# Favicon / icons

_Source: https://seomatrix.ai/tools/favicon-check/_

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## What it does

A favicon check verifies that a site declares and serves all the icon files browsers and search engines expect — the HTML `<link rel="icon">`, the apple-touch-icon for iOS, a web app manifest with its icon set, and the /favicon.ico root fallback. A missing or broken favicon leaves a blank tab and, more costly, a generic placeholder next to your result in Google Search and beside your source in AI answer citations (Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) — exactly where users recognize a brand and decide whom to trust and click.

## What it checks

- **favicon link tag** — The `<link rel="icon">` in the page head that names the icon file; it's the primary explicit signal browsers and crawlers read before falling back to the root file.
- **/favicon.ico fallback** — The root-level file browsers and Google request by default even with no HTML tag; missing it forces an extra 404 and risks no icon at all in older clients.
- **apple-touch-icon** — The `<link rel="apple-touch-icon">` PNG (typically 180×180) used when someone saves your page to an iOS home screen; without it Apple screenshots the page instead.
- **web app manifest icons** — The site.webmanifest linked from the head, whose `icons` array (usually 192px and 512px) supplies the icon for Android install prompts and PWAs.
- **icon reachability** — Each declared icon URL must return HTTP 200 with an image content type; a link that 404s or serves HTML is as bad as no icon at all.
- **format and size coverage** — Whether the declared icons span the formats and resolutions clients choose from (ICO/PNG/SVG, multiple sizes) so every surface renders a crisp icon.

## How to use it

1. Paste your page URL into the checker and run it — it fetches the head and probes the icon files in one pass.
2. Review the flagged items — a missing apple-touch-icon, an absent web manifest, or a /favicon.ico that returns 404.
3. Add the missing `<link>` tags and upload the referenced icon files, then re-run the check to confirm every icon resolves.

## FAQ

### Do I still need /favicon.ico if I already have a `<link rel="icon">` tag?

Yes. Browsers, crawlers, and Google still request /favicon.ico by default, so a valid root file guarantees a fallback when the HTML tag isn't read.

### Why does my favicon show in the browser tab but not in Google search results?

Google fetches the favicon separately with its own crawler and caches it; a robots.txt block, a non-square image, a size under 48×48, or a file that only loads via JavaScript can each keep it out of Search.

### What icon files do I actually need?

A practical set is /favicon.ico (or an SVG/PNG `rel=icon`), a 180×180 apple-touch-icon, and a web manifest listing 192×192 and 512×512 PNGs — that covers tabs, iOS, and Android install.

### Does a favicon affect SEO or AI citations?

Indirectly but noticeably: it isn't a ranking factor, but it's the brand mark shown next to your listing in Google and beside your source in AI answers, so a missing one lowers recognition and click-through where it counts.