What is a favicon?

A favicon often appears beside the page title in a browser tab, in bookmarks and in browser history. Google uses site icons in search-result presentation, including mobile results, to help people recognise the source. The interface can vary, and a compliant favicon is not guaranteed to appear in every result.

A logo is a broader brand asset; a favicon is an icon designed for a tiny square. A full wordmark can become illegible at tab size. A simple mark with clear contrast is usually more recognisable. Inspect it at 16×16 and 32×32 rather than judging only a large export. A home-screen touch icon and an installed web-app icon are related assets, but their declarations and uses differ.

ICO is a useful compatibility fallback because one file can contain multiple raster sizes. PNG provides explicit pixel dimensions and transparency. SVG stays sharp when scaled and works as a favicon in supporting browsers, but browser support and Google Search support are separate questions.

The current Google Search Central favicon page lists BMP, GIF, ICO, PNG, JPEG, PPM and TIFF as supported formats. SVG is not in that list. Use a crawlable PNG or ICO for Search eligibility rather than assuming that an SVG visible in a browser tab will also be used by Google. Providing both a raster fallback and an SVG is reasonable; different consumers select from the declarations.

An ICO containing 16×16, 32×32 and 48×48 representations covers familiar browser sizes. A separate 96×96 PNG is a practical Search-oriented asset. These are implementation choices, not a demand that every site ship every file type.

The often-repeated ‘Google requires a 48×48 minimum’ is outdated. Its current documented minimum is a square image of at least 8×8 pixels, with a recommendation to use an image larger than 48×48 for quality on different surfaces. A 96×96 PNG is a sensible choice. Do not confuse a recommendation with an eligibility threshold.

A large source image does not rescue an intricate design. Test the actual small rendering and keep the file compact. The dimensions below describe different consumers; the 180, 192 and 512 sizes are not requirements for a Google Search favicon.

Place the declarations in the document head. Google discovers the site favicon from the homepage, so changing only an article page is not enough. The paths in this example are illustrative filenames, not files this article installs. Export and serve those files before copying the declarations.

The sizes attribute describes the file’s actual dimensions; it does not resize the image. Use sizes=any for a scalable SVG. The type attribute helps the consumer choose a format. Relative or absolute href values can work. A conventional /favicon.ico fallback remains useful for clients that request it automatically.

Google Search Central says the image must be square, at least 8×8 pixels, visually representative of the site and in a supported format. It recommends a size larger than 48×48. The favicon URL should remain stable. Google can replace inappropriate imagery with a default icon and does not promise display even when every guideline is met.

Googlebot must be able to crawl the homepage, and Googlebot-Image must be able to crawl the icon. A public HTML declaration pointing to an image blocked by robots rules does not satisfy that requirement. Authentication, inaccessible files and delivery errors also prevent the crawler from obtaining the intended asset.

Search supports one favicon per site, defining a site by hostname. A separate subdomain can have its own favicon; a subdirectory cannot request an independent Search favicon. For example, a language folder shares its hostname’s site icon. This is about search-result presentation, not a documented ranking advantage.

A browser may use a cached asset, a page-specific declaration or an SVG that Search does not list as supported. Google may still have an older icon or may not have processed the current homepage. Start with the declared file and crawler access rather than repeatedly changing filenames.

Google’s documented range for recrawling and processing the new homepage information is several days to several weeks. It is not a fixed refresh deadline. The frequency depends on when its systems determine that content needs refreshing. URL Inspection can request indexing of the homepage, but it does not force immediate recrawling or guarantee a favicon change.

Keep the favicon URL stable instead of renaming the file every day. Confirm that the updated bytes reach a fresh browser request and that the homepage points to the intended asset. Browser cache freshness and Google’s processing schedule are separate: fixing one does not prove the other has updated.

Where this matters for search: a favicon helps a person recognise a result’s source. It is a presentation and implementation detail, not a documented shortcut to higher rankings. Homepage HTML, working asset URLs and crawlability connect this small feature to search-ready website implementation.

If the underlying problem is blocked crawling rather than icon design, the relevant reference is technical SEO and indexation. Changing the artwork cannot fix a crawler access problem.

Google Search Central, ‘Define a favicon to show in search results’, is the source for hostname scope, supported Search formats, the 8×8 minimum, the larger-than-48×48 recommendation, crawler access and the several-days-to-several-weeks guidance. MDN Web Docs, ‘The External Resource Link element’, explains rel=icon, type and sizes, including scalable SVG browser declarations.

web.dev, ‘Icons & browser colors’, provides browser and home-screen icon context. The 96×96 PNG choice and the troubleshooting order here are practical implementation recommendations, not additional Google requirements. Platform documentation can change; this reference separates current eligibility rules from conventional export sizes.