Have you seen that icon in the search results before your website’s URL? Google shows these logos in both mobile and desktop search results. So, no excuses; your site needs a good favicon. Luckily, setting a favicon in WordPress is very easy. Here, we’ll explain how to change the favicon of your WordPress site!
We’ve been writing about favicons for years. This article about favicons and branding will tell you what you must think about. Please read it, and make sure your favicon is good and stands out. Plus, we’ve added a preview of your favicon in the search appearance section of Yoast SEO so you can see how Google will show your site in the SERPs.
The Yoast logo is our favicon, as shown in Google search on desktop
How to change your favicon in WordPress
Time needed: 2 minutes
Now, let’s give you a simple step-by-step guide on changing your WordPress favicon. The favicon is called a site icon in WordPress and can be added to the customize theme section.
Log in to your WordPress website.
When you’re logged in, you’ll be in your ‘Dashboard’:
Click ‘Appearance’
Click ‘Appearance’ to get access to the site appearance settings
Click on ‘Customize’.
The ‘Appearance’ settings will expand, providing you with additional options. Click on ‘Customize’.
Click ‘Site Identity’ and add your favicon under ‘Site Icon’.
You can define your site name, tagline, logo, and icon here. The image you set under “Site Icon” will be used as your site’s favicon:
Some things to keep in mind for favicons
Keep in mind that Google has some guidelines for showing your favicons in the search results:
Google Search allows only one favicon per website, which is defined by its hostname. Thus, https://www.example.com/ and https://news.example.com/ can each have their own favicons, but https://www.example.com/sub-site, being a subdirectory, shares the main site’s favicon.
Favicon guidelines include:
Only one favicon per main site and its subdirectories.
Favicons must be accessible to Googlebot and Googlebot-Image.
A favicon should accurately represent your site’s brand.
Favicons should be sized in multiples of 48px square, though SVGs are size-flexible.
Keep your favicon URL consistent.
Inappropriate favicons, including explicit or hateful imagery, will be replaced by Google with a default icon.
That was easy, wasn’t it? So, no more excuses, get to it. Change that favicon on your WordPress site!
Joost is an internet entrepreneur and the founder of Yoast. He has a long history in WordPress and digital marketing. On our blog, he has written a lot about SEO in general, technical SEO and important topics related to SEO.
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