What Is a Favicon in Google Search?
A favicon is the small square icon a website declares to represent itself; Google Search can show it beside your site’s name in search results. The HTML standard defines the icon link type as “an icon representing the page or site” (WHATWG HTML Standard). Google’s page opens: “If your site has a favicon, it can be included in Google Search results for your site” (Google Search Central).
For a company, the favicon is part of how a brand looks on its own name’s results page, the page journalists, investors and customers see first; our guide to brand search results covers the rest of that page. A missing or wrong icon makes a result look less official, especially beside news coverage and review sites that do show their logos.
What Changed in Google’s Favicon Guidelines?
On October 27, 2026, Google reworded its crawling guideline to say Googlebot must be able to follow redirects from the home page to the page that specifies the favicon. The bullet now reads that “Googlebot must be able to crawl the home page, follow any redirects from there to the page where the favicon is specified, and Googlebot-Image must be able to crawl the favicon file,” and that “These URLs must not be blocked from crawling by a robots.txt file or by other means” (Google Search Central). Search Engine Roundtable compared it with the previous version, which said Googlebot-Image must crawl the favicon file and Googlebot the home page, and quoted Google’s John Mueller saying the change came because “we saw how AI systems didn’t understand exactly how to investigate this” (Search Engine Roundtable). Barry Schwartz called it “more like a clarification than anything else.”
What the documents say versus how it might be read: Google’s public list of documentation updates, which we checked on October 28, does not list this change; its most recent favicon entry is from August 28, 2026, when Google “Updated the favicon documentation to specifically list out the supported favicon file formats” (Google Search Central updates). So the October 27 edit is visible only on the page itself and in third-party comparisons. Nothing in it is a new requirement for sites whose home page loads without redirects.
How Do You Get Your Favicon in Google Search at a Glance?
You make a square icon, declare it on the home page, keep it crawlable, and ask Google to recrawl. The table summarizes each step.
| Step | Action | Expected result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Create a square icon, at least 8x8px and ideally larger than 48x48px, in a listed format | An icon that meets Google’s size and format rules |
| 2 | Add <link rel="icon" href="..."> to the home page’s <head> | Google can find the icon from the home page |
| 3 | Check redirects from the home page and robots.txt rules | Googlebot and Googlebot-Image can reach both URLs |
| 4 | Give each hostname its own favicon if needed | Subdomains show the right icon |
| 5 | Request indexing of the home page in Search Console | Google recrawls sooner |
| 6 | Keep the favicon URL stable | The icon persists in results |
Time: 30 minutes of work, then days to weeks for Google to recrawl. Tools: an image editor, access to the site’s HTML and robots.txt, Google Search Console. Cost: free. Skill level: beginner to intermediate.
What Do You Need Before Starting?
You need a square version of your logo, edit access to the home page’s HTML head, and access to Google Search Console for the site. Specifically:
- A square mark. Most logos are wide. A favicon works best as a simplified symbol or initial that reads at small sizes. Google says it should be “visually representative of your website’s brand” (Google Search Central).
- Template access. On a content management system the favicon is often a theme or site-identity setting rather than raw HTML; check what the setting outputs.
- Search Console. To request a recrawl, the site must be verified; see our guide to verifying a site in Google Search Console.
Step 1: Create a Square Icon at a Supported Size and Format
Make a square image of at least 8x8 pixels, and preferably larger than 48x48, in a format Google lists. Google says “Your favicon must be a square (1:1 aspect ratio) that’s at least 8x8px” and recommends “a favicon that’s larger than 48x48px so that it looks good on various surfaces.” Its supported formats are “BMP, GIF, ICO, PNG, JPEG, PPM, and TIFF” (Google Search Central). The page does not mention SVG, so if your site uses only an SVG favicon, our recommendation is to add a PNG or ICO alternative for Search.
Pixels, width of a square icon, as published
Source: Google Search Central, “Define a favicon to show in search results” (last updated October 27, 2026); Apple Developer Documentation Archive, “Configuring Web Applications”. Read October 28, 2026.
Google’s 48px figure is a threshold to exceed, not a target size. Apple’s sizes are examples from its archived Safari documentation, which refers readers to the iOS Human Interface Guidelines for current sizes.
The chart shows that Google’s minimum is far below the sizes other platforms use, so one square PNG of 180px or more can serve both Search and Apple devices, which is our recommendation rather than a rule from either company.
Step 2: Add the Link Tag to Your Home Page
Put a <link> tag with rel="icon" in the <head> of your home page. Google’s example is <link rel="icon" href="/path/to/favicon.ico">. It also accepts shortcut icon, which it supports “for historical reasons,” and the iOS values apple-touch-icon and apple-touch-icon-precomposed (Google Search Central). Apple’s documentation shows the touch-icon form, for example <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="touch-icon-iphone-retina.png"> (Apple Developer). The HTML standard says that in the absence of an icon link, browsers may fall back to /favicon.ico at the site root (WHATWG HTML Standard); Google’s page tells you to declare the icon with a link tag, so do not rely on that fallback.
The icon file does not have to live on your domain: Google says “The URL doesn’t need to be hosted on your site,” so a content delivery network is fine.
Step 3: Check Redirects and Robots.txt
Make sure Googlebot can load your home page, follow any redirect chain from it, and that Googlebot-Image can fetch the icon file. This is the guideline Google clarified on October 27. Common cases: a home page that redirects from http to https, from the bare domain to www, or to a language or region path. Each redirect must be crawlable; our explainer on 301 redirects covers how they work. Then open robots.txt and check that no rule blocks the home page, the favicon path or the folder it sits in, and that no rule targets Googlebot-Image. Our guide to blocking or allowing crawlers in robots.txt shows how to read user-agent groups.
