When it comes to saving website bookmarks, having a favicon can give you an edge over websites that don’t. Search engines like Google, with their Chrome browser, use specific signals to rank websites. To understand the SEO advantages of favicons, let’s explore what they are, their importance, how to create them, and how to add them to your site.
If you’re used to browsing with tabs, you know how crucial favicons are. A memorable favicon helps your site stand out. After all, a picture says more than a thousand words. I frequently bookmark websites in my browser, Google Chrome – sometimes as reminders, other times for quick access to Gmail, a specific Google Sheet, or Facebook. The favicon becomes the primary way to identify a site hidden within a tab. Having a strong favicon for your website is essential.
What Exactly Is a Favicon?
For the uninitiated, a favicon is a small, 16×16 pixel icon that typically displays a logo, brand initials, or a generic image reflecting the business type. These files, named “favicon.ico,” are located in the website’s root directory.
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 5, launched in March 1999, was the first to support this file type. Represented as a “link symbol” within the code, it’s placed in the “a” section. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standardized favicons in December 1999 using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) recommendations. You can delve deeper into the history of favicons by reading further.
While they were initially intended for bookmarked URLs, favicons now appear in various contexts, enhancing branding and usability.
You’ll also see them in your browser’s list of bookmarked URLs. When you’re looking through your browsing history in Google Chrome, those small, colorful icons simplify finding specific links. Take a look at the screenshot below: Some search engines, beyond just Google, are incorporating favicons into their desktop search results. The example below, from the DuckDuckgo search engine, illustrates this. Bing is experimenting with favicons in its search results to provide added SEO value.
While Google previously included favicons in Google Ads, they no longer do so. However, there are reports that Google Adsense is considering reintroducing favicons in future ad formats. If your website has a memorable icon, you’ve already established a degree of branding with that small graphic. Even the WooRank Site Review Report emphasizes the significance of having a favicon for your website.
Why Are Favicons Important, and Why Should You Use One?
Branding: Make Your Site Memorable
Think of a favicon as a small ID badge for your website. As mentioned earlier, they aid users in remembering your website, especially when they’re browsing multiple URLs. Whether they’re going through their browsing history, looking at search results on Duckduckgo, or reviewing their bookmarks, favicons provide a quick visual cue. This is because visuals are more eye-catching than text – another reason to create and implement a favicon.
Brand awareness is crucial not only for general digital marketing but also for SEO. For instance, if you’re working on SEO for a pharmaceutical company, a distinct website icon can help users quickly identify the company’s website within search results.
Build Trust with Your Audience
A missing favicon can result in your web browser displaying a generic blank document icon in the browser tab. Worse yet, your website might appear less credible if it’s next to a competitor’s site with a favicon.
Users often judge the legitimacy of online businesses and services based on their website’s professionalism. Overlooking something as basic as a favicon can easily damage credibility, particularly when users compare your site to competitors. Let’s consider an example. Would you be more inclined to purchase Southwest Airlines tickets from the first two tabs or the website shown in the last tab?
Encourage Users to Return
Imagine a visitor who’s short on time during their first visit to your website. They bookmark it, intending to return later. It’s widely understood that people respond better to images are more memorable than text. When they decide to revisit your site, perhaps through their bookmarks, a recognizable favicon like Google’s will work in your favor. A website without a favicon might even be removed from a user’s bookmark list.
Save Your Visitors Time
Favicons make it faster for users to identify bookmarked websites.
Make Your Favicons Distinctive for SEO Benefits
Make sure your favicon is easily identifiable in a crowded tab bar. Does it align well with your logo and overall website design? Unless you’re already a major brand, you want people to recognize your favicon. Here are two related tips:
- Before finalizing your favicon, avoid including too much detail.
- Use a strategic color palette to prevent the favicon from blending into the browser tab’s background.
Both of these tie directly into branding. Your brand identity should be evident in your favicon. While modern favicons allow for more colors and complexity, the available space in the browser tab remains limited to the original 16×16 pixels.
What may seem larger than 16×16 pixels is due to we have better screens, not an increase in actual space. The improvements lie in sharper lines and the ability to utilize a full spectrum of colors.
Effective branding ensures that people instantly connect your favicon with your website. To illustrate, I’ve listed a few favicons. Can you identify which brand each one belongs to? Let me know in the comments!
