What Google's guidelines ask for
- Declared on the home page. Add a
<link rel="icon">to the<head>of the home page. Google reads the icon from there, not from inner pages. - Square. The icon must have a 1:1 aspect ratio.
- Larger than 48px. The minimum is 8×8, but the guidelines recommend an icon larger than 48×48 so it looks good on every surface Google shows it on.
- Crawlable. Googlebot must be able to crawl the home page, and Googlebot-Image the icon file. Do not block either in
robots.txt. - A stable URL. Do not change the icon URL often.
- Representative. The icon should represent your brand. Google does not show icons it considers inappropriate.
The authoritative version lives in Google Search Central's favicon documentation. Check it before relying on a detail.
Why favicon.zip ships a 96px PNG
The ICO layers top out at 48px, below the size Google recommends. So every package includes favicon-96x96.png, declared with its size:
<link rel="icon" href="/favicon-96x96.png" type="image/png" sizes="96x96">That gives Google an unambiguous square raster comfortably above the recommended size, alongside the ICO and SVG that browsers use.
One favicon per hostname
Google shows one favicon for a hostname. example.com and blog.example.com can have different icons. example.com/shop and example.com/blog cannot, because both inherit the home page's icon.
Updating a favicon Google already shows
- Replace the files and keep the link tags on the home page.
- Check that the new icon URLs return 200 and are not blocked by
robots.txt. - Ask Google to recrawl the home page, for example with URL Inspection in Search Console.
- Wait. The favicon updates after Google recrawls and reprocesses the page, which can take days or weeks.
Why you see a generic globe
| cause | fix |
|---|---|
| No icon link on the home page | Add the link tags to the home page <head>. |
| Icon or page blocked in robots.txt | Allow Googlebot to fetch both. |
| Icon URL returns an error or redirects oddly | Serve it as a plain static file with a 200. |
| Icon is not square, or is tiny | Ship a square 96px PNG. |
| Recently changed | Wait for a recrawl. |
The favicon checker fetches your page, probes every icon it declares and reports what is missing or unreachable.
Questions
What size favicon does Google Search use?
Google's guidelines require a square icon of at least 8×8 and recommend one larger than 48×48. favicon.zip ships a 96×96 PNG for this.
How long does Google take to show a new favicon?
It updates after Google recrawls your home page, which can take days to weeks. Requesting a recrawl in Search Console can help.
Can different sections of my site have different favicons in Google?
Only on different hostnames. Subdomains can have their own icon; paths on the same hostname share one.
Does Google use the SVG favicon?
Google supports any valid favicon format, but a declared square PNG larger than 48px is the most predictable choice.