Encyclopedia Britannica announced yesterday that it will embrace Web 2.0 with plans to allow individuals to submit edits for review to entries in the online encyclopedia. The announcement included sharp words from Britannica president, Jorge Cauz, for Google, criticizing the frequency with which Wikipedia appears at the top of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
Britannica certainly has a long road ahead and a steep climb. Last week, Wikipedia ranked #13 among all Websites compared to #2,349 for Britannica.com.
I put together a custom category of the top five encyclopedia websites. Wikipedia dominates, with 97% of visits among websites in the custom category. MSN’s Encarta comes in second with 1.27% of category visits. Year over year for the month of December, Britannica’s share of US Internet visits had declined 53%.

People also spend much longer on Wikipedia than Britannica.com. Wikipedia’s average session duration last week was just shy of 10 minutes compared with Britanninca.com at just under 3 minutes.
Biting the hand that feeds it
Last week, 42% of visits to the Britannica website came from Google. The #1 search term sending visits to the site was “encyclopedia” but Britannica.com was the #3 website to receive visits from that term, after Encyclopedia.com and Wikipedia.
One of the big questions still on the table is whether Britannica will open its content or maintain its premium membership paid wall. In order to compete with Wikipedia in the Google SERP, Britannica needs to build up inbound links. If content is locked up behind the paid content walls, people will be much more likely to link to other websites with free content (such as that available on Wikipedia).