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Fix: technical checks — favicon, deprecated HTML, inline styles and meta refresh

Fix the Favicon, Deprecated HTML, Inline styles and Meta refresh checks in the Technical & security section, with WordPress, Shopify, Webflow and Wix steps.

Updated Oct 24, 2026

These checks sit in the report’s Technical & security section (and Page facts). They are quick wins: each one takes minutes to fix and removes a Warning from the report.

Find the affected checks in the app

  1. In Audits, open the audit report and go to Technical & security, or filter Issues to fix to Warnings.
  2. The scanner’s own lines (for example Inline styles or Meta refresh) appear in the section with Why it matters and How to fix.
  3. For words and characters on the page, see Fix: content. How the report is laid out: Read your audit score and report.

Favicon

How we detect it

The audit checks whether the site has a favicon (a link rel="icon" in the head or a /favicon.ico file). Missing = Warning.

Why it matters

The icon shows in browser tabs, bookmarks and next to the site name in Google’s mobile and desktop results. A missing or broken icon looks unfinished and lowers trust.

Common causes

  • No site icon set in the CMS.
  • The icon is linked but the file returns 404 (moved during a migration).
  • The icon is not square, too small (under 48 × 48 pixels) or blocked by robots.txt.

Fix: basic

  1. Create a square PNG of 512 × 512 pixels from the logo mark (simple shapes read best at small sizes).
  2. WordPress: in WordPress admin go to Appearance › Customize › Site Identity › Site Icon (/wp-admin/customize.php) (block themes: select the Site Logo block in Appearance › Editor and switch on Use as site icon, or use Settings › General › Site Icon where your WordPress version shows it), upload the image and click Publish.
  3. Shopify: in Shopify admin go to Online Store › Themes › Customize › Theme settings › Logo (or Favicon), upload the image and save.
  4. Webflow: in the Webflow dashboard go to Site settings › General › Favicon (32 × 32) and Webclip (256 × 256), upload, then publish.
  5. Wix: in the Wix dashboard go to Settings › Favicon (under Website settings), upload and publish. A paid plan with a connected domain is needed.
  6. Squarespace: in your Squarespace account, open the site › Settings › Browser Icon (or Website › Design › Browser Icon in some versions) and upload.

Fix: expert

Upload the files to the web root and add these lines to the head of every page:

<link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" sizes="48x48">
<link rel="icon" href="/favicon.svg" type="image/svg+xml">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/apple-touch-icon.png">

Make /favicon.ico 48 × 48 (it can contain 16, 32 and 48 sizes) and apple-touch-icon.png 180 × 180. Make sure robots.txt doesn’t block them.

Platform steps

Cloudflare

  1. If the icon still doesn’t change, purge it: in the Cloudflare dashboard › your site › Caching › Configuration › Custom Purge › enter the favicon URL.

nginx

  1. Serve the file without logging noise:
location = /favicon.ico {
    log_not_found off;
    access_log off;
    expires 30d;
}

Verify the fix

  1. Open https://yourdomain/favicon.ico (or the linked icon URL): it should load.
  2. Click Run again on the audit in Audits. Favicon should pass.
  3. Google updates the icon in results on its next crawl of the home page. To speed it up, use Search Console URL Inspection on the home page and click Request indexing.

Automation

Automatable with WordPress admin access (Site Icon via the REST API), Shopify theme access or Webflow site settings access; the icon design needs approval.

Deprecated HTML

How we detect it

The scanner flags Deprecated HTML when the page uses old tags such as font, center, marquee, big, strike or frame. Warning.

Why it matters

Old tags can render badly in modern browsers and screen readers, and signal an outdated, hard-to-maintain page.

Common causes

  • Content pasted from Word, email templates or very old pages.
  • Old themes or page builders.
  • Widgets from third-party sites (old counters, badges).

Fix: basic

  1. View the page source and search for <font, <center and <marquee.
  2. Edit the content: in the WordPress block editor, select the old content and use Convert to blocks; reformat text with the editor’s own alignment and colour tools.
  3. For pasted text, paste as plain text (Ctrl+Shift+V) and reformat.
  4. Remove old badges or counters that inject these tags.

Fix: expert

Replace each tag with CSS:

<!-- Old -->
<center><font color="red" size="4">Free quotes</font></center>

<!-- New -->
<p class="highlight">Free quotes</p>
<style>.highlight { text-align: center; color: #c00; font-size: 1.25rem; }</style>

Find every occurrence in the WordPress database (dry run first):

wp db query "SELECT ID, post_title FROM wp_posts WHERE post_status='publish' AND (post_content LIKE '%<font%' OR post_content LIKE '%<center%')"

(Replace wp_ with your table prefix if it differs.)

Platform steps

Shopify

  1. Check product and page descriptions: open each in Shopify admin, click Show HTML (the <> button) in the editor and remove font and center tags.

