The icon in the browser tab
The small picture in the tab next to the page's name is called a favicon. It shows in the tab, in bookmarks and in Google's mobile search results. Without it a grey globe appears, and the site looks unfinished.
How the checker measures it
The site has its own tab icon.
The site has no tab icon. Never more than a warning. It is a small detail with little weight.
This check carries 5 of 100 points.
Why it matters
Google shows your icon next to the company name in mobile search results. Competitors with a logo look finished. You get an empty circle. The same logo belongs on your Google Business Profile, so the customer recognises you on the map and in the tab.
The customer often has several tabs open while comparing. Your icon is what makes your tab findable again.
It is the smallest check in the review, and the easiest to fix. But details like this are what separate a website that feels finished from one that looks half done.
How to fix it
Take a simplified version of the logo, ideally just the symbol or a letter, that works at 32 by 32 pixels.
Save it as png or svg and upload it where your tool has the field for site icon or favicon.
Open the site in a new tab and check that the icon shows. Old icons can stay in the cache for a while.
Icon, sharing image and logo in the right sizes are part of every build. See what it costs.
What it looks like in practice
This is the smallest check in the report and carries 5 of 100 points. It cannot turn red. Either the icon is there and the row goes green, or it is missing and you get a warning. The checker first looks for an icon pointed out in the page's code, and if it finds none it checks whether an icon file sits at the site's standard address anyway.
A common situation is that the icon was never uploaded. The site then shows the browser's grey default symbol in the tab, and the same empty spot appears in the bookmark list and in mobile search results, where Google shows the icon next to the company name.
Another situation is that the icon is there but is the wrong picture: the whole logo with the company name in it, shrunk down to a space the size of a letter. On screen it becomes a blurred smudge. What works at that size is the symbol from the logo, an initial or a simple shape.
It is the easiest item on the list to tick off, and the only one that can usually be done without anyone touching the code.
Questions and answers
What is a favicon?
It is the small picture in the browser tab next to the page's name. The same picture turns up in bookmarks and in Google's mobile search results.
Can I use my normal logo as the icon?
Only if it works in a space the size of a letter. A wide logo with the company name in it becomes unreadable, and then it is better to take out the symbol or an initial.
I have uploaded an icon but cannot see it, what is wrong?
Often the old icon is still sitting in the browser's memory. Open the site in a new tab or in another browser before troubleshooting any further.
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The other checks
The checker looks at nine things. Each has its own page.