Paging Dr. Google: Google rolls out symptom-related direct answers on mobile
Google says it worked with a team of doctors, experts from Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic to curate information.
Topic: Health informatics
Google’s latest health tool: a BMI calculator now available directly in search
A search for "BMI calculator" delivers an interactive tool that helps users determine their body mass index.
Google To Double The Number Of Health Conditions In Search Results
Google expands their medical conditions database and enables you to print out these conditions to give to your doctor.
Google Introduces Rich Medical Content Into Knowledge Graph
Users will soon see deeper health information for more than 400 conditions.
Google Adds Medications To Its Knowledge Graph
Searchers in need of medical information will begin seeing detailed information on medications as part of Google’s Knowledge Graph product. In today’s announcement, Google says it’ll source the data from sources like the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, the US Food & Drug Administration, the Dept. of Veterans Affairs and others. Here’s […]
Where’s It Hurt? After You Search For A Symptom, New Google Health Search Results Suggest Causes
Roughly 100 million people in the US search for health information on a monthly basis, according to 2011 comScore data. Google has seen these queries up close and recently concluded that it doesn’t do a great job of servicing them. The company is thus introducing improved results that shorten the time from symptom-related search to […]
Google Health Redesign Focuses On Wellness Tracking & Data
Google announced they have redesigned Google Health. The redesign primarily focuses on providing the user with access to wellness information. Users can track progress with their blood pressure, cholesterol, coffee intake, weight, and so on. Even more, users can set goals and watch their progression to meeting those goals. So if you want to track […]
Google Adds New Health-Search Feature For Medications
Last year Google began integrating structured health-related content at the top of search results (“Health OneBox“). Here’s what that looks like today for a search on “diabetes“: Today Google is expanding that search feature to include medications. When users search on a prescription or generic drug (e.g., “Lipitor” or “acetaminophen”) a summary and description will […]
Bing, Google Offering Dueling “Health Maps”
Microsoft and Google both have ambitious electronic health records initiatives. But today both introduced “health maps” that enable data visualization on a mapping interface. Bing was first with its announcement: Today along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Institute of Medicine, the Bing Health team is participating in the Community Health […]
Following Shopping, Yahoo Partly Outsources Health Vertical To Healthline
The Yahoo strategy of outsourcing content and technology continues. According to a press release, Healthline will support and augment the existing content and provide search for Yahoo Health. In the Healthline partnership, Yahoo! gains a technology partner that already provides over 90 million users a month with the most contextually relevant and clinically accurate health […]
Bing Adds More Health Data To Search
Bing announced that they have added new content partners for health and medical related queries. The health related queries are related to sicknesses, medicine, medical facilities, in addition to more generic health and fitness related queries. Here are some screen shots of queries that show off the new content at Bing. Many of the other […]
Google Answers Your Health Questions With Health OneBox
Google launched Google Health back in February 2008. Today, Google is integrating Google Health content into the search results via the classic OneBox section of the page. You should be able to see the Google Health OneBox for medical related searches, such as for [asthma] or [diabetes]. Here is a screen capture of the OneBox […]
Feeling Sick? Google Begins Asking Some Searchers Who Look For Illness-Related Terms
Why exactly are you searching for “headache” or “ear infection” at Google? Do you have one of these illnesses or are you researching them? Google wants to know, and will find out by asking a small number of people directly within the search results, beginning today. It’s part of a process that Google hopes will […]
Healthline Adds New Doctor, Treatment Search Tools To Site
The American healthcare system is very broken, in my opinion and in the opinion of many others. Health insurance carriers and providers hold almost all the cards. However the internet has gone a long way to arm consumers with information and help them become more sophisticated about their conditions and treatment options. And while the […]
Google Health Makes It Easier To Share Medical Records
Google Health has taken a step forward in utility with the launch today of two new tools to help users share their medical information with trusted friends, family members, or medical providers. First, “Share This Profile” is an email-based tool that lets you give someone else online access to a Google Health profile. Privacy and […]
Dilbert’s Scott Adams: Will Google Replace Your Doctor?
