Favicon Checker & Preview
Check any website's favicon implementation across all common formats. See which favicons are present, preview how they look in browser tabs, and get actionable recommendations for better brand visibility.
Why Favicons Matter for SEO & Brand Recognition
Search Engine Visibility
Google displays favicons next to search results in mobile SERPs. A clear, recognizable favicon increases click-through rates by making your listing stand out from competitors.
Brand Recognition
Favicons appear in browser tabs, bookmarks, history, and reading lists. A consistent favicon across all formats reinforces your brand identity every time a user interacts with their browser.
Trust & Credibility
A missing favicon signals a low-quality or unfinished website. Users subconsciously associate proper favicons with professionalism and trustworthiness, which affects engagement metrics.
Mobile & PWA Experience
Apple Touch Icons and Web App Manifest icons define how your site appears on home screens. Without them, mobile users see generic icons or ugly page screenshots instead of your brand.
What This Tool Checks
The Complete Favicon Format Guide
Legacy format with multi-size support. Required for maximum browser compatibility. Place at /favicon.ico.
Modern format with transparency. Provides sharper rendering than ICO on high-DPI screens.
Vector format that scales perfectly. Supports dark mode via CSS media queries. Linked with type="image/svg+xml".
Used when iOS users add your site to their home screen. Should be a solid, non-transparent PNG.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a favicon?
A favicon (short for "favorites icon") is a small icon associated with a website. It appears in browser tabs, bookmark bars, browsing history, and search engine results. Favicons are typically square images in ICO, PNG, or SVG format, ranging from 16x16 to 512x512 pixels.
Do favicons affect SEO?
Yes. Google displays favicons in mobile search results next to your page title and URL. A recognizable favicon improves click-through rates from SERPs. Additionally, a missing favicon triggers 404 errors in server logs (browsers auto-request /favicon.ico), which can waste crawl budget and create noise in error monitoring.
What favicon sizes do I need?
At minimum, include a 32x32 PNG and a favicon.ico (containing 16x16 and 32x32 sizes). For full coverage, also add a 180x180 apple-touch-icon.png for iOS, and a site.webmanifest referencing 192x192 and 512x512 PNGs for Android and PWA support.
Why is my favicon not showing up?
Common reasons include: the favicon file is not at the expected path, the HTML <link> tag is missing or has a wrong href, the server returns a 404 for the favicon URL, browser caching is showing an old version (try hard-refreshing with Ctrl+Shift+R), or the favicon file is corrupted or has the wrong MIME type.
What is a site.webmanifest?
A site.webmanifest (or manifest.json) is a JSON file that provides metadata about your web application to the browser. It defines app icons for Android home screen shortcuts and PWA installations, along with the app name, theme color, and display mode. It is referenced via a <link rel="manifest"> tag in your HTML.
What is an Apple Touch Icon?
An Apple Touch Icon is a PNG image (typically 180x180 pixels) that iOS and macOS use when a user adds your website to their home screen or bookmarks. Without one, Apple devices take a screenshot of your page and use that as the icon, which usually looks poor. Place it at /apple-touch-icon.png and add <link rel="apple-touch-icon"> in your HTML.