Favicons: A Simple (But Complete) Guide

A favicon is a little 16x16 graphical icon used for branding a website. This is usually a logo, the brand's first letter, or a generic image. It was introduced in 1999 and was intended to be used in bookmarked URLs. However, these days, there are several instances where favicons are used. Here we will talk all about favicons and the importance of favicons in SEO.

Where will you see favicons?

It is displayed in the browser tabs, bookmarks, search history, search results, and search recommendations. All the major search engines like Google have incorporated favicons directly into the search results.

Usage of favicon

Favicon plays an important role in the SEO of the website. Favicon helps your website in a following way.

Brand recognition

A favicon helps the user identify your website among other similar websites. When the user opens multiple tabs in the browser, the favicon is to help users locate your web page in the browser.

To add credibility and trust

Favicons add a professional look to the site, which increases the credibility of your website.

Importance of favicon for SEO

Favicons are not directly responsible for SEO but indirectly affect SEO. But certain areas are affected by the implementation of the favicon.

Increased usability

When the user opens multiple tabs in the browser, the favicon is to help users locate your web page in the browser and prevent distractions from similar websites.

Increases click rate

The favicon increases the visibility of the website in the search results, search recommendations, browser history, and bookmarks. This helps users identify and revisit your website often.

Bookmarks

Favicons increase the chance of a website getting bookmarked by the user. It increases website traffic, time spent, and interactions on your site. Moreover, Google recognizes more bookmarked sites than less bookmarked sites.

Criteria for creating a good favicon

Criteria for creating a good favicon are as follows.

1. It should be simple and eye-catching.

2. It should be according to your corresponding brand logo and suit your brand identity. The current brand logo is often used as a favicon.

3. It shouldn't have a lot of lines and text.

4. It should be adaptable to dark mode.

5. You can use favicons of dimension 16x16, 48x48, 96x96, and 144x144, but the browser compresses it to 16x16.

How to add a favicon to WordPress

To add favicons to your WordPress site, follow the below steps.

Step 1 - Go to Appearance > Customize

Step 2 - Go to the menu located on the left side of the bar.

Step 3 - Select the set icon and upload your favicon.

How to add a favicon to HTML

To add favicon to your HTML file. Add the below <link > element to your index.html file after the <title> element and in the href provide the location of your file.

<link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/images/favicon.ico">

Sites to generate free favicons

There are many sites to generate free favicons, some of the best sites to generate free favicons are given below.

1. Favicon.io

2. Favicon-Generator.org

3. favicon cc

4.favicongenerator.com

FAQs

1. How do I create a favicon?

Ans: You can create your favicon via any editor like Corel Paint, Photoshop, or any open-source image editor. You can also generate it via the websites given above.

2. How can I get free favicons?

Ans: You can generate a free favicon via the links to some best free favicon generator sites above.

3. Can I use a Png image format to create a favicon?

Ans: Yes, you can use Png for the favicon, but favicon.ico is widely used. You can convert any favicon to ico format.

4. Are favicons just logos?

Ans: Favicons are not logos; they are smaller than conventional logos.

5. Can a logo be used as a favicon?

Ans: The logo can be used as a favicon. In 90% of the cases, logos are used as a favicon.