Bing tests removing favicons from search result snippets

Bing is testing search result snippets with the favicon removed, which makes the results page look much less graphical. Barry Schwartz reported it at Search Engine Roundtable on 9 October 2026.

What does the test show?#

In the screenshots, each result appears without the small site icon that normally sits beside it. Sachin Patel’s post pairs a version without favicons with the normal results that still show them. Schwartz’s own verdict is that the results look naked, which is his opinion, not a measurement.

Who spotted it?#

Khushal Bherwani and Sachin Patel posted screenshots on X and at Search Engine Watch. Bherwani’s post of 6 October 2026 asked whether Bing not showing a favicon for sponsored ads was a bug. Search Engine Watch’s headline says the favicons are missing from all organic results. We could not read that page, which blocked our request, so its wording here is as reported by Search Engine Roundtable. Schwartz says he could not replicate the test.

What has Bing said?#

Nothing, in any source we found. Microsoft has not commented on the test, and no rollout plan is reported. A bug, a short experiment and an early design change all fit the same screenshots, and the sources do not say which this is.

What can site owners do?#

Nothing is documented. The sources describe no markup or setting behind the test, so there is nothing to opt in to or out of. Keep your favicon in place. Google’s documentation asks for a square file of at least 8x8 pixels and recommends one larger than 48x48 pixels, and that applies to Google Search, not Bing. To see whether you are in the test, search your own brand in Bing and note whether the icon appears.

For other recent Bing layout experiments, see Bing’s HTTPS and site name display tests and Bing’s editable image labels test. For Google’s own favicon trouble, see the Search Console favicon and Crawl Stats fixes.