Twitter Cards For WordPress

In this article we will talk about what Twitter Cards are, why you should implement them, and how to use Twitter Cards For WordPress.

What are Twitter Cards?

Twitter cards make it possible for you to attach media experiences to Tweets that link to your content. Simply add a few lines of HTML to your webpages, and users who Tweet links to your content will have a “card” added to the Tweet that’s visible to all of their followers.

There are actually three different types of cards: summary, photo and player. The summary is the default card while the photo and player cards are specifically for images and videos. Here is an example of my Twitter Card:

More information about Twitter Cards can be found on Twitter’s website.

Why Should I Implement Twitter Cards For WordPress?

Twitter Cards could help to change Twitter from the text based social network it has been for years to one that will compete with the more visually appealing services like Facebook, Google+, Foursquare, Instagram, Path and Tumblr.

If you use Twitter For WordPress to help grow your social network, promote your blog or expand your reach about a product or service. Then twitter Cards can help you stand out.

If it also VERY easy to implement Twitter Card For WordPress

Twitter Cards For WordPress

In this example we will show you how to implement Twitter Cards For WordPress.

We will be using the Yoast SEO Plugin. If you do not have this installed, you really should. It is an excellent plugin for WordPress SEO, and a must have. Once installed, navigate to the plugin settings, and click on “Social.” Scroll down to the bottom to the section titled “Twitter” (Thank you, captain obvious)

It should look like this:

Tick the box “Add Twitter card meta data” and enter your Twitter user name, without the “@” symbol. This will add the following code to your WordPress header.php:

Note: You can also add these meta tags manually to your header.php. But since you should have the Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin installed already, this way is just easier.

Do not worry about adding a default image here. Once you register with Twitter, they will request a self hosted image, which will automatically populate in this meta tag. In my case, I added the same image I use for my Apple Touch Icons.

Which brings me to my next point. You will need to sign up for Twitter Cards, and the company will need to approve your submission. It is very important that you add these meta tags to your website FIRST. Reason being, Twitter will check if the tags are implemented properly.

You can sign up for Twitter Cards here. It’s a pretty simple process.

Once you have added the meta tags to your website, and Twitter approves your request. You will receive a notification email from Twitter. In my case, it took about 3-5 days.

I hope this article helped. If so, don’t forget to share it with your friends on Twitter, and leave a comment below.

Thanks!
–John