Today, more than 4.93 billion people use the internet. It's fair to assume that most of them use some kind of a web browser. That’s 63.2% of the global population! When you bring your business or brand online and let the world browse on your website, you can generate endless leads, bring traffic, engage your audience, and increase your conversions. And all this traffic will inevitably see your favicon as well (sometimes even when they don’t browse through your website!).
This is why having a strong favicon is important - you can leave a strong impression of your brand in the minds of your potential consumers even before they read a word on your website. Your favicon is the first thing your customers would interact with online.
Keeping that in mind, let us find out what a favicon is and dive into the differences between a good and bad favicon.
What is a favicon?
Let’s start by talking about your brand. It is the experience and perception that people have about your company. Branding includes all the steps and measures taken to build your brand. And a favicon is a crucial (and often ignored) element that not just improves your brand’s image but also helps improve the user experience for your website (by making it easy for your customers to locate your brand when they have a dozen or more open tabs).
That tiny square/circle/icons on the top of all websites, bookmarks, or browsing history in a web browser are called favicons. Generally, favicons feature a logo, or the initials of a company’s name, or a responsive version of your logo. Right now, you can take a quick look at the top of this current tab on your browser & you’ll find a ‘G’ used as a favicon for our website.
Favicons are your go-to source if you have too many tabs open in your browser and want to find a particular one. Favicons are easily visible and help you match the tabs with their respective websites. They may seem tiny but can make a huge difference to your website’s overall look & aid navigation.
The difference between a good and bad favicon
As stated earlier, favicons are an essential element that improves the usability and user experience of a website and the brand recognition of your company. On the contrary, a poor favicon reflects negatively on your brand. Now, let’s take a look at some of the differences between a good and bad favicon.
Detailing
Good favicon – A easily recognizable favicon should ideally fit inside a 16x16 pixel square. A favicon that is less detailed, clear, and specific to the brand fits perfectly in the definition of a good favicon. Some brands with great favicons include YouTube, Gmail & Wikipedia.
Bad favicon – Poor favicons are extremely detailed and hard to read. For example, Nestle, & Goldman Sachs. Too many details in a small 16-pixel size will end up looking like one blob of color.
Uniqueness
Good favicon - A unique yet eye-catching favicon could be what makes you stand apart from the favicons of your competitors. Your page visitors can easily locate your page by distinguishing It from the pile of other websites or the websites of your competitors, making your brand look authoritative.
Bad Favicon - If you have an irrelevant or generic favicon your page visitors will have a hard time differentiating your website from others, making it unrecognised and indistinctive.
Colours and fonts
Good Favicon – A good favicon is made of one or two contrasting colours and one font that’s designed to work in small sizes.
Bad Favicon – A bad logo will have too many colours, or dull colours, with multiple fonts which are difficult to recognise.
Now that we have learnt about the good and bad favicons, let us now understand the importance of a good favicon.
4 reasons why a good favicon is Important for building a better brand
1. Recognizable branding
As stated earlier, favicons help users in remembering your webpage/website while browsing through several URLs. They help in quick access to your website by aiding the users to remember the icon of your website.
2. Building brand trust and credibility
When your site doesn’t have a favicon, a blank document is displayed in the place of the favicon. For your potential buyer this might be the reason they choose your competitor over you. Many users look deep into these minute details and compare the webpage with that of your competitors. They think professionally built sites are more credible and trustworthy (And one way to ensure this is to have a good favicon.)
3. Improves SEO
The Chrome browser detects certain signals and ranks them more easily if they have a favicon, increasing its chances for higher SEO. If your site lacks a favicon, you may lose out on a small yet important search ranking signal. Favicons also help during searching search results, by letting your users be aware of the icon used by your brand while searching, making it apt for SEO.
4. Visual identity saves time
Favicons are time-saving, increase a site’s user experience by improving its ease of navigation. They help in finding the tabs instantly through their visual identity without having the need to open each of the web pages one by one.
The final word
Online businesses and startups are competing for user attention. So, a good & consistent brand identity matters a lot. The use of favicons might not seem to make any significant difference because of their tiny size. However, investing in a favicon is a must for premium branding, because it makes your site authoritative, reputable and memorable. If you are not sure if your favicon is good or not, we made a tool to help you check just that!
Also, we at gopigraphy.com offer a variety of services to help you build a better brand. Visit our website to know more about us!
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