Step 4: Set One Favicon per Hostname
Google shows one favicon per hostname, so subdomains can have their own icons but subdirectories cannot. “Google Search only supports one favicon per site, where a site is defined by the hostname.” Google gives the example that https://www.example.com/sub-site is a subdirectory, “and you can only set one favicon for https://www.example.com/, which applies to the site and its subdirectories” (Google Search Central). If your newsroom or investor site runs on a subdomain such as news.example.com, give its home page the same link tag.
Step 5: Ask Google to Recrawl Your Home Page
Use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to request indexing of the home page, then wait. Google says “crawling can take anywhere from several days to several weeks, depending on how often our systems determine content needs to be refreshed” (Google Search Central). Our guide to checking whether a page is indexed walks through the inspection tool.
Step 6: Keep the Favicon URL Stable
Do not move or rename the icon file often. Google says “The favicon URL must be stable (don’t change the URL frequently).” When you redesign, replace the image at the same URL where you can. If you are moving to a new domain, the new hostname needs its own favicon declaration; see our guide to moving a website to a new domain.
How Do You Verify It Worked?
Check the live HTML and the crawl first, then search for your site. View the home page source and confirm the link tag is in the head. Open the favicon URL directly to confirm it loads and is square. In Search Console’s URL Inspection, run a live test of the home page and confirm it is fetched without errors. After the recrawl, search for your brand name and look at the icon beside your result. Google warns: “A favicon isn’t guaranteed to appear in Google Search results, even if all guidelines are met” (Google Search Central).
Common Problems and Fixes
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| A generic globe icon shows instead of yours | Google has not recrawled, cannot fetch the icon, or the icon breaks a guideline | Check steps 1 to 3, request indexing, wait |
| Old logo still showing after a rebrand | Recrawl not yet processed, or the old URL is still declared | Update the link tag or replace the file at the same URL; allow weeks |
| Favicon fine in browsers but missing in Search | SVG-only icon, or Googlebot-Image blocked | Add a PNG or ICO; check robots.txt |
| Subdirectory site shows the parent’s icon | Google supports one favicon per hostname | Move the section to a subdomain if it needs its own icon |
| Icon looks stretched or cropped | Image not square | Export a 1:1 version |
| Home page redirects through a login or geo page | Googlebot cannot follow the chain to the page with the link tag | Make the redirect crawlable and put the tag on the final page |
What Not to Do
Do not use a favicon that imitates another brand or contains inappropriate imagery. Consequence: Google says it “won’t show any favicon that it deems inappropriate” and replaces such icons with a default. Correction: use your own simplified mark.
Do not change the favicon URL with every deploy. Consequence: Google’s guideline asks for a stable URL, and frequent changes can leave an outdated or missing icon. Correction: keep one path and update the file.
Do not block the icon’s folder in robots.txt. Consequence: Googlebot-Image cannot fetch it. Correction: allow the path, or host the icon somewhere crawlable.
Do not assume the icon will appear because the guidelines are met. Consequence: wasted rework. Correction: confirm crawlability, then wait the several days to weeks Google describes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What size should a favicon be for Google Search?
Google says a favicon must be square and at least 8x8 pixels, and recommends one larger than 48x48 pixels so it looks good on various surfaces.
Which file formats does Google support for favicons?
Google’s documentation lists BMP, GIF, ICO, PNG, JPEG, PPM and TIFF. The page does not mention SVG, so a PNG or ICO alternative is the safer choice for Search.
How long does it take for a new favicon to show in Google?
Google says crawling “can take anywhere from several days to several weeks.” You can request indexing of your home page in Search Console’s URL Inspection tool.
Why is my favicon not showing in Google Search?
Common causes are an icon that is not square or too small, an unsupported format, a home page Google cannot crawl or redirect through, or a robots.txt rule blocking the icon. Google also says a favicon “isn’t guaranteed to appear.”
Can a subdirectory have its own favicon in Google Search?
No. Google supports one favicon per hostname, which applies to the site and its subdirectories. A subdomain, such as news.example.com, can have its own.
What did Google change on October 27, 2026?
Google reworded its guideline to say Googlebot must be able to follow any redirects from the home page to the page where the favicon is specified, and that these URLs must not be blocked by robots.txt. Search Engine Roundtable described it as a clarification.
Sources and Methodology
This guide is built from Google’s favicon documentation and update log, the HTML standard and Apple’s Safari documentation, all read on October 28, 2026, plus Search Engine Roundtable’s comparison of the old and new Google wording. The step order, time estimate, the advice to add a PNG or ICO alongside SVG, and the one-180px-PNG suggestion are our recommendations, not Google rules. We did not test how quickly a new favicon appears.
- platform documentation Google Search Central, “Define a favicon to show in search results”. Every Google guideline quoted; last updated October 27, 2026. Read October 28, 2026.
- platform documentation Google Search Central, “Latest Google Search documentation updates”. August 28, 2026 favicon entry; no October favicon entry. Read October 28, 2026.
- trade press Search Engine Roundtable, “Googlebot Must Follow Redirects From Homepage To Favicon, Updated Doc Say”. Old vs new wording; Mueller quote. Read October 28, 2026.
- standards WHATWG, HTML Living Standard, link type “icon”. Definition; /favicon.ico fallback. Read October 28, 2026.
- platform documentation Apple Developer Documentation Archive, “Configuring Web Applications”. apple-touch-icon syntax and example sizes. Read October 28, 2026.