Over the past few weeks, we’ve talked about our new three-column design that focuses on bringing you information from the web to help you take action and interact with friends and experts without compromising the core search experience. We invited you to try the new sidebar feature and today we are releasing the entire experience including snapshot which allows you to take action and do more directly in Bing.
Snapshot is the center column of Bing search results, residing between the standard results on the left and the new sidebar on the right. Snapshot brings relevant information related to a search right on the main results page, including maps, movie times, restaurant menus and reviews so people can act quickly. Bringing in useful information and working with partners across the globe, such as OpenTable, takes you from finding to doing as we integrate these services and structured data into the search page. Booking a restaurant or looking at reviews is now quicker and simpler with a column dedicated to getting things done.
Check out what Qi Lu, Harry Shum and I have to say about snapshot:
You will notice that snapshot doesn’t appear every time you search and for good reason. We determine what type of content surfaces based on the search. This is just the start. We will be expanding the categories and updating information dynamically to provide the most helpful information possible.
People in the US can go to www.bing.com to try it today.
As always, let us know what you think.
- The Bing Team