Why your favicon is not showing in Google search results

Google shows a generic globe instead of your icon. The size and format Google needs, where to declare it, how long it takes to update, and how to check each step.

Published 3 October 2026

Tool for this job: Favicon Generator

Your favicon shows in browser tabs, but Google search results show a plain globe icon next to your site name. Google uses its own rules for which favicons it displays, and browsers are more forgiving. Here is what Google looks for.

What Google needs

A square image whose size is a multiple of 48 pixels: 48 × 48, 96 × 96, 144 × 144, 192 × 192 and so on. A 16 or 32-pixel icon alone is too small.
A supported format: ICO, PNG, SVG and other common image formats work.
Declared on the home page with a <link rel="icon"> tag in the head.
Crawlable: Google must be able to fetch both the home page and the icon file. A robots.txt rule blocking the image folder stops it.
A stable address: avoid changing the icon's URL frequently.
Appropriate content: Google replaces icons it considers inappropriate with a default.

Make a favicon set

Open the Favicon Generator and upload a square logo, or type a letter or emoji.
Choose a shape and colours, and check the small preview: simple marks read best at tiny sizes.
Download the set. It includes a favicon.ico with 16, 32 and 48-pixel versions, PNG files at 16, 32, 180, 192 and 512 pixels, and a web manifest.
Upload the files to your site's root and paste the provided tags into the page head.

Add a tag Google can use

The standard tags point browsers at the 16 and 32-pixel icons, which are fine for tabs but not multiples of 48. Add one more line pointing at the 192-pixel file, which meets Google's rule:

<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="192x192" href="/android-chrome-192x192.png">

The favicon.ico also contains a 48-pixel version, which Google can use, but an explicit 192-pixel PNG removes the doubt.

Check each step

Open the icon's URL directly in a browser. It should load, not redirect to a login or a 404.
View the home page source and confirm the link tags are in the head, not the body.
Check robots.txt does not block the icon or the folder it lives in.
In Google Search Console, inspect the home page URL and request indexing after changing the icon.

How long it takes

Google picks up favicon changes when it next crawls your home page, and updating the icon in results can take days or weeks. Requesting indexing of the home page can speed it up but does not guarantee timing. Avoid changing the icon repeatedly while waiting.

For designing the icon itself and the full set of sizes, see how to make a favicon. For other search appearance issues, see how long a meta description should be.