There are many strategies used to make a website standout, and one of the most undervalued elements is the Favicon.

What is a Favicon?

A Favicon (short for ‘favorite icon’) is a website file that contains one or more icons associated with a specific website or webpage. Browsers providing Favicon support will display the Favicon in the URL address bar, and next to a webpages name in a list of favorites or bookmarks. Some browsers use the assigned Favicon as a desktop icon.

Back in the day, a 16x16 Favicon image was all that was needed, but with the evolution of smartphones and tablets, multiple sizes are now required to accommodate iphone, Android, various browsers, and platforms using retina display.

Example of a Favicon displayed in a Browser:

In this case, this Favicon displays in the Left Corner, next to the site description.

Comparison Example:

When people Bookmark or add your site to their Favorites, the Favicon displays to identify your website.

If your website is using WordPress, many themes include Favicon customization as a built-in feature to create and automatically place a Favicon. In the Left column locate and Click ‘Appearance’ and then ‘Customize’.

In the Left Column, Click on ‘Site Identity’:

In the Left Column, Fill in your Site Name, Site Tagline.
Then select ‘Image’.
Then select ‘Publish’, blue button near page Top.

Once the Favicon is Published, the blue button will read as ‘Published’.

If your site is using a theme without this option, the easiest way to generate and place Favicons is by using a Plugin.

Generate a Favicon using a WordPress Plugin:

While there are many Favicon Plugins available, this particular plugin appears to be the most popular, and is easy to use to generate and setup Favicons for display on all major platforms.

The Favicon by RealFaviconGenerator
https://wordpress.org/plugins/favicon-by-realfavicongenerator/

Active Installs: 100,000+
Requires WP version 3.5 or higher

Install the Plugin from the WordPress Admin Panel, and Activate.

Locate ‘Appearance’ in the Left column, then ‘Favicon’.

Select an Image from your Media Library, then Click the ‘Generate Favicon’ blue button.

Select the Favicon Generator Options and then Click the ‘Generate your Favicons and HTML code’ blue button.

You’ll be returned to the Dashboard and a message will display: Favicon installed.
You’ll have the option to Preview.
You can also trigger the Favicon Checker, to make sure your Favicon is correctly set up.

Free Online Favicon Generators

If your website isn’t using WordPress there are many basic Favicon generators available online.

Here are a few:

Favicon.cc
https://www.favicon.cc/

Design, create and generate a Favicon from scratch or import an image. Option to create animated Favicons.

FaviconGenerator
https://www.favicongenerator.com/

Upload an image, select Favicon size, then generate.

Favicon-Generator
https://websitesetup.org/favicon-generator/

Generate a basic Favicon plus Favicons for Android, MS and iOS apps.

Real Favicon Generator
https://realfavicongenerator.net/

Create and generate Favicons for every platform, with a display test feature included.

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