What is a Website Favicon and How to Create One?

What is a website favicon? A favicon is a website icon or small image that appears in the web browser. A well-designed favicon is crucial to helping your website stand out on the web.

Therefore, creating and using a website favicon significantly helps in branding. So, we’re here to help you boost your brand recognition and user experience.

This article summarizes everything about website favicons. Further, it shows the process of creating and adding a favicon to your site with essential guidelines.

Without further ado, let’s directly jump into it!

A. What is a Website Favicon?

A website favicon (short for favorite icon) is a small, generally 16×16 pixel icon to represent your website on web browsers visually. It’s shown in multiple places, including the browser tabs, search bar results, and bookmarks.

For example, the image below is the favicon of our website, SiteSaga.

The major objective of favicons is to help users recognize websites even if several browser tabs are open. So, this small graphic is a visual representation of your website. It lets your audience quickly spot and return to your site through it.

In fact, favicons aren’t the same as logos. But they are related because businesses sometimes create their favicon using a part of their logo to maintain brand consistency. This could be simple designs or a few text characters.

Now, let’s look at the different locations you’ll see a website favicon.

B. Where Can You See a Favicon?

Favicons are found on the crucial spots that identify your website. That includes web browser tabs, bookmark bars, most visited apps, history results, the search bar, and its recommendations. 

Let’s visually check out the favicon of a website on these locations. Here, we’re taking reference to the Chrome browser.

1. Web Browser Tab

You can find the favicon of a site on the browser tab before the web page name.

2. Bookmark Bar

A website’s favicon is present on the bookmarks list before the web page name. 

3. Most Visited Apps

Moreover, a big favicon and site name are shown in the ‘Most Visited’ apps or ‘Shortcuts’ section on Chrome. On other browsers, this may be present in the ‘Toolbar’ section.

4. Browser History

If you go to the browser history, then you can also find the favicons of websites besides their specific web page name.

5. Search Bar and its Recommendations

In addition, suppose you try to search a website or web page on the search bar of your browser. There too, you’ll find the favicon and the website URL on the search bar or its recommendations to help you open it quickly.

Due to the use of favicons in many places, you may be wondering what the merits of using them are. Know that next!

C. Benefits of Using a Website Favicon

As mentioned before, a favicon is beneficial for your website. But how? Let’s see:

• Build Brand Awareness: A website favicon significantly helps you strengthen your brand identity across browsers, bookmarks, and search results. Logo-matching favicons are recognizable by users more.
• Strengthen User Experience: If users identify your website through its favicon, then it offers a smooth and efficient browsing experience.
• Maximize CTR (Click-Through Rate): Your recognizable favicon on search engine results can boost website attraction and hence CTRs. So, it enhances your website’s visibility.
• Increase Trust: A well-designed favicon increases reliability among users. It’s because that polished site is trustworthy compared to those without one.
• SEO Performance: Your website favicon won’t directly improve your site performance and SEO. However, other factors can contribute to this too.

With these benefits, you now want to create and add a favicon to your website. Isn’t it? But before that, here are some essential guidelines to follow.

D. Essential Guidelines for Creating a Site Favicon

A well-designed favicon is crucial for having the maximum positive impact on your website’s brand recognition. So, your website favicon must meet the following guidelines during its creation.

Without further delay, let’s get to know them!

1. Select the Right Size

First, choosing the right size is important for ensuring a website favicon displays accurately across different platforms. So, your favicon can have the most common and recommended size of 16×16 pixels.

Why? This is because browser tabs, address bars, and bookmark lists use this standard size. Hence, all the main web browsers will support your website favicon if you choose this safest size.

Guess what? You can also create your favicon in multiple sizes for various purposes. Such as:

• 32×32 pixels for taskbar shortcuts.
• 96×96 pixels for desktop shortcuts.
• 180×180 pixels for Apple Touch icons.

If you create favicons in these various dimensions, then they’ll scale appropriately. Ultimately, the favicons will look sharp on various screens and devices.

2. Pick a Compatible File Format

Moving forward, you must also pick the right file format for your favicon. This will ensure it looks sharp and functions correctly on all browsers.

Did you know? The most recommended and commonly used favicon formats are ICO and PNG. Here’s the reason:

• The most widely supported for favicons is the ICO format. This is because it can contain several sizes and resolutions inside a file. So, you can use them for different platforms. Plus, they are compatible with various browsers too.
• The PNG format is suitable because of its high image quality, transparency support, and lossless compression. Overall, you’ll get a crisp visual.

