What That Tiny Icon Actually Does
Ever noticed the small icon on the left side of a browser tab? That's called a favicon. It's tiny, but when a customer has a heap of tabs open, it helps them spot your site at a glance. It also shows up in bookmarks, mobile home screen shortcuts, and even next to your search results.
Without a favicon, the browser just shows a plain default globe or a blank document. With a well-made one, even that little square gives a small but professional impression.
Why It's Worth the Effort
- Encourages return visits: With ten tabs open, your logo makes it easy for customers to click back.
- Brand consistency: Using the same colours and logo as your website, business cards, and socials builds trust.
- Mobile shortcut: When someone adds your site to their home screen, your icon appears just like an app.
Tips for a Great Favicon
- Keep it simple: It needs to be recognisable at 16x16px. A key symbol or your first initial works better than a full, detailed logo.
- Check contrast: Make sure it's visible on both light and dark tab backgrounds.
- Prepare multiple sizes: You'll need 16px, 32px, 180px (Apple touch icon), 512px (Android), and more.
- File formats: These days people use PNG and SVG alongside the classic
.ico.
How to Apply It
Once your logo is ready, use a free favicon generator to export the various sizes, then add link tags inside your site's <head>. On WordPress, you can simply upload an image under the 'Site Icon' setting and it applies automatically. After that, clear your browser cache and take a look.
It's a small detail, but touches like this add up to the sense of polish your customers feel.
At PICKTECH, we set up everything from your logo to your favicon and mobile icons to match your brand. If you'd like a website that gets the little things right, feel free to get in touch.