Verify the fix

  1. Click Run again on the audit in Audits. Deprecated HTML should pass.

Automation

Assisted: tags can be found and replaced automatically with WordPress admin or server SSH access, but the visual result needs a check.

Inline styles

How we detect it

The scanner flags Inline styles when elements use style="…" attributes. Warning.

Why it matters

Inline styles bloat the HTML, can’t be cached like a stylesheet and make design changes slow.

Common causes

  • Page builders write styles inline for each element.
  • Content pasted from Word or Google Docs carries inline formatting.
  • Email-style templates.

Fix: basic

  1. Paste text as plain text (Ctrl+Shift+V) and use the editor’s styles.
  2. In Elementor, go to Elementor › Settings › Performance (or Features) and set CSS Print Method to External File, so styles move from the page into a cached CSS file.
  3. Use theme or global styles (Appearance › Editor › Styles in block themes) instead of styling each element.

Fix: expert

Move repeated inline styles into the stylesheet:

<!-- Before -->
<p style="color:#333;font-size:18px;margin-bottom:24px">Text</p>

<!-- After -->
<p class="lead">Text</p>
.lead { color: #333; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px; }

A few inline styles (for example from embeds) are harmless; aim to remove large repeated blocks.

Platform steps

WordPress

  1. Add shared classes in Appearance › Customize › Additional CSS, then set the class on blocks under Advanced › Additional CSS class(es).

Verify the fix

  1. Click Run again on the audit in Audits. Inline styles should pass or show fewer.

Automation

Assisted: CSS print settings are automatable with WordPress admin access; template refactoring is manual.

Meta refresh

How we detect it

The scanner flags Meta refresh when the page has meta http-equiv="refresh". Warning.

Why it matters

Meta refresh redirects are slow (the page loads first, then moves) and confusing for visitors and search engines. A refresh that reloads the same page wastes data and can interrupt reading.

Common causes

  • An old “this page has moved” page that forwards after a few seconds.
  • A news or dashboard page that reloads itself every few minutes.
  • A plugin or host parking page.

Fix: basic

  1. View the source and search for http-equiv="refresh"; note the target URL.
  2. If it forwards to another URL, create a 301 redirect instead: WordPress Redirection plugin (Tools › Redirection › Add new) or Rank Math Rank Math SEO › Redirections › Add New; Shopify (Shopify admin) Content › Menus › URL Redirects (older admin: Online Store › Navigation › URL Redirects); Webflow (dashboard) Site settings › Publishing › 301 redirects; Wix (dashboard) Marketing & SEO › SEO Tools › URL Redirect Manager.
  3. Then delete the page or template code containing the meta refresh.
  4. If it reloads the same page, remove it and update content with JavaScript only where needed.

Fix: expert

Replace the tag with a server redirect. Apache (.htaccess):

Redirect 301 /old-page/ https://www.example.com/new-page/

nginx:

location = /old-page/ {
    return 301 https://www.example.com/new-page/;
}

See Fix: HTTPS, SSL and redirects › Meta refresh and Redirect chains for redirect chains and HTTPS rules.

Platform steps

WordPress

  1. Search the theme’s header.php and installed plugins for http-equiv="refresh" and remove it.

Verify the fix

  1. Run curl -sI https://www.example.com/old-page/ and check it returns 301 with the new location.
  2. Click Run again on the audit in Audits. Meta refresh should pass.

Automation

Automatable with WordPress admin access via a redirect plugin, Shopify Admin API, or server SSH for config rules.

Words on the page and Characters on the page

How we detect it

The scanner reports Words on the page and Characters on the page in the Content section. A low count is flagged.

Why it matters

A very short page rarely covers a topic in full.

Common causes

  • Thin service pages, pages built mostly from images or sliders.

Fix: basic

  1. Follow Fix: content — word count, keyword placement and readability.

Fix: expert

Make sure text is real HTML text, not text inside images.

Platform steps

WordPress

  1. Replace text-in-image banners with a heading and paragraph over a background image.

Verify the fix

  1. Click Run again on the audit in Audits.

Automation

Assisted: drafts can be generated, but content needs approval.

Common questions

Why does Google show a generic globe instead of my favicon?

Google needs a square favicon of at least 48 × 48 pixels (a multiple of 48 works best), linked in the head of the home page, on the same domain or a crawlable URL, and not blocked by robots.txt. After you fix it, Google updates the icon when it next crawls the home page, which can take days or weeks.

Are inline styles bad for SEO?

Not directly. They make the HTML heavier and harder to maintain, which slows pages a little. Fix them when you rebuild templates; they are a low-priority Warning.

What is the difference between a meta refresh and a redirect?

A meta refresh is an HTML tag that reloads or sends the browser to another URL after the page loads. A 301 redirect is sent by the server before any page loads. Search engines and visitors handle 301 redirects better, so replace meta refresh with a 301.

Still need help?

Ask in the chat inside the app, or send us a message on the contact page. You can also browse all help topics.