WordPress Favicon Not Showing: Site Icon, Cache & HTTPS

You changed the site icon, but an old logo still appears in the browser tab. That can happen because WordPress did not save the new Site Icon, the public page still links to an older file, or the browser is holding a cached copy.

Check those three layers in order. It is faster—and safer—than changing the theme or repeatedly uploading new images when the page is already pointing to the correct file.

The favicon is the small tab or bookmark image. It is separate from the logo in your page header unless the theme explicitly connects them.

Guide reviewed: October 8, 2026. Menu labels use English WordPress; provider-specific controls may differ.

Find out whether WordPress or the browser has the old icon

What you observe	Check first	Next comparison
Old icon in one browser only	New tab or clean session	Compare another browser before replacing the attachment
Missing icon in every browser	Saved Site Icon and live icon link	Open the exact image URL
Homepage correct, posts wrong	Template output or cached page HTML	Compare each page’s icon address
New image URL returns an error	Public file access	Correct that image or its generated URL

Start with the saved Site Icon

Prepare a square source image at least 512 × 512 pixels.
On WordPress 6.5 or later, open Settings → General and find Site Icon.
Select the intended attachment, crop if prompted, and save the setting.
Open a new homepage tab and one ordinary post.

Older versions may place the control under Appearance → Customize → Site Identity. Follow the menu for your installed version rather than adding a second icon tag.

Look for the Site Icon control in the settings available on your installation. Recent WordPress versions include it under Settings → General; theme and version differences may also lead you to the Customizer or Site Editor. If a tutorial shows a menu you do not have, the current WordPress documentation is a better guide than adding code to make the tutorial fit.

A square source image of at least 512 × 512 pixels works with WordPress’s built-in feature. Choose a simple, recognizable mark rather than a detailed banner. At tab size, thin lettering and small decorative elements can disappear even though the image has loaded successfully.

After selecting or cropping the image, save the setting. A selection in the media window and a saved site setting are different steps. Keep the previous attachment until the replacement is confirmed, especially if other pages still use it.

An old tab can keep an old icon

Open the homepage and a post in a fresh browser session or another browser profile. If the new icon appears there, the site is probably supplying it correctly and the original browser is retaining an older version.

For example, a bookmark created before the change may continue to show the old artwork while a new tab shows the replacement. This is a different symptom from every page returning a broken icon. Testing these separately helps you avoid replacing a working attachment.

Refreshing the page alone may not refresh all stored favicon data. Closing the old tab and opening a new one is a useful comparison. If stored site data needs clearing, make sure you can sign in again afterward.

Follow the image the page actually requests

Inspect the page head or source for an icon-related link element.
Copy its image address.
Open that exact address in a fresh tab.
If it returns HTML, a login page or a missing-file error, repair that source before clearing browser data.

When the icon is missing in more than one browser, inspect the live page’s icon links. Browser developer tools or the page source can show link elements with an icon-related rel value and their image URLs.

If there is no icon link, the investigation belongs with the saved setting and the theme’s page-head output. A custom theme or an icon plugin may be changing that output. If a link exists, opening its exact URL tells you whether the image is publicly reachable.

A missing file, a login redirect or an HTML error page at that address explains more than another upload attempt. On an HTTPS site, an old HTTP image address also deserves attention. Correcting the setting or URL that produces the request is preferable to adding a competing icon tag.

Why the homepage and posts can disagree

If the homepage shows the right icon but posts do not, compare one page of each type. Different templates or cached HTML can output different icon addresses. The useful question is whether both pages point to the same saved image.

When the page source still contains an old address, refresh the affected page cache after correcting the source setting. When the source contains the new address but only one browser shows the old icon, investigate that browser instead. These comparisons keep cache clearing focused on the evidence.

Check competing settings before changing the theme

A theme option, a favicon plugin and a manually added header tag can each supply an icon. With several sources active, the dashboard setting may no longer describe what visitors receive.

Record the current settings and compare changes on a test copy where possible. Removing or disabling components on a live site can affect more than its favicon. If you ask a developer for help, provide the public page, the icon URL found in its source and the result of opening that URL.

The replacement is ready when fresh browser sessions show it on the homepage and ordinary posts, its public image address works, and the artwork remains recognizable at a small size. Mobile shortcuts may retain their own saved image, so check a newly created shortcut separately from an old one.

Site Icon references and related checks

Check the artwork at tab size

Once delivery works, check the mark remains recognizable at a tiny size on a homepage tab and a post tab. Check a newly created mobile shortcut separately from an older saved shortcut. The official favicon guide describes the built-in Site Icon setup.

WordPress Favicon Not Showing? Check Site Icon, Image URL and Browser Cache