Favicon for Google: current requirements, sizes and HTML tags

The favicon that appears next to your site in Google results has its own rules, and the ones circulating in tutorials, like the “multiple of 48 pixels” rule, are not what the current documentation says. What Google requires today, according to its guide updated in August 2026, which other sizes phones and installable apps need, and what a reasonable set of files and tags looks like.

Reviewed on 3 October 2026 · 4 min read

What Google requires, according to its current documentation

Google's page on favicons in Search (last updated 28 August 2026) sets these conditions for your favicon to be eligible to appear in results:

  • Format: BMP, GIF, ICO, PNG, JPEG, PPM or TIFF. SVG is not on that list, so although browsers accept an SVG favicon, for Google it is worth also having an ICO or a PNG.
  • Shape and size: square (1:1 ratio) and at least 8 × 8 pixels. Google recommends using one larger than 48 × 48 so it looks good on different surfaces.
  • One favicon per site, and a site is a hostname: https://www.example.com/ and https://blog.example.com/ are two sites and can have different favicons, but https://www.example.com/shop, a subdirectory, cannot have its own: it uses the root one.
  • It must be crawlable: Googlebot-Image has to be able to fetch the favicon file and Googlebot has to be able to crawl the home page. If you block either in robots.txt, it will not appear.
  • Stable URL: do not change the file's address frequently.
  • Appropriate content, representative of the brand. Google replaces ones it deems inappropriate with a generic icon.

And a warning Google repeats: meeting every condition does not guarantee it will appear. The change is not immediate either: according to Google, crawling can take from several days to several weeks. If you change the favicon, you can request indexing of the home page with Search Console's URL Inspection tool.

The tags Google reads

Google extracts the favicon from the <link> tag on the home page. It accepts rel="icon" (and, for historical reasons, rel="shortcut icon"), rel="apple-touch-icon" and rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed". The href can be a relative path or a full address, and can even be hosted on a content delivery network rather than your own domain.

The other sizes that matter: mobile and installable apps

Google is not the only reader of the favicon. Three more uses, with their size:

  • iPhone and iPad (home screen icon): Apple's documentation shows 180 × 180 icons for retina iPhones (and 152 × 152 and 167 × 167 for iPad). If you declare none, Safari looks in your site's root for a file whose name starts with apple-touch-icon; the simplest is to have a 180 × 180 one and link it.
  • Installable web app (PWA): for Chrome to offer to install your site, the manifest must include a 192 px and a 512 px icon, according to the installability criteria published on web.dev.
  • Browser tabs and bookmarks: they use small versions (16 and 32 pixels, up to 48 in some cases), taken from the ICO, SVG or PNG files you declare.

A reasonable set of files

This is what UtilsDock uses in its own <head>, and it is a minimal set covering browsers, Google, iPhone and installable apps:

<link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" sizes="48x48">
<link rel="icon" href="/favicon.svg" type="image/svg+xml">
<link rel="manifest" href="/site.webmanifest">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/apple-touch-icon.png">
  • favicon.ico: the format Google does accept and the one older browsers use. An ICO can hold several sizes at once.
  • favicon.svg: scales without loss to any size and can adapt to dark mode. Modern browsers prefer it, but it is not the one Google reads.
  • apple-touch-icon.png: 180 × 180 pixels.
  • The 192 and 512 pixel icons go inside the manifest (site.webmanifest).

How to design a favicon that reads

At 16 pixels, small text and fine detail turn into a smudge. A simple, bold shape works better, with the important part centred and good contrast. A black icon on a transparent background can vanish on a dark tab: check how it looks on both light and dark backgrounds before publishing.

Generating and checking it

The favicon generator takes a square logo and returns the whole set: a multi-size favicon.ico, 16 and 32 pixel PNGs, a 180 × 180 Apple icon, 192 and 512 PNGs for Android and installable apps, and the HTML tags to paste into your <head>. Once that is done, the favicon checker reviews your file (format, weight, shape and transparency) and shows it at real sizes on light and dark backgrounds. If you need to resize the logo first, you can do it with the image resizer. Everything is processed in your browser, with no logo uploaded to a server.

The favicon is only part of what Google sees of your site: robots.txt and sitemap.xml explains what it crawls and what it does not, and title and meta description length how they show next to the favicon.

Sources and further reading

Figures checked on 3 October 2026.

Do it now, free, in your browser. Your files are not uploaded.

Turn a logo into a full favicon package with every size and the HTML to use it.

Favicon generatorFavicon checker

Frequently asked questions

What size should the favicon be for Google?
Square and at least 8 × 8 pixels; Google recommends one larger than 48 × 48 so it looks good. The multiple-of-48-pixels rule does not appear in its current documentation.
Does Google support an SVG favicon?
The list of formats Google gives for the favicon in Search is BMP, GIF, ICO, PNG, JPEG, PPM and TIFF; SVG is not on it. It is prudent to also have an ICO or a PNG.
Can I have a different favicon for each section of my site?
Only if they are different subdomains. Google supports one favicon per hostname (domain or subdomain); sections in subdirectories use the root one.
Why is my favicon not showing in Google?
Googlebot-Image may be unable to fetch it, the home page may be blocked, the format or shape may not meet the conditions or it may not have been crawled yet: that can take days to weeks. Google also does not guarantee it will appear.
What size is the apple-touch-icon?
180 × 180 pixels for retina iPhones, according to Apple's documentation (152 × 152 and 167 × 167 for iPad).
Which icons does an installable web app need?
A 192 pixel icon and a 512 pixel one, declared in the web app manifest, according to Chrome's installability criteria.

Related guides

Web and SEOrobots.txt and sitemap.xml: what to put and what to avoidHow to write a robots.txt and sitemap.xml that work: location, syntax, Google's limits, why robots.txt does not hide pages and how to control AI crawlers.5 min read Web and SEOOpen Graph image size: official Facebook and LinkedIn requirements and how to update itWhat Meta and LinkedIn require for the image shown when a link is shared (size, weight, 1.91:1 ratio), why it is missing the first time and how to refresh it.4 min read Image and photoJPG vs PNG vs WebP vs AVIF: differences and which to useWhich image format to choose for photos, screenshots, logos with transparency, websites or printing: compression, transparency, support and common mistakes.5 min read

Tools used in this guide

They run in your browser, so nothing is uploaded.

Favicon generatorTurn a logo into a full favicon package with every size and the HTML to use it. Favicon checkerCheck a favicon file and see how it looks at real sizes. Compress images onlineMake photos lighter with a before-and-after view, one or many at once. Convert images between JPG, PNG, WebP and AVIFConvert between JPG, PNG, WebP and AVIF, one file or many at once. HEIC to JPG converterTurn iPhone photos into JPG or PNG that open anywhere, without uploading them. Make an image fit under an exact sizeYou set the limit and it finds the quality that meets it.