Otherwise, you can use the SVG format because it’s scalable, fast, and high quality regardless of size. Some of the other options are GIF and JPEG. 

However, ICO and PNG are mostly preferred because the other formats have comparatively lower image quality or are not transparent.

3. Choose the Right Color

Your favicon’s color helps you stand out and be recognizable across different platforms. Why? It’s because favicons are small, and their strong and contrasting color makes them identifiable at a glance. 

So, ensure you pick the right color for your favicon that maintains visibility and clarity. Here are some tips when using the right color:

• Check your favicon against multiple background colors. That can be gray, white, or black based on the widely used browsers and platforms.
• It’s better if the color matches your brand so that users can recognize them.

4. Little to No Text

Following that, it’s ideal to use little to no text on your favicon because of its small size. If you choose to include text, then keep it one to three characters only. 

This can be the initials or abbreviations of your brand name. Moreover, the text must be legible and clutter-free.

For example, the Quora website uses its first letter ‘Q’ as its favicon.

Similarly, many brands use a single letter of their business name to make their favicon recognizable. So, you can also use the initial from your brand if you want an impactful favicon.

5. Show Brand Identity Through Logo

Alternatively, you can always create a favicon using your logo, partially or entirely. It’s one of the best ways to showcase your brand identity.

For example, WordPress has a logo and favicon both with a single initial. That can be your choice for the favicon too.

If your logo is short, like that of ‘Wix’, then you can use that as the favicon. Otherwise, make adjustments so that it works at a small size.

How’s that possible? Simply use the key element of your logo. Other than using the single initial, you can instead use a recognizable shape. This iconic symbol from your logo can effectively represent your brand through a memorable favicon.

For example, HubSpot uses the creative ‘o’ shape from their logo in their favicon. Amazing, isn’t it?

Overall, using part of your website’s logo maintains a strong connection between your brand and the audience.

6. Use the Perfect Favicon Generator Tool

Guess what? You can easily create a custom favicon complementing your brand using one of the online favicon generator tools. These tools can easily convert your design into the right formats and sizes required for various browsers and platforms.

The list below points out some of the recommended favicon generator tools:

We highly recommend using Canva or Favicon.io for your favicon. However, all of these tools ensure your favicon is well-designed and optimized for all contexts. 

Which tools are you planning to use? Mention them in the comment.

7. Regularly Update or Improve

Similar to other website components, your favicon may require changes, updates, or improvements along with your brand. So, you must regularly update or enhance your favicon to match your current brand identity.

Further, advancements in the browser and device technology may also require the necessary improvements on your site icon. That’s because a favicon that worked a few years ago may not be that effective today.

So, optimize the favicon for new screen resolutions regularly. This ensures it remains sharp and visible across most of the devices and platforms. 

Plus, testing the favicons and making required updates is also crucial. This makes your favicon fit the modern and minimalist design resonating with your users.

E. How to Create a Favicon for Your Site?

You’ve reached the most exciting part of this guide. Now, we’ll show you how to create and add a favicon to your website. Yes, you read that right!

So, let’s begin the process for an ‘Example.com’ website. Shall we?

Step 1: Creating the Favicon

First, you must create your website favicon using one of the generator tools we’ve mentioned before. It can also be any other tool you prefer.

Here, we’ll be showing the process using Favicon.io and Canva for reference.

1. Using Favicon.io

First, visit the Favicon.io website. On the homepage itself, you’ll find the three options for favicon generation.

• Image
• Text
• Emoji

Among them, let’s go with ‘Text’. 

On the next page, enter or select the text, font color, background color, background type, font family, font-variant, and font size.

Make the right choices after looking at the top preview of your designed favicon. Once you’re sure, click the ‘Download’ button.

That’s all! We’ll show how to use or add these favicons generated for various devices and platforms later. 

Now, onto the next tool first.

2. Using Canva

Creating your website favicon using Canva is also simple. First, ensure you’ve set up your Canva account, whether free or premium.

Now, click on the ‘Create a Design’ button, followed by the ‘Custom size’ option. 

There, enter the height and width of the image. Let’s go with 512×512 pixels. Then, press ‘Create new design’.

Following that, you can change the background color for the favicon first. Just select the favicon space and click ‘Background color’. Then, pick a suitable color.

For example, let’s add a single letter of a brand. So, click on the ‘Text’ option, followed by the ‘Add a text box’ button.

Now, enter that first letter for the favicon icon and start customizing it. That includes using the options in the toolbar, including font family, font size, font color, etc.

Once you’re done, click the ‘Share’ button at the top-right. Then, click ‘Download’. There, ensure the file type is ‘PNG’ and then press ‘Download’.

