
Images are generated with PHP GD and stored in uploads. A card is only rebuilt when the post or a setting actually changes.
No Runtime CostWhat Is Inside
The Problem, and the Fix
Most share cards fail in the same few ways. Each one has a specific answer in the plugin.
What goes wrong without it
- Posts without a featured image share as a bare link with no picture at all
- Featured images are the wrong shape, so networks crop faces and text out
- Meta tags claim 1200x630 while the actual file is a different size
- Two plugins each print an og:image tag and crawlers pick the wrong one
- Designing a share card by hand for every post is work nobody keeps up with
What the plugin does instead
- Builds a card for every single post automatically, featured image or not
- Scales and centre-crops the background to fill the exact canvas size
- Declares dimensions that match the file, plus secure_url, type and alt
- Hands the image to Yoast or Rank Math so only one tag is ever printed
- Puts the headline and your logo on the card with no per-post effort
Canvas, Background and Logo
Composed server-side with PHP GD at exactly the size social networks read, then cached as a static PNG.
Composition
- Fixed 1200x630 canvas, the standard Open Graph size
- Backgrounds are scaled to cover and centre-cropped, never squashed
- Transparency is preserved, so PNG logos keep clean edges
- Output is PNG for sharp text and flat brand colours
Layers You Control
- Choose one global background image, or each post's own featured image
- Set a fallback for posts that have no featured image
- Drop a logo or watermark anywhere with pixel-level X and Y control
- Optional darkening layer behind the title for photo backgrounds
Typography That Actually Fits
Headlines vary wildly in length. The renderer measures real glyph widths rather than guessing at characters.
Title Rendering
- Any .ttf or .otf font dropped into the plugin folder appears in a dropdown
- Adjustable point size with automatic shrink-to-fit for long headlines
- Line breaks are calculated from real font metrics, not character counts
- Text is centred using true advance width, so no font sits off-axis
- Falls back to a built-in font, with a warning, if no font file is present
Colour & Contrast
- WordPress colour picker for the title colour
- Translucent scrim keeps light text readable over busy photography
- Title display can be switched off entirely for pure image cards
- Every setting is part of the cache key, so changes take effect immediately
One Tag, Whatever Your Setup
Duplicate og:image tags are the classic reason a share preview shows the wrong picture. The plugin defers instead of fighting.
Yoast SEO & Rank Math
- Detects either plugin and lets it keep ownership of the tags
- Supplies the generated card through wpseo_opengraph_image
- Supplies it through rank_math/opengraph/facebook/image as well
- Twitter card images are filtered through the same handoff
- Exactly one og:image tag reaches the crawler, never two competing ones
Standalone Output
- With no SEO plugin present, the full tag set is printed directly
- og:image plus og:image:secure_url on HTTPS sites
- og:image:type, og:image:width and og:image:height that match the file
- og:image:alt carrying the post title for accessibility
- twitter:image so X renders the same card
See the Card Before You Save
A single settings page under Settings, split into General, Images and Typography, with the rendered card sitting beside the form.
Live Preview
- The card re-renders as you change any setting
- Uses your newest post title for a realistic result
- No saving required to see what a change does
- Clear on-screen message when a background is missing
Safe by Default
- Preview endpoint is behind an administrator capability check
- Every setting has an explicit sanitize callback
- Media library images are read from disk, not re-fetched over HTTP
- Remote image fetches carry an explicit timeout
Tidy Server
- Cards are cached per post and per settings hash
- A card is regenerated only when the post or a setting changes
- Throwaway preview renders are cleaned up automatically
- Warns you up front if the PHP GD extension is unavailable
Five Minutes, Once
Install and add a font
- Upload the ZIP through Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
- Activate it, then open Settings > OG Image Overlay
- Drop a .ttf font into the plugin's assets/fonts/ folder
- Pick that font from the Font File dropdown
Compose your card
- Choose a global background or per-post featured images
- Upload your logo and nudge its X and Y position
- Set the title colour, size and darkening layer
- Watch the live preview, save, and share a post to confirm
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:Do I need to design anything for each post?
No. You set the background, logo position and typography once. From then on every post gets a card built from its own title, with no per-post work. If a specific post has its own featured image and you have chosen that mode, it becomes the background automatically.
Q:Does it conflict with Yoast SEO or Rank Math?
No, and this is the part most plugins get wrong. When either is active it keeps ownership of the Open Graph tags, and the generated image is supplied through their own filters. Only one og:image tag is ever printed. When no SEO plugin is present, the plugin outputs the full tag set itself.
Q:Why do I have to upload a font file?
PHP GD needs an actual font file on disk to draw sharp text; there is no system font it can rely on across hosts. Download any .ttf from Google Fonts and drop it into the plugin's assets/fonts/ folder, then pick it from the dropdown. Bundling one would mean shipping a font whose licence may not suit your brand.
Q:Will this slow my site down?
No. A card is composed once and written to your uploads folder, then served as a plain static PNG. It is only rebuilt when the post is edited or you change a setting, so visitors and crawlers never trigger image generation.
Q:What if a post has no featured image?
You set a fallback image for exactly that case, so the post still shares with a proper branded card instead of a bare link. Alternatively, choose the global custom background mode and the featured image is not used at all.
Q:I was using RD OG Image Overlay. What happens to my settings?
They carry over. On first load the plugin copies the old settings into the new option keys automatically, so your background, logo, position and colour are preserved. Activate this plugin, confirm the settings screen looks right, then deactivate and delete the old one.
Want a Share Card Designed Around Your Brand?
The plugin is free to download and use. If you would rather we build the background, pick the typography and set it up on your site, that is a short job for our team.
Talk to Us+880 1787-882277 | hello@apptimatic.com