If that was too simple, these brands have successfully incorporated excellent job of translating their brand into their favicons—strive to create something similarly effective!
SEO Advantages of Favicons
Do favicons offer tangible SEO benefits? It’s a complex question. Aside from branding, the answer is likely no, although opinions might vary. Some argue that a large favicon (e.g., 1MB) could slow down loading times, negatively impacting SEO. Conversely, a well-designed favicon might make a bookmark stand out, potentially increasing return visitors. There’s even a case where certain browsers automatically search for a favicon, returning a 404 error if it’s missing.
My perspective? If there is an SEO benefit, it’s so negligible that other optimization efforts—like a robust site structure or high-quality content—should always take precedence. But does that mean you can skip the favicon? Remember our discussion about browser tabs? You need a favicon, even if it’s just to help your site stand out.
History and other locations where browsers place underscore the importance of this icon for quick recognition. It enhances user experience.
Boost Website Visibility: A user-friendly website is often associated with higher search engine rankings. If the icons representing your website—in browser tabs, bookmarks, history archives, etc.—help users save time and find your site quickly, they contribute to a positive user experience, playing a small but potentially significant role in SEO.
Bookmarks: Having a favicon can give you an edge over websites without one when it comes to saving bookmarks. Search engines like Google, through their Chrome browser, might consider bookmarked sites for specific search ranking signals. If your site lacks a favicon, it might miss the opportunity to appear in a user’s Chrome bookmarks list, indirectly affecting a small but potentially valuable search ranking signal.
Creating a Favicon for Your Website
There are numerous tools available to help you quickly create a favicon for your website, many of which offer free trials.
RealFaviconGenerator
RealFavicon Generator allows you to create favicons compatible with various platforms, including desktop and Mac browsers, iPhones, iPads, Android devices, Windows 8 tablets, and more. This tool’s strength lies in its wide range of browser-compatible favicon options, demonstrated by the extensive list of tested icon versions it generates. You can also get a free basic report on your existing favicons to check their compatibility across different devices and browsers. Here’s an example screenshot showing the kind of information provided.
Dynamic Drive Favicon Generator
This tool allows you to create icons in .ico, .png, and .gif formats. It even allows for transparency in .gif and .png formats. The site offers other useful tools, such as an animated GIF generator, which could be helpful if you want a dynamic favicon for your website.
DeGraeve
DeGraeve is another quick online favicon generator offering a variety of customization choices, including support for alpha transparency. The site also provides many other tools not directly related to favicon creation.
Here are some other online favicon generators worth exploring:
- Favicon.cc
- Favicon From Pics
- Favicon Generator
- ProDraw
- Iconifier
- Favicon-Generator
- ConvertIcon
- Generator by RedKetchup
- Websiteplanet maker
- Zyro icon builder
Adding a Favicon to Your Page
WordPress users will appreciate the built-in favicon feature, introduced in version 4.3. This convenient option is located within the Customizer, labeled as “Site Icon,” and is the recommended method for adding a favicon in WordPress.
You no longer need to upload even need to create an .ico icon file as you might have in the past. WordPress suggests using a square image, ideally at least 512 pixels wide and tall, which might seem counterintuitive to keeping file sizes small. However, optimizing your image will prevent it from slowing down your site.
The WordPress Codex provides comprehensive information on how to this in WordPress—go ahead, dive in, and add an appealing favicon to your website!
Troubleshooting: Favicon Not Appearing in Google Search?
Even when you follow the correct procedures, there’s no guarantee that your favicon will show up in Google’s search results. Google decides whether to display favicons in SERPs on a case-by-case basis. However, adhering to these guidelines generally increases the chances of your site’s favicon being displayed.
- Ensure that both your favicon file and homepage are accessible to Google’s crawlers (i.e., they can be indexed).
- Your favicon should be distinctive to your brand and should help users identify your website.
- While Google might not recommend using 16×16 pixel icons due to their low resolution, you can use square icons in sizes such as 48x48px, 96x96px, or 144x144px. Keep in mind that Google will resize high-resolution icons to 16×16 for display in search results.
- Avoid changing your favicon’s URL frequently.
- Google will not display inappropriate favicons, including those containing explicit or hateful imagery. In such cases, Google will replace these with default icons.
Final Thoughts
Favicons are often overlooked details, yet they play a crucial role in web design, both in terms of user interface and branding. As the saying goes, sometimes the smallest things make the biggest impact.