Similarly, you can add your logo and create a unique favicon instead. And there you have it—a new favicon for your website!

Step 2: Adding to the Website

Once you finalize your favicon, it’s now time to add it to your site. Depending on the way of favicon creation, the process of adding it to the site can be different.

Let’s start with adding the favicon through the HTML code.

1. HTML

First, tell the browsers and other platforms to find your favicon. For that, you must insert a line of code in the <head> section of your HTML file.

Why? That’s because a pointer to the favicon can be made in the <head> section through code. Browsers read that instruction and display the found favicon.

If you created a single favicon using tools like Canva, then let’s say you saved your PNG file as ‘favicon.png’. According to that, add this code between your <head></head> tags.

<link rel= “icon” type = “image/png” rel = “noopener” target = “_blank” href= “/favicon.png”>

Note: Ensure you upload your favicon in the root directory of your website. If you saved it in a different location, then correctly mention it inside the href attribute. 

Suppose you saved it to a subfolder named ‘images’. Then, your href value must be “images/favicon.png”.

Created multiple favicon sizes? If you use tools like Favicon.io, then you’ll get multiple favicons of different sizes. In that case, you can load them on your website by adding the codes for each icon in the <head> section.

There must be use of unique filenames and include a “sizes” attribute to the code.

Let’s say you used Favicon.io. While downloading the folder, you’ll find the ‘Installation’ section at the bottom of their website. 

So, after uploading the folder to the root directory of your website, copy the code and enter it in the <head> section.

We’ve also included the code below for your ease:

<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/apple-touch-icon.png">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/favicon-32x32.png">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/favicon-16x16.png">
<link rel="manifest" href="/site.webmanifest">

Now, save your HTML code, and that’s all you’ve got to do. Incredible, right?

2. WordPress Website

Suppose you’re using a website builder platform, then the process to add the created favicon to your website is more simple. Without any coding, you can upload it instantly.

The following are the different ways to add a favicon to the WordPress website. 

In fact, WordPress is the most popular and widely used website builder. Yes, over 43.4% of websites on the web are built with it. So, let’s take its reference.

The process is similar to other website builders. Let’s go!

(i) General Settings (All Themes)

Initially, log into your WordPress website and navigate to ‘Settings > General’. 

There, you’ll find the ‘Site Icon’ option. So, click the ‘Choose a Site Icon’ button. 

Now, upload your favicon and hit ‘Set as Site Icon’.

Next, you may be asked to crop the image. If necessary, do so and then hit ‘Crop image’. Lastly, click the ‘Save Changes’ button to save the general settings.

Note that this option is possible for WordPress websites using any theme.

(ii) Site Editor (Block Themes)

Suppose you’re using a block theme, let’s say Twenty Twenty-Four. Then, this process is ideal for you if your logo and favicon are the same.

Just open your WordPress dashboard and navigate to ‘Appearance > Editor’.

There, click the right-side interface to edit the website. On the navigation, you’ll find the ‘Site Logo’ block added by default.

So, click on that block and the ‘Add site logo’ option. Now, upload the image and press ‘Select’.

On the right-side block settings, you’ll see the ‘Use as Site Icon’ option. Enable it and hit the ‘Save’ button.

Plus, ensure the ‘Icon’ is getting uploaded through the checkmark. If yes, then press ‘Save’ again.

Easy peasy!

(iii) Customizer (Classic Themes)

Lastly, if you’re using a classic theme, let’s say Kadence, then you can adjust your favicon from the Customizer. Here’s how you can do it.

Navigate to ‘Appearance > Customize’ on your WordPress dashboard. 

Now, go to the ‘Header’ menu and then ‘Logo’. 

Ensure you’ve got the logo added already. After that, press ‘Site Icon’. 

Next, click on the ‘Select Site Icon’ button.

There, upload the favicon image and hit ‘Select’. Now, you can either ‘Crop image’ or ‘Skip Cropping’ if WordPress asks.

Lastly, press the ‘Publish’ button. That’s all!

Congratulations on your very own favicon on your website! 

Make sure to go through our complete guide on how to make a website!

F. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are some answers to the questions you may further have regarding what is a website favicon. Check them out!

Conclusion

That’s all you have to know to be clear on what is a website favicon.

Hopefully, you understand everything and are ready to create one. Take help from our guidelines and steps on creating and adding your favicon to the website.

If you require any further help, then comment below. We’ll definitely guide you!

In addition, it’s ideal to read some of our helpful articles on the website purpose and website URLs.

Last but not least. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.