Encyclopaedia Britannica data to feature in Bing results

Encyclopaedia Britannica data to feature in Bing results
Bing gets a helping hand from the EB

Microsoft's Bing engine has signed-up the Encyclopaedia Britannica to provide answer boxes for search results.

Publishers of the 244-year-old fountain of knowledge recently announced it would not be printing new volumes of the Britannica in favour of a new freemium digital-only offering.

This strategy will be enhanced as Bing users will now see boxes featuring snippets of information from Britannica Online, with the option of delving deeper into the subject at the source.

Answers will appear only for queries where Britannica would pop-up in regular searches and the boxes will also feature links to other sources like Wikipedia and Quora.

Trusted content

"The answer provides a quick overview of the subject, a thumbnail image, and useful facts and figures making it easier than ever to get trusted content in search. We also pull in direct links to other trusted sources," said Bing's Principal Development Lead, Franco Salvetti in a blog post.

"We're very excited to collaborate with Encyclopedia Britannica as it continues to strengthen its online presence, and hope you find these new answers valuable and helpful in your search for information. Give it a try and let us know what you think," he added.

The link-up with the world's most storied knowledge source will help give Bing an answer to the Google knowledge graph, announced last month.

Via: BBC

Chris Smith

A technology journalist, writer and videographer of many magazines and websites including T3, Gadget Magazine and TechRadar.com. He specializes in applications for smartphones, tablets and handheld devices, with bylines also at The Guardian, WIRED, Trusted Reviews and Wareable. Chris is also the podcast host for The Liverpool Way. As well as tech and football, Chris is a pop-punk fan and enjoys the art of wrasslin'.