Google has revealed that is will soon be incorporating accurate health information in search results using its Knowledge Graph and will provide medical facts without requiring users to click beyond search results page.
“We’ll show you typical symptoms and treatments, as well as details on how common the condition is—whether it’s critical, if it’s contagious, what ages it affects, and more”, announced Prem Ramaswam, a product manager at Google in a blog post.
Ramaswam adds that once users are aware about the basics of condition they searched using the information provided by Google, it will be easier for users to drill down to more specifics by visiting other sites around the web.
Google reminds that the information it provides are not intended as medical advice, but also stresses that the information provided has been checked and rechecked for accuracy. To ensure that the information presented to users is accurate, Google has partnered with non-profit Mayo Clinic to curate and check the relevant facts and health data that has been added to its knowledge graph database for accuracy.
“We worked with a team of medical doctors (led by our own Dr. Kapil Parakh, M.D., MPH, Ph.D.) to carefully compile, curate, and review this information”, assures Google. “All of the gathered facts represent real-life clinical knowledge from these doctors and high-quality medical sources across the web, and the information has been checked by medical doctors at Google and the Mayo Clinic for accuracy.”
Google said that this new information will be integrated with is US search engine and apps over the course of next three days. Google will be presenting information on 400 medical conditions initially ranging from diabetes to measles. The service will be expanded beyond the US at a later date.
Health related searches are particularly high with as many as 5 per cent search queries related to heath and health conditions. According to Google, the initial information set addressing 400 medical conditions will cater to about 10 per cent of health related searches.
Google has also revealed that it will not directly monetise its latest feature.
