A favicon is a branding item that appears in your site visitors’ browser window next to your URL. You may be familiar with the Google ‘G’ that appears when you are on a Google page, or the ‘Y’ of Yahoo!
Most importantly, when a visitor to your site bookmarks it (example: by using the Add to Favorites of Internet Explorer), your icon appears next to your bookmarked link.
As stated, a favicon is a branding item. By having your favicon on each of your website's pages, you are making your name more credible and more memorable.
Creating a favicon is really very simple. You can go to a favicon generator site such as http://www.favicon.cc/ to get started. After creating your favicon, just upload it to the root directory of your website and add the following code to your header:
link REL=”SHORTCUT ICON” HREF=”http://www.yourwebsite.com/favicon.ico”/
(Don’t forget to surround the syntax with brackets that look like <>)
Of course, you can always have a favicon created by using an image or graphic. Since favicons are so small, it is usually best to choose an image that is simple and clean, like Google’s ‘G’, GMail’s envelope, or Marion’s ‘M’. A favicon (a .ico file) can also be converted into a .jpg file and placed through out your website’s pages. Though a favicon does not seem to have any SEO benefits, a larger version of your favicon found on your website helps you to increase your site visitors’ exposure to your brand especially when bookmarked.
Information from this article can also be found in the SEO Blog by Nick Stamoulis.
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