Favicon Validator

Check your favicon against Google's requirements and browser standards.

You spent weeks on your logo. Google crops it to 16 pixels square and sticks it next to your URL in every search result. It should work at 16 pixels. This checks if it does — and whether Google will even show it.

Your site homepage URL

We probe common favicon paths at your domain using image loading. If your favicon is at a non-standard path, switch to Paste HTML mode for accurate results — it reads your actual <link> tags. Cross-origin restrictions may cause some images to appear undetected even when they load.

How to Use This Tool

Enter a URL and get a full favicon audit. Two modes, same output.

Enter your homepage URL

The tool probes common favicon paths at your domain — /favicon.ico, /favicon.png, /apple-touch-icon.png, and others. No server-side fetch, no CORS issues. It loads each path as an image directly in your browser.

Or paste your <head> HTML

If you want link-tag analysis — which rel values you're declaring, whether sizes is set, whether you have an apple-touch-icon — paste your <head> markup and enter the base URL. The tool parses the tags, resolves relative paths, and loads each referenced image.

Read the results

You get: a Google SERP preview showing your favicon at actual size, a tile view of every detected favicon file with dimensions, and a grouped checklist covering link tags, image quality, format, and Google requirements. Anything that fails or needs attention comes with a specific fix.

Favicons in Google Search Results

Google displays your favicon next to your site name and URL in search results. If it's missing, broken, or too small, you get a grey globe. In a list of ten results, the one without a favicon looks like it forgot to get dressed.

The basics

Add a <link rel="icon"> tag to your homepage <head>. Google also supports shortcut icon (legacy) and apple-touch-icon. The href can be relative or absolute — including CDN-hosted.

Size requirements

Minimum 8×8px, but Google recommends 48×48px or larger. Must be square (1:1 aspect ratio). If you're only going to serve one size, make it 32×32px for browser tabs and include a 512×512px version for PWA and high-DPI surfaces.

One per hostname

Google supports one favicon per hostname. example.com and blog.example.com can have different favicons. But example.com/shop inherits from example.com — subdirectories don't get their own.

Crawlability

Googlebot-Image must be able to fetch your favicon file, and Googlebot must be able to crawl your homepage. If either is blocked in robots.txt, no favicon in search results. This tool can't check your robots.txt — but it'll remind you to.

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Google doesn't guarantee your favicon will show.

Even if everything is technically correct, Google may not display it. They also replace favicons they consider inappropriate. And crawling changes can take days to weeks — requesting indexing of your homepage via URL Inspection can speed things up, but it's not instant.

What This Tool Validates

Ten checks across four groups. Each maps to something Google or browsers actually care about.

Link tags

Does your HTML declare rel="icon"? Is apple-touch-icon present? These are the tags Google and browsers look for. If they're missing, browsers fall back to /favicon.ico — which may or may not exist.

File detection

The tool probes standard paths: /favicon.ico, /favicon.png, /apple-touch-icon.png, and several others. If a file loads and returns a valid image, it passes. If nothing loads at all, that's a problem.

Image quality

Is the image square? Is there a 32×32px version for browser tabs? A 512×512px version for PWA and high-DPI? Is the apple-touch-icon close to 180×180px? Undersized favicons get scaled and look blurry. Oversized ones waste bandwidth.

Format & Google rules

PNG, ICO, SVG, WebP, and GIF are supported. JPEG and BMP work but don't support transparency. The tool also flags the Googlebot crawlability requirement — because a perfect favicon that Googlebot can't reach is the same as no favicon at all.

The Favicon Setup That Covers Everything

Three link tags in your <head>. That's it. This covers Google Search, browser tabs, PWA home screens, and iOS.

32×32px PNG — browser tabs

<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/favicon-32.png"> — this is what shows in the browser tab. Desktop Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge all use it. Make it square, make it crisp at small sizes.

512×512px PNG — PWA and high-DPI

<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="512x512" href="/favicon-512.png"> — used by PWA launchers, Google Discover, and Android home screen shortcuts. 512×512 is the standard. This is also what Google pulls for search results if it needs a higher-resolution version.

Apple Touch Icon — iOS

<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/favicon-apple.png"> — 180×180px. Used when someone adds your site to their iPhone home screen. Apple rounds the corners and applies their own mask, so keep important visual elements away from the edges.

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Keep the favicon URL stable.

Google caches favicons. If you change the URL frequently, Google may stop updating it or fall back to the grey globe while it re-crawls. Pick a path and stick with it.

Frequently Asked Questions

My favicon looks fine in the browser tab but doesn't show in Google Search

Two likely causes. First, Googlebot-Image might be blocked from fetching the favicon file — check your robots.txt. Second, Google may not have recrawled your homepage since you added or changed the favicon. Use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to request indexing. Allow days to weeks for the change to propagate.

Does the favicon need to be on my homepage?

The <link rel="icon"> tag needs to be in the <head> of your homepage. Google reads the favicon declaration from the homepage and applies it site-wide for that hostname. You can include the tag on other pages too (most CMSs do), but the homepage is the one Google cares about.

Can I use an SVG favicon?

Yes — Google supports SVG favicons, and they scale perfectly at any size. Declare it as <link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="/favicon.svg">. Not all browsers support SVG favicons natively though, so keep a PNG fallback alongside it.

What's the difference between rel="icon" and rel="shortcut icon"?

rel="icon" is the standard. rel="shortcut icon" is a legacy variant from older IE versions. Google supports both, but there's no reason to use shortcut icon unless you're maintaining backward compatibility with something that specifically requires it.

Does this tool send my HTML to a server?

No. Everything runs in your browser. In URL mode, the tool loads images directly from your domain — standard image requests, no proxy, no CORS workarounds. In Paste mode, it parses the HTML you paste using the browser's built-in DOM parser. Nothing leaves your machine.

My site has multiple subdomains — do I need a favicon for each?

If you want each subdomain to show its own favicon in Google Search, yes. Google treats each hostname as a separate site — www.example.com and shop.example.com can have different favicons. But example.com/blog and example.com/shop share the same one — subdirectories can't override the root hostname's favicon.