You have 14 tabs open. Every one of them shows a small logo except yours, which shows a blank page or a gray globe. Or you search for your business on your phone and see competitors' logos beside their results, while yours has a generic placeholder.

A favicon is the smallest piece of your brand, but it appears almost everywhere your site does. It's also an area full of outdated advice. Many size lists online still recommend a dozen Apple, Windows and Opera icons that modern devices no longer use.

This guide explains why your site needs a favicon, which favicon sizes and formats actually matter in 2026, Google Search's favicon rules, the HTML to use, how to create the files with a favicon generator or a short script, and how to test the result.

Disclosure: Jay Barker writes for SEO Site Checker, whose free favicon generator is mentioned below.…