Checks
Favicon presence
Checks that the site's homepage declares a favicon link, the small icon that represents your brand in browser tabs, bookmarks, and search results.
What this check looks for
This is a site-scoped check that runs once against the homepage (the crawled page at depth 0, or the page matching the seed URL). It looks for a <link> element whose rel attribute includes icon or apple-touch-icon. If no such link is found, it warns; if one is found, it passes regardless of whether the referenced file actually loads.
Why it matters
Google displays favicons next to search results on both desktop and mobile, and a missing one leaves a generic placeholder icon that makes your listing look less polished and less trustworthy next to competitors who have one. Browsers use it for tabs, bookmarks, and history entries, all of which shape how recognizable and credible your brand feels on repeat visits. It's a minor signal for AI answer engines directly, but it's a cheap, low-risk fix that rounds out a site's overall professionalism and completeness — the kind of detail that correlates with a well-maintained, trustworthy source.
How to fix it
Declare a favicon (and ideally an Apple touch icon for iOS home-screen bookmarks) in the homepage's <head>:
<head>
<link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" sizes="any">
<link rel="icon" href="/icon.svg" type="image/svg+xml">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/apple-touch-icon.png">
</head>Serve the referenced files from the paths you declare, and keep them present sitewide even though this check only samples the homepage.
See how your site scores on this check