The evolving state of online search for consumer health information

Online search for consumer health information is a public health concern. General-purpose search engines have historically returned health-related query results of dubious relevance and quality. Meanwhile, consumers have become increasingly reliant on and trusting of these engines. General-purpose search engines have attempted to make their interfaces more consumer-friendly with respect to consumer health queries and their results more relevant and trustworthy. We illustrate the characteristics of the evolving health search landscape using network visualization.