Why Your Favicon Isn’t Showing in Google (and How to Fix It)

Why Your Favicon Isn't Showing in Google (and How to Fix It)

Written by

Mauricio Rodriguez

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Your favicon is the first thing people see next to your result in Google, especially on mobile. When it is missing or wrong, Google shows a generic globe icon instead. On October 27, 2026, Google clarified its favicon documentation with a detail that explains many of these cases: Googlebot must be able to follow redirects from your home page to the page where the favicon is specified.

What changed

The updated documentation now says that Googlebot must be able to crawl the home page, follow any redirects from it, and that Googlebot-Image must be able to crawl the favicon file, without any of these URLs being blocked by robots.txt or other means. Barry Schwartz called it a clarification rather than a new rule. John Mueller explained that Google rewrote the text after noticing that AI systems did not understand how to troubleshoot favicon problems; the clearer wording helped them and should help people too.

Google’s favicon requirements

  • A favicon tag on the home page. Add a link element with rel="icon" in the head of your home page. Google reads the favicon from the home page of each hostname.
  • Crawlable home page and file. Neither the home page, any redirect in between, nor the favicon file may be blocked by robots.txt, a firewall or a login.
  • Square image. The favicon must be square, and Google recommends a size that is a multiple of 48px, such as 48×48, 96×96 or 144×144 pixels.
  • Stable URL. Keep the favicon at a URL that does not change often.
  • Appropriate content. Google will not show favicons it considers inappropriate.
<link rel="icon" href="/favicon-96.png" sizes="96x96" type="image/png">

Checklist when your favicon is missing

  • Check the home page redirect chain. If example.com redirects to www.example.com and then to a language folder, Googlebot must be able to follow every hop. Trace it with our Redirect Checker.
  • Check robots.txt. Make sure neither the home page nor the image folder is disallowed for Googlebot or Googlebot-Image. Test it with the robots.txt tester.
  • Check the tag. Confirm the rel=”icon” link is in the raw HTML of the home page, not only added by JavaScript after load.
  • Check the file. It should return a 200 and an image content type. Our HTTP Header Checker shows both.
  • Be patient. After fixing the problem, Google needs to recrawl the home page. You can request indexing of the home page in Search Console’s URL Inspection tool, but updates can still take time.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

Why is Google not showing my favicon?

Usually because Googlebot can’t reach the home page, a redirect from it, or the favicon file, or because the image doesn’t meet the requirements, such as being square.

What size should a favicon be for Google?

Square, in a multiple of 48px, such as 48×48, 96×96 or 144×144 pixels.

How long does it take for a new favicon to appear?

It depends on when Google recrawls your home page. Requesting indexing of the home page can help, but it may take days or weeks.

Can robots.txt block my favicon?

Yes. If the home page, a redirect or the favicon file is blocked for Googlebot or Googlebot-Image, Google can’t show it.

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