Favicons Help Spread Word of Mouth

So you've gone viral and attracted thousands of visitors to your site. You do want them to come back... right?

There are a ton of factors which will contribute to this, but there is one that is too often overlooked: the favicon!

What is a favicon exactly? They're little icons that show next to a Web address when a site is visited, or saved as a favorite. Favicons allow users to save them to any type of link bar in their browser without the need of accompanying text. This allows more sites to be listed, and utility is enhanced for the user.


Above is an example of a portion of my Bookmarks Toolbar in Firefox. Can you guess which I am more likely to click on? The three to the left which are missing icons are sites that I deemed important enough to put toward the beginning of my toolbar... but I can't remember off of the top of my head which are which, and therefore simply don't visit them as often.

Users who save links in this manner (more and more are doing so, as they learn about this possibility) are more likely to keep your site at their fingertips. If your site doesn't have a favicon, it will have to have an even higher degree of relevancy than if they did. Additionally, they may be less likely to keep it for an extended period of time.

And users who save their links in this fashion - ready at their fingertips - will be more likely to pass it on to others, and possibly even show them how to have it ready as well. Just think about it... your icon will be on their browser all the time!

The quality and attractiveness of the favicon can be important as well. I came across someone with a carrot in their link bar and asked them about it. They responded about how cool they thought it was to have a carrot in their collection.

Additionally, the fact that the favicon serves as the only method of identification for the site once it has been acquired by the user means that a deeper connection will be made with the symbol. This can also help to be effective when branding is paramount.

Favicons are especially effective for sites that are competing for the user's downtime. A good favicon can enable it to be added to the bar and be clicked on far more often than if it were buried within the favorites menu.

It is surprising how many top sites ignore this magnificent little tool, especially considering how easy it is to create and implement. A simple 16x16 icon must be created and simply integrated into the HTML code of the corresponding site. Further information on implementation can be found here.

Ready to be inspired? Check out this list of 50 Remarkable Favicons.