More Than 10 Is The New 10 Blue Links For Bing

Bing has been experimenting with showing more than ten search results on a page, while Google is showing seven search results on a page in some cases. Now, Bing has decided to stick with the experiment in the June update.

There have been some observant searchers who picked up on the change over at WebmasterWorld, where Bing would show a random number of search results, where it almost seemed like a bug. A Microsoft spokesperson said this is no bug, it is an experiment they are sticking with as part of the June update. Here is the statement:

We’re continually testing and experimenting on Bing in an effort to improve the user experience. We experimented with the number of answers for several months last year, and shipped the new format in June. In cases where there are answers (like a photo or video or news answer, we may provide a few more links to ensure there is right number of algo in addition to the answer blocks.

I’ve tried several examples and there seems to be no logic behind when Bing will show ten links on a page, or 12 or 18. Some may see page two of the results showing 15 results, some may see 11 and so on. For example, the WebmasterWorld searcher said he saw page 2 shows results 11-20 and then page 3 show 23-32 and page 4 show 35-44.

So while Google has ten and maybe seven results on a page. Bing decides to go with more results on a single page.

I should note, as of this morning, I am no longer able to see more than ten blue links on a page for many of the queries I’ve tried. I am not sure why Bing would change it back after giving us that statement or if something else is going on. But in some cases, Bing will show more than ten results and in others it may only show ten.

Here is a screen shot with an example of more than ten links on a page:

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.