Bing tests another expandable sitelinks interface

Bing is testing another expandable sitelinks interface, reported by Search Engine Roundtable on 24 September 2026. Sachin Patel shared a video of it on X and on Search Engine Watch, and the report includes a GIF of the behavior. Microsoft has not commented, so treat it as an experiment.

How does the new Bing sitelinks test work?#

In this variation, a description shows beneath a sitelink only after the searcher hovers the mouse cursor over that particular sitelink. Until then the sitelinks are not expanded. The report describes it as another version of expanding sitelinks rather than a new feature.

Is this the first expandable sitelinks test from Bing?#

No. Search Engine Roundtable ties it to two earlier variations, and both are on record.

• Zoomable sitelinks, January 2023. Frank Sandtmann spotted organic sitelinks that grew in size on mouseover, with image boxes shown alongside the snippet and sitelinks. He noted that such results take up a lot of results page space.
• Auto-expanding ad sitelinks, March 2025. Barry Schwartz saw Bing search ads that expanded on their own to reveal sitelinks underneath, with no click needed, pushing other results down.

This test differs in that expansion depends on hover, not on a zoom effect or automatic opening, and it reveals descriptions rather than more links. The report’s author said he does not mind this version but had little else to say about it.

Can a site owner influence sitelinks?#

The report says nothing about Bing’s own controls. Google’s sitelinks documentation is a useful general baseline, with the caveat that it describes Google, not Bing. Google says sitelinks are automated and that its systems “analyze the link structure of your site to find shortcuts,” and recommends:

• page titles and headings that are “informative, relevant, and compact”
• a logical structure that links to important pages from other relevant pages
• concise internal anchor text that is relevant to the target page

Google also says a sitelink can be removed only by removing the page or using noindex. Whether Bing works the same way is not covered by these sources. To see how your titles read when truncated, try the SERP snippet preview.

What should SEOs take from it?#

Nothing has been announced, and the report gives no rollout date or scope. The practical point is narrow: sitelink descriptions may be shown or hidden by interaction in some Bing tests, so wording that only makes sense when expanded is a risk to note, not to act on yet. For other Bing results page experiments this month, see Bing’s HTTPS and site name display tests, and track this under technical SEO.