What is a Favicon and How to Generate a Favicon for a Website?

A favicon is a tiny icon displayed along with your website title on the browser. We will discuss how to create a favicon for your website.

Oftentimes, the little things make a huge difference in general, as well as in business.

Just like in branding, I believe the little things really make up your great impression in front of potential customers. One such element of it is the favicon.

What is a favicon?

A favicon is a tiny 16×16 pixel icon that sticks next to your website’s title on the browser tab.

It helps your users identify your website from all the tabs that are open. It is important to keep in mind that a favicon is different from a logo, but you are free to keep the same design on both of them.

Before you go on to say that “this little thing isn’t important,” let me tell you, it definitely is. It adds legitimacy to your website and helps your brand stand out. Also, making visitors realize that there was an effort put into the design and branding aspect instantly builds trust.

I recommend every site to have a favicon if you want to make a great, lasting impression in front of users.

Now, the real question is, “How to create a favicon”? Well, it’s not the toughest task. At least not with the below-mentioned resources. By using them, you can easily have your own favicon created in no time.

Do Favicons Impact SEO?

No, these do not directly have an impact on your website’s SEO rankings. Nevertheless, favicons can affect your website branding, trust, positive user experience, and engagement. All these factors indirectly contribute to better SEO.

What Are the Most Common Image File Formats Used for Favicons?

• PNG: Due to its transparency and high quality, PNG is often the preferred format for complex and gradient favicons.
• ICO: It is the most widely supported format for favicons. It even allows browsers to choose the appropriate size and color depth according to the scenarios. 
• SVG: SVG is used for favicons to offer scalability without loss of quality. Unfortunately, this format is not compatible with all browsers.

How to Create a Good Favicon? 

• Due to the small dimensions, try to use simple and clear designs. Focus on minimalist to avoid clutter.
• Your favicons will be 16×16 pixels or 32×32 pixels. Design favicons that will look good even when scaled down.
• Make sure to use a limited color palette with contrasting colors to make it visible and recognizable.
• To create favicons with precise design, use powerful apps like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.
• Instead of choosing a trendy design, go for a favicon that will look evergreen.

To ensure its visibility and impact on all backgrounds, test it with varying background colors. 

How to Add a Favicon to Your Website?

First of all, you need to create a favicon for your square website with a size 16×16 pixels or 32×32 pixels.

• Upload the image file on your website server through FTP or cPanel.
• Adjust the href attribute or include the necessary code in the HTML file of your website.
• Clear your browser cache to see the favicon placed appropriately.

After that, test on different web browsers and troubleshoot if the favicon is not displayed correctly.

Favic-o-Matic

Right off the bat, you get to choose two different sizes on Favic-o-Matic. The first one is the normal 16×16 + 32×32 pixels, and the second one is universal, which will generate a favicon for every device and platform.

There are also some advanced settings you can look at, which lets you select a background color, sizes preset, and other functions. You can download your favicon in PNG and ICO format, as usual.

You can straightaway upload your image and watch the magic. It’s completely free to use, but a little donation is always appreciated by their side. So, if you find it useful, don’t forget to do your bit. 🙂

RealFaviconGenerator

You can create an appropriate favicon for each of the browsers and platforms with RealFaviconGenerator, so that it looks crisp everywhere. All you do is upload your image, and it’ll optimize it universally, so you don’t have to do any manual work.

If in case you don’t like the look of your favicon on a particular platform, then you can use their tool to check and improve it in a jiffy. The entire process takes no more than 5 minutes to complete.

On top of all that, it’s totally free to use.

Favicon.io

Probably the easiest method ever, Favicon.io lets you create or convert your given image into a favicon. It is completely free to use the tool, and you can put your generated favicon wherever you like. You get PNG and ICO formats to export.

There are a few ways to generate a favicon with this tool. The first one is from plain text. If you don’t have an image or a logo to turn into a favicon, you can use this option to generate a normal text-based favicon instantly.

The second one is from an image or logo. All you have to do is upload your desired image/logo, and this tool will turn it into an appropriate size and format.

The last option is emojis. They have a variety of pre-made emojis you can choose from and make your favicon. I’d recommend this option only if you have a small website or one that is not “too serious.”

Fiverr

You can literally think of any service, and it’s sure to be available on Fiverr.

It’s a huge marketplace to hire freelancers for simple and complex tasks, and designing a favicon happens to be one of them.

While it’s not necessary that any service you purchase through this platform will be satisfactory, I must also say the design category almost never fails to impress. And when we’re talking about a favicon, you’re sure to get a good one.

Most of the gigs start from just $5, and you usually get unlimited revisions until you’re fully satisfied. Reviews are a big thing for freelancers, so they’re bound to meet your requirements. All you do is purchase a suitable gig and provide your exact requirements. Depending upon the delivery time, they’ll usually get it done in a day or two.

I’d recommend going for a gig that offers the source file of the favicon as well so that you can tweak a bit here and there if you wish to.

Faviconer

Faviconer lets you draw your own favicon or upload a ready-made image to convert into an appropriate format. You can choose from 16×16 and 32×32 sizes, or better enough, pick both.

An interesting feature of this tool is you can upload your image and then go on to draw on it. This is useful if you want some little additions to your already-made image. You can export your favicon in ICO format because that’s known to be the most suitable for favicons.

Generally, this tool is quite easy to use, but if you still need help, you can refer to their video tutorial at the bottom of the page. You can use everything for no cost at all.

Favicon Generator

Last but not least, the Favicon Generator is another easy and free tool to create a favicon for your website. You don’t have the option to upload an image but rather create one from scratch using their customizable options. It’ll be entirely text-based but with color.

You can play with:

• Text type
• Background color
• Text color
• Border color

There are also simple instructions under the options so that you can achieve the best possible result. You don’t have to do much apart from adding text and selecting colors, and you can export your favicon in ICO format instantly after generation.

If you’re skeptical about how your favicon will look, you can check the examples on top of the page to see for yourself.

Conclusion

The above resources to create a favicon for your website will surely come in handy in your branding journey. Most of them are free, but that doesn’t take away the fact that they’re incredible.

If you want a specific type of favicon design, then I’d suggest going ahead with Fiverr. Or else, the other mentioned options are great to fall back on.