What does og:url identify in Open Graph metadata?

Definition: og:url is the Open Graph property for an object's canonical URL. The Open Graph protocol specification says this URL is used as the object's permanent ID in the graph.

Key facts

• The Open Graph protocol lists og:title, og:type, og:image and og:url as the four required properties for every page.
• The specification defines og:url as the canonical URL of the object used as its permanent ID in the graph, and gives an IMDb URL as its example.
• The specification's URL type accepts valid URLs that use the http:// or https:// protocols.
• The protocol places its additional metadata in meta tags in the page's head element.
• RFC 3986 defines a URI as a sequence of characters that identifies an abstract or physical resource.
• Google's canonical URL documentation describes canonicalization for duplicate or very similar pages in Google Search.

What does og:url identify?

Open Graph models a web page as a graph object. Its specification says that basic metadata turns web pages into graph objects and that the metadata is added with meta tags in the page's head. Within that model, og:url supplies the URL that identifies the object in the graph. The word “permanent” describes the identifier's role in that graph: the value is the object's declared canonical address for Open Graph consumers.

The specification shows the property alongside the other required properties:

<html prefix="og: https://ogp.me/ns#">
<head>
<title>The Rock (1996)</title>
<meta property="og:title" content="The Rock" />
<meta property="og:type" content="video.movie" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117500/" />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://ia.media-imdb.com/images/rock.jpg" />
...
</head>
...
</html>

RFC 3986 gives the relevant URI context. It defines a URI as an identifier for a resource, while also stating that its generic syntax does not require a URI to keep identifying the same resource over time. Open Graph assigns og:url a permanent-ID role within its graph model; RFC 3986 describes the general identifier syntax rather than a statement about a site's future URL policy.

Is og:url the same as a search canonical URL?

The documentation assigns the two fields different roles. Open Graph uses og:url for the object's graph identity. Google's Search documentation describes a canonical URL for duplicate or very similar pages and lists redirects, rel="canonical" link annotations and sitemap inclusion as canonicalization methods. It calls redirects and rel="canonical" strong signals, while sitemap inclusion is a weak signal.

Google defines a rel="canonical" link element as an element in the HTML head that indicates another page is representative of the content on the page. Its example is:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/dresses/green-dresses" />

That Search guidance also says that consistent internal links to the canonical URL help Google understand the site's preference. It describes a Search selection process, whereas the Open Graph specification defines the meaning of og:url inside the Open Graph object model.

How should a website publish and check it?

Put an og:url declaration in the page's metadata and set its content value to the URL that represents the object in the Open Graph graph. The protocol's URL definition accepts http:// and https:// URLs. RFC 3986 describes a URI as a sequence with generic components named scheme, authority, path, query and fragment, so those components are part of the URL string's syntax.

To check a page, inspect its HTML source and find the meta element whose property is og:url. Compare its value with the intended object URL, then inspect any rel="canonical" link separately because Google's documentation treats that link as a Search canonicalization method. Google also recommends specifying canonical URL information in the HTML source when using its canonicalization methods.

Related terms

• Canonical URL
• Structured data
• JSON-LD
• WebPage structured data

FAQ

Does og:url tell Google which URL to show in Search?

The Open Graph specification assigns og:url a graph identity role. Google's documented Search canonicalization methods are redirects, rel="canonical" link annotations and sitemap inclusion.

Should you use an HTTP or HTTPS value?

You can use a valid URL with either the http:// or https:// protocol because both are included in the Open Graph URL type.

Where should you place the property?

Place the meta element in the page's head, alongside the other Open Graph properties.

Sources

1. Open Graph protocol, "The Open Graph protocol", undated
2. IETF, "RFC 3986: Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", January 2005
3. Google Search Central, "How to specify a canonical URL with rel="canonical" and other methods", 10 July 2026

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