Why Your WordPress Cover Image Looks Wrong on a Phone

A wide photograph of a workshop looks good on your laptop. On a phone, the person at the workbench disappears and the headline sits over a shelf of tools. Uploading a larger copy of the same photograph probably will not solve this: first check which part of the image the layout is showing.

Move the subject before changing the whole layout

For a WordPress Cover block, the focal-point control lets you choose the area of interest. It is available when the fixed-background option is off. The official Cover block guide documents that control.

Open the page in a draft or staging copy. Select the cover, move the focal point toward the person or product, then inspect both the narrow and wide layouts. A position that rescues the face on a phone may leave the desktop heading over it.

Try a shorter heading as a separate edit. Keep the original wording in a note so you can compare the two. If you change the image, heading, height, and spacing together, you will struggle to tell which adjustment helped.

Some photographs have nowhere safe to crop

A team photograph with people standing at both edges is a poor candidate for a narrow banner. Keeping everyone visible may make the faces too small. Enlarging them loses someone at the edge.

In that case, consider placing the photograph below the heading instead of behind it. You could also choose a different shot with more empty space around the subject. Neither choice requires rebuilding the rest of the homepage.

For a product photograph, check that the crop still shows the part visitors need to recognize. A close-up of a handle may look attractive but say little about the machine being sold.

Read the words against the actual photograph

Check every line of the heading, especially where it crosses a bright window or a patterned surface. An overlay may help, but if you have to darken the photograph until its subject disappears, separate the text and image.

Do not put essential opening hours or booking details only inside the image. Keep that information as page text so it remains readable when the picture is cropped or unavailable.

Before publishing, open the page on a phone in portrait and landscape, and on a laptop. Check the button as well as the heading. Save the original photograph and a note of the chosen focal point for the next person who replaces it.

If the headline itself still needs work, start with our small-business homepage guide. It is easier to choose a crop once you know how much text the opening section needs.