Core Web Vitals are now a settled ranking signal, and icons—small as they are—can make or break your scores when you have dozens of them loading on every page. Here's how to keep your icon-rich pages in the green.
You've optimised every SVG to under 1 KB. Great—now how you deliver those icons determines whether your page loads in 1.2 seconds or 2.4. Delivery strategy is the unsexy work that separates fast sites from merely well-designed ones.
Stock photography is everywhere—which means it blends into the background. The fix? Layer vector icons and graphic elements over photos to create visuals that feel branded, intentional, and impossible to mistake for a competitor's site.
The internet is littered with guides telling you to generate twelve favicon variants. In 2026, you need exactly three files for full browser and device coverage. Everything else is legacy noise.
A single bloated SVG won't tank your Lighthouse score. Fifty of them will. This checklist distils everything that actually moves the needle when shipping SVG icons in 2026.