Favicons and home-screen icons: small details that signal a real store
A favicon appears in browser tabs and bookmarks. See which icon sizes a store should declare and how a missing one makes it look unfinished.
2 min read
Area
CRO & UX
Severity
Low
Fix effort
Small
Stores failing
11%
Of 180 stores we scanned where this check applies, 11% fail it and 33% pass. See all benchmarks.
A favicon is the small icon in a browser tab, bookmark and search result. A home-screen icon is what appears when a shopper adds your store to their phone. A store without them shows a blank globe, which reads as unfinished.
Why it matters
Icons are a tiny trust signal and a navigation aid: shoppers with many tabs open find your store by the icon. Google also shows favicons beside results on mobile, so a missing one makes your listing look generic.
What the audit looks at
The audit looks for declared favicon and apple-touch-icon links in the head of the home page and checks that they load.
What usually causes it
- A theme with no favicon uploaded
- An icon declared but the file moved or deleted
- Only a tiny size provided, which looks blurry on newer devices
- A CDN or caching setting that blocks the file
How to fix it
Add a favicon. The effort is small, usually a setting or a paste and under 30 minutes.
- It is what identifies your tab among twenty others, and its absence reads as unfinished.
- Supply at least a 32x32 and a 180x180 apple-touch-icon.
On Shopify
- Theme editor > Theme settings > Favicon. It takes a minute.
How to check it yourself
- Look at the tab of your store in a browser and see what icon appears.
- View the source for rel="icon" and rel="apple-touch-icon".
- Open the icon file URL directly to confirm it loads.
Frequently asked questions
What size should a favicon be?
Provide at least a 32 by 32 pixel icon, and a 180 by 180 pixel touch icon for phones. Square, simple designs work best.
Can I use my logo?
A simplified mark works better than a full logo, which is unreadable at tab size.
Related checks
Check your own store
See whether your store passes this check
Paste your store URL. The audit loads your pages in a real browser and shows the result for this check with the evidence behind it.