What is favicon? According to Wikipedia we know that:
A favicon /ˈfævɪkɒn/ (short for Favorite icon), also known as a shortcut icon, Web site icon, tab icon or bookmark icon, is a file containing one or more[1] small icons, most commonly 16×16 pixels, associated with a particular Web site or Web page.
Technically, favicon is an icon, a visual identity for your web page.
In this article, I will review useful information about favicon, its characteristics, how to design and install favicon for your WordPress site. Let’s start with a question: why should we use favicon?
Why you should use Favicon
Talking about the benefit of have a favicon, here are the reasons:
1. It differentiates your site with thousand of competitors. Take it like your business logo, a favicon can make user remember your web easily. Most WordPress page owners don’t change the default favicon, which makes it hard to identify their page among peers. Also, you should consider designing and having your own favicon as an act of professionalism. Why you have logo, business card, stationery but favicon?!
2. In the era of “multitasking and tabbed browsing”, a favicon helps identify which tab has which website, thus making web surfing a lot easier. Believe me, when you have a browser with more than 10 tabs, favicons will come to save the day.
3. Does favicon affect SEO? I would say no. It’s not the content for machines to read but for human. Like a branding for your online business, it may attract more clicks from search results.
How to design a Favicon for your WordPress page
Though there are many ways to create a favicon, you should try the DIY option first. As long as you are comfortable with your design and drawing skills, use any graphic design program you may have or feel comfortable with to create one. Start from scratch and this is where creativity comes in. After couple tries, I believe you will come up with a favicon you will be satisfied with.
Another option is that you can use online services to create your own favicon, such as Faviconer.com (creates 24bit favicon.ico with a transparent background) favicon.co.uk or Dynamic Drive. And in the worst case that you’re not confident with your designer’s instinct, hire someone to design it for you.
There are few things to consider:
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You will have to save your favicon in the .ico format: favicon.ico
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If you already have your site logo, try to scale its dimensions to 16×16 pixel to create a favicon.
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Make the image clear and match your site’s image and/or content. It helps connect your brand and favicon.
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16×16 is a tiny canvas, and you may think you can’t do much. Well, think Mario and Flappy Bird, they’re built with a similar approach.
How to install Favicon in WordPress
The easy and direct way to install Favicon in WordPress is through manual process.
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Use an FTP Client, upload the new favicon.ico into the theme’s main folder.
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Upload another copy of your favicon.ico to the root directory of your site (ie. http://yoursite.com/favicon.ico). This helps display the favicon in your subscribers’ feedreaders.
To display the new favicon in old browsers, you have to edit your page header.
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Login to WordPress Admin Panel
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Follow Appearance > Theme Editor
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Select the file header.php to edit
Look for a line of the code that begins with <link rel=”shortcut icon” and ends with /favicon.ico” />. In case it already exists, overwrite it with the new code. Otherwise, under the <head> HTML tag, insert the following code:
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); ?>/favicon.ico" />
4. Save.
Anytime you want to install a new favicon, simply follow those steps presented above.
Conclusion
A favicon is not just a tiny icon, it holds benefits such as an identity for your site and a reminder for your users. Creating and installing a favicon is pretty much easy and using it can make your WordPress site stand out from the rest. In short, favicon should be considered as a part of your online marketing static without overlooking.