Can a search engine accurately diagnose health problems? Can it someday replace your doctor? Questions like this aren’t new, but the discussion has gotten a bit louder in recent weeks. Just a couple weeks ago, I reported on a Microsoft investigation of cyberchondria, when inaccurate medical information online makes actual health problems worse. On Friday, […]
Cyberchondria: When Web Search Makes You Sick(er)
Those muscle twitches you get probably aren’t a sign that you have ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, aka “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”). But if you’re using search engines to diagnose what ails you, there’s a chance you’ll come to that conclusion. In a new paper, Microsoft investigates cyberchondria: “… the unfounded escalation of concerns about common symptomatology, […]
Vertical Search Engine Healthline Launches “Semantic Ad Network”
Vertical health search engine Healthline has introduced what it’s calling the Healthline Media Network, a contextual ad network for medical and health-related sites. According to the company, the new ad network will utilize Healthline’s “semantic health search technology” to better understand partner page content and do a better job of matching ads accordingly.
Screen Shots Of Google Health
Greg Sterling is now at Google for the Google Factory tour and the news is already buzzing about the US launch of Google Health. Greg may swing by and postscript with some of the details he learned from Google’s presentation; until then, let me share with you screen captures of Google Health:
Google Health Formally Announced This Morning
Google Health has been an open secret for more than a year. Last week the company announced a pilot program with the Cleveland Clinic as a prelude to a formal announcement of the service. That formal announcement came this morning at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in Florida, in a keynote from […]
Vertical Search Provider Healthline Beefs Up Content, Features
Health is one of the “strategic consumer verticals” that Microsoft has identified and is an important consumer and advertiser category for all the big search engines and portals (Google is soon to launch Health after delays). There’s also Steve Case’s much-hyped Revolution Health. (WebMD is the category leader according to comScore.) However, one of the […]
Google Health Close To Launching?
Philipp Lenssen and Tony Ruscoe at Google Blogoscoped have noted that the login page for Google Health is now live, although the service itself is not (and www.google.com/health currently redirects to the Google Coop page about health). Gabriel Stricker, Google spokesperson, told us: “We’re very interested in working on products in the area of health, […]
Pew/Internet Study Finds Most Americans Get Their Answers From The Internet
A PEW/Internet and American Life study out today finds that the place Americans turn to most for answers is the internet. The study, which surveyed 2,796 Americans, found that 76% have internet access and that 58% turn to the internet when they have questions about things like health, school, careers, and government issues. The project […]
Google Health To Launch In Early 2008
Marrisa Mayer, taking over the Google Health initiative from Adam Bosworth, who recently left the company, announced at the Web 2.0 conference yesterday that people could “expect a lot of activity in the coming months,” ahead of an early 2008 launch.
Microsoft ‘Unlocks’ HealthVault Search Site And Personal Records Database
As part of its push into four strategic vertical search segments, Microsoft has unveiled “HealthVault,” which aims to be part medical search engine, part repository of personal data and health information that can be selectively disclosed to doctors and other interested parties. Mary Jo Foley has considerable detail on how it will work. Of course, […]
Google, Microsoft Moving Forward With Health Ventures
The International Herald Tribune reports (story also in the NY Times) on new developments at both Google and Microsoft concerning their health product strategies. The long-rumored Google Health is apparently almost here. (See screenshots at Google Blogoscoped.) Health care-related advertising and marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry in the U.S. and Google and Microsoft are […]
A Product Plan For ‘Google Health’?
From time to time in the past, Google’s Adam Bosworth has posted on health-related questions. Many people have speculated that health would be a vertical to get special attention from Google. And there have thus been “Google Health” rumors for a long time. Yesterday Bosworth posted again and linked to notes from a speech he […]
Microsoft To Buy Health Search Engine Medstory Inc.
Microsoft to Buy Health Information Search Engine at the New York Times reports that Microsoft is buying the Medstory health search engine. Microsoft plans on building out a specialized search engine focused on delivering medical information to consumers, the story reports.