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Why are my images not showing in posts on my WordPress site?
If your images are not showing up in your posts on your WordPress site, the most common cause why this is happening is usually due to an incompatible plugin. Some other possible causes why your WordPress images are not showing in your posts are:
- Browser and cache issue.
- Your site is not up-to-date.
- Theme issues.
- Adblock extensions.
- Elements/broken links.
- Other potential reasons and quick fixes.
In this post, I am going to go over each of the possible reasons why your images are not showing up in your WordPress posts as well as their possible quick fixes.
Please note that your issue may exceed these possible reasons and quick fixes. If that’s the case, then I would consult a WordPress developer or expert for further help.
Causes and quick fixes for images not showing in posts on WordPress.
Before you try any of the quick fixes below, always make a copy of your website, this way if you mess up, you can restore everything you had as before and simply try again.
Next, you may be able to save yourself quite a bit of time by installing this plugin, ”Health Check & Troubleshooting Plugin”. This will help you with diagnosing and debugging before having to go through the other steps below.
Let’s go over each of the possible reasons one by one on why your images are not showing in your WordPress posts along with their possible quick fixes.
Browser and cache issue.
Clear your browser’s cache, then check on another browser or a different tab of the same browser.
Then, try accessing the image link directly in the browser in a new tab to see if it opens.
This could also be a WordPress cache issue. So again, clear your cache (this time in the dashboard on your WordPress site). Then refresh your site and check it on a different tab of the same browser.
Your site is not up-to-date.
Check to make sure all your themes and plugins are up-to-date. Check to see that you’re even running the latest version of WordPress.
Theme.
Even if your theme is up to date, you could have conflict. Simple deactivate the theme, and activate the default WordPress theme (by the way, make sure, it too is up-to-date.) Check your site in a new tab on your browser.
If you see the image in the post, you probably have a theme issue. Contact the theme’s developer or their support for further instructions.
Plugins.
Plugins can be a little trickier since most usually have one or two themes, but numerous plugins, too many most times. This is more or less a process of elimination.
Start by deactivating all your plugins. If you have the “Lazy Load” plugin, this can sometimes cause images not showing up in posts, ironically.
Then one by one reactivate each one, and again, refresh the page, then check your site in a new tab on your browser.
Do this until you either find the conflict or until all your plugins are reactivated.
Adblock extensions.
Disable any AdBlock extensions you have. Then refresh and check. Has the image appeared?
Elements/broken links.
Try inspecting the elements on the image. If it’s loaded or if the image has a broken link, that could be the issue and all you would have to do is fix the image link.
Other potential reasons and quick fixes.
1. If you’re uploading the image to your media without inserting it within a post, then it’s just available in the media archive for future use. So you need to complete the insertion process.
a. Your internet connection could also be slow or choppy, not allowing you to complete the insertion.
b. Additionally, if you’re setting up a “Featured Image” for a post, it’s up to your theme’s code whether it will show up in a single view, or not. It’s often used in the archive “view thumbnail” or your “homepage grid”, so keep that in mind as well.
c. In order to insert a Media Image within your post, you should add it from your “Add Media” button in your “Add Post” back-end page.
d. In case it’s still not showing, test if it’s visible for desktop or mobile views. Images may be hidden in your theme for smaller devices.
2. As a last resort, the image may be available with the code, but hidden with CSS from your theme, again unlikely, but it isn’t impossible if you’re using a very clean theme that’s only supposed to display plain content. See below for another CSS tip.
If you are using Jetpack. You might have the “Featured Images” disabled.
Go to Jetpack’s settings and enable “Featured Image”.
You may also need to uncheck the “Activate lazy loading for images” feature in Jetpack as well to see if that’s the issue.
3. Gallery Issues. If you turn on the “Gallery” option in the Format Panel by mistake, this may be the cause as well. So simply, change the format back to Standard and the “Featured Images” may appear again.
It’s in the Format Panel you’ll find it organized as follows:
Format
Standard
Video
Audio
Quote
Gallery
Link
4. Try to upload your image to the Media Library and then copy the image path to your post. There may be some issues again, with the browser cache, it also happens sometimes.
If you follow the above steps and still find the same problem, Try to open a post link in another browser. You may find it there.
5. If the image is there but not showing up in your post or posts, and you are familiar with CSS as well as know how to make changes, then try this:
Check the source code. If you view the source and you can see it, then inspect the image in your browser. You should see if it’s hidden with CSS and set to display:none;
For example, if you see this:
.single .entry-content img { display: none; }
You will need to override that style with your own.
.single .entry-content img { display: block; }
What is the correct WordPress featured image size?
It’s generally thought that 1200 x 628 pixels sized feature images work best with WordPress and are a good starting point.
These dimensions tend to work well across most WordPress themes, post and page layouts. They also look good when shared on social media, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.
WordPress images not showing in posts, summary.
Although the above reasons for your WordPress images not showing up in posts when you try to publish them are not, of course, all the possible reasons. But I would say that at least 90% to 95% of all your issues regarding your images not showing up in your posts can be related to one or more of those reasons above.
As with most things WordPress the best way to solve issues is through checking the overall health of your website with the use of the great plugin, Health Check & Troubleshooting Plugin, I had listed above.
In addition, you can solve most WordPress issues even without code, through the process of elimination. Simply deactivating your theme and changing it for another one temporarily.
Deactivating all your plugins, then reactivating them one by one to see if the issue is, again, plugin related, etc.
This may seem like a bit of a hassle, but as a non-coder it should give you comfort that you can actually solve many of your WordPress related issues yourself through the process of elimination alone or with the help of a plugin.
From a Developer’s point of view, this must all seem very archaic, but as a non-coder or Programmer, I find these very basic and routine approaches quite comforting.
