Favicon not showing? 10 fixes for Chrome, Safari & Google

Updated: 2026-10-27 · AnyToolsKit

You uploaded a new favicon, but the browser still shows the old one — or nothing at all. Work through this checklist from top to bottom; the first three items solve most cases.

1. Clear the favicon cache

Browsers cache favicons separately from the page, sometimes for weeks. Hard-reload (Ctrl+Shift+R / Cmd+Shift+R), then open the icon URL directly and reload it too. In Chrome you can also test in a new Incognito window. As a last resort, add a version query: href="/favicon.ico?v=2".

2. Open the icon URL directly

Visit https://your-site.com/favicon.ico (and each PNG). If you get a 404 or your HTML page, the file is not where the tag says. Common causes: the file was not copied to the build output, a sub-path deployment (e.g. GitHub Pages project sites), or case-sensitive file names on Linux servers (Favicon.ico ≠ favicon.ico).

3. Check the HTML tags

• Tags must be inside <head>, not <body>.
• Check for typos: rel="icon", not rel="favicon".
• Remove old or duplicate icon tags added by themes or plugins — the browser may prefer them.
• Make sure type matches the file (image/png, image/svg+xml, image/x-icon).

4. Is the file a real ICO?

A PNG renamed to .ico works in some browsers but not others. Drop your file into the ICO Viewer: it shows the real format and every size inside. If it is invalid, recreate it with Image to ICO.

5. Server MIME type and redirects

• Serve .ico as image/x-icon (or image/vnd.microsoft.icon) and .svg as image/svg+xml.
• Avoid redirect chains for the icon; serve it directly over HTTPS.
• Make sure the icon is not behind a login or a bot-protection challenge.

6. SVG favicon quirks

Safari does not use SVG favicons for tabs, and some browsers ignore SVGs that rely on external fonts or CSS. Always provide an ICO or PNG fallback next to the SVG.

7. Google Search shows the wrong icon

• The icon must be a multiple of 48 px or an SVG, and both the icon and home page must be crawlable (check robots.txt for Disallow rules that block it).
• Put the <link rel="icon"> on the home page of the domain or subdomain.
• Request re-indexing of the home page in Google Search Console. Updates can take several days to weeks.

8. Mobile home-screen icons

iOS uses the Apple touch icon and Android uses the manifest icons, not favicon.ico. Remove and re-add the home-screen shortcut after changes.

9. Windows shortcuts and pinned sites

Desktop shortcuts created from a browser copy the icon at creation time. Delete and recreate them, or refresh the Windows icon cache as described in this guide.

10. Content Security Policy

If your site sends a strict Content-Security-Policy header, make sure img-src allows the origin that serves the icon (usually 'self').