Google results
Your favicon appears next to your site name in Google's results. If Google shows a generic globe instead, one of a few specific rules isn't being met. Here's the checklist.
Google shows a small icon beside your site name in search results. When it can't use yours, it shows a generic grey globe, which makes your result look less trustworthy next to competitors with proper icons. The fix is almost always one of the items below.
Run your homepage through the checker on this page first. It checks every rule below and shows the icon exactly as Google would see it.
Free tool
Enter your website. See the favicon Google uses next to your search results, and fix anything that stops it from showing.
Google looks for the favicon on your homepage only, in a link tag in the head:
<link rel="icon" href="/favicon.svg" type="image/svg+xml">
<link rel="icon" href="/favicon-48.png" sizes="48x48" type="image/png">A favicon that exists at /favicon.ico but isn't linked may still be found, but an explicit link is more reliable.
The icon must be square. Google recommends a size that's a multiple of 48 pixels: 48×48, 96×96, 144×144 and so on. SVG works too, since it scales to any size. A 16×16 icon is too small to qualify.
Any valid image format works: ICO, PNG, SVG, GIF, JPG or WebP. Make sure the file is a real image and the server sends the right content type.
Both Googlebot and Googlebot-Image must be able to fetch the homepage and the icon file. Check robots.txt isn't blocking the icon's folder, and that the file doesn't sit behind a login or a firewall rule.
Don't change the favicon's URL often. Google caches it, and a moving target slows updates.
Google won't show favicons that are inappropriate, such as hate symbols or explicit images. In that case it shows a default icon.
| Check | Fix |
|---|---|
No <link rel="icon"> on homepage | Add one in the head |
| Icon not square | Re-export on a square canvas |
| Smaller than 48×48 | Export at 48×48, 96×96 or use SVG |
| Blocked in robots.txt | Allow the icon file and its folder |
| 404 or redirect on the icon URL | Upload the file to the linked address |
| Wrong content type | Serve PNG as image/png, SVG as image/svg+xml |
After fixing the icon, Google has to recrawl your homepage and the icon. That can take from a few days to several weeks. You can speed it up by using URL Inspection in Google Search Console on your homepage and clicking Request indexing.
Browsers, bookmarks and home-screen shortcuts use other files: an apple-touch-icon (180×180 PNG) for iPhones, and icons listed in a web app manifest for Android. These don't affect Google, but they're worth setting at the same time.
Google couldn't find or use your icon: usually because it isn't linked from the homepage, isn't square, is smaller than 48×48 pixels or is blocked from crawling.
Square and a multiple of 48 pixels, such as 48×48 or 96×96. An SVG favicon also works.
From a few days to several weeks after the fix. Requesting indexing of the homepage in Search Console can help.
It doesn't affect rankings, but a recognisable icon makes your result more noticeable and can help click-through rate.
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