Troubleshooting
Favicon Not Showing or Not Updating? Fixes for Browsers and Google
Short answer
In the browser, it's usually the favicon cache: hard reload or open a private window. In Google, the favicon must be square, at least 8×8 (ideally bigger than 48×48), in a format Google supports (not SVG), crawlable, and it can take days to weeks to appear.
Checked against Google: Favicon in Search, MDN: <link> and Evil Martians: How to favicon in October 2026.
Not showing in the browser tab
- 01Open
https://yoursite.com/favicon.icodirectly. If it 404s, the file isn't where the browser looks. - 02Check the
<link rel="icon">hrefpaths load without errors. - 03Hard reload, or open the page in a private window. Browsers keep favicons in a separate cache.
- 04Look for two tags pointing at different files; remove the old one.
- 05If you have a Content Security Policy, make sure
img-srcallows the favicon.
Not showing in Google Search
| Google requires | Details |
|---|---|
| Square | 1:1, at least 8×8; bigger than 48×48 recommended |
| Supported format | ICO, PNG, GIF, JPEG, BMP, PPM, TIFF. Not SVG. |
| A tag on the home page | rel="icon", apple-touch-icon or apple-touch-icon-precomposed |
| Crawlable | Googlebot can crawl the home page, Googlebot-Image the icon file |
| Stable URL | Don't change the favicon URL often |
| One per hostname | Subfolder home pages can't have their own |
Crawling can take several days to several weeks, and Google doesn't guarantee a favicon even when every rule is met.
Quick fixes
| You see | Why | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Old favicon in the tab | Browser favicon cache | Hard reload or private window |
| Favicon shows locally, not live | File not deployed, or a wrong path | Open /favicon.ico on the live site |
| Default platform icon in Google | Google hasn't recrawled yet | Wait; request indexing of the home page in Search Console |
| No favicon in Google at all | SVG only, or blocked in robots.txt | Add an ICO or PNG; unblock it |
| Wrong favicon on a subfolder site | Google uses one per hostname | Use a subdomain if it needs its own |
FAQ
How long until Google shows my new favicon?
Anywhere from several days to several weeks after it recrawls your home page.
Why does Google show a globe icon?
It hasn't found a usable favicon: wrong format, blocked, not square, or not crawled yet.
Does Google support SVG favicons?
No. Add an ICO or PNG alongside the SVG.
How do I force the browser to update the favicon?
Hard reload or open a private window. Visitors' browsers update on their own over time.