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Using Internet search engines to obtain medical information: a comparative study
Liupu Wang1, Juexin Wang, Michael Wang
1Key Laboratory of Symbol Computation and Knowledge Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Computer Science and Technology, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Journal of Medical Internet Research
|June 8, 2012
Summary
Major search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and Ask.com effectively provide health information. User satisfaction ranked Bing highest, though all search engines offer valuable medical content for lay users.
Area of Science:
- Health Informatics
- Information Science
- Usability Engineering
Background:
- The internet is a primary source for health and medical information for both the general public and professionals.
- Search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Ask.com) are crucial for accessing this information.
- A comprehensive comparison of search engine usability for medical information is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate and compare the usability of major internet search engines for obtaining health and medical information.
- To assess the effectiveness of Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask.com in delivering relevant medical content.
Main Methods:
- Usability testing was employed to compare four major search engines: Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask.com.
- The keyword 'breast cancer' was used to retrieve the top 200 links from each engine.
- Volunteer users evaluated website usefulness, and a medical expert identified standard breast cancer websites for comparison. SNOMED CT keywords were also analyzed.
Main Results:
- All four search engines provided substantial breast cancer information, with standard websites appearing in the top 30 results across all platforms.
- Google demonstrated the highest search validity (link accessibility), followed by Bing, Ask.com, and Yahoo!.
- User satisfaction analysis indicated Bing as the most useful, followed by Yahoo!, Google, and Ask.com, despite significant overlap in search results.
Conclusions:
- Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask.com are generally effective for lay users seeking health information.
- Current search engine ranking methods have limitations, indicating a need for improvements in accuracy and usefulness.
- Users are advised to utilize multiple search engines and seek professional medical advice when necessary.
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