A favicon for your site: where it goes and why it does not update

The short answer: the favicon is the small icon shown on the browser tab and in bookmarks. In WordPress you set it under Appearance, Customize, Site Identity, Site Icon. If you changed it and still see the old one, it is almost never a fault: browsers store the favicon separately from the rest of the page, and for a long time.

Where it goes

Your site Where
WordPress Appearance, Customize, Site Identity, Site Icon. Upload a square image at least 512 by 512 pixels: WordPress makes the sizes it needs.
A block theme without the Customizer Look for “Site Icon” in the Site Editor or in the theme options. Where it is depends on the theme.
A plain HTML site Put a favicon.ico file in the main folder of the site (usually public_html): browsers look for it there. Or add <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.png"> inside the <head> tag of the page.

Why it does not update

1 Confirm the site already announces the new icon. Open the page, right-click, choose “View page source” and search for rel="icon". Open that address in a tab and check whether the image is the new one.
2 Force the browser. Try Ctrl+F5, a private window and, if needed, closing and reopening the browser. The favicon is among the files it keeps the longest.
3 Give the file a new name (for example favicon-2.png) or add ?v=2 to the address in the code. The browser treats it as a different file. The same idea is in Visitors still see the old CSS or logo.
4 Clear the site’s own caches: the cache plugin and, if you use it, Cloudflare. See the list in Clearing the cache.
5 On Google, be patient. The icon shown in search results only changes when Google visits the site again, and that can take days or weeks.
For Google to show it: its documentation asks for a square icon, with a side that is a multiple of 48 pixels, and that neither the file nor the home page is blocked by robots.txt. Even if you meet all of that, Google decides whether to show it. See robots.txt and sitemap.xml.
Pick a simple image that reads small: the initial letter or the brand symbol, with no text. A transparent background can look wrong on a dark tab. Test both.

Changed the icon and still see the old one after all this? Open a ticket with the site address.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

Clearing the cache: the browser’s, the computer’s, and the site’s

Visitors still see the old CSS or logo

robots.txt and sitemap.xml: what they do and how to check them

Facebook and WhatsApp show the wrong preview of your site

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