Wall Street Journal Examines Availability, Ease Of Health Information Through New Search Engines

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday examined how searching for medical information on the Internet "is starting to get easier" as a "range of Internet companies ... are launching tailored search engines that aim to deliver patients and their families more relevant health-related content online." According to the Journal, patients often face difficulty "combing through online medical resources" or "knowing the correct spelling of complex conditions." In addition, it can be difficult to judge the credibility of information provided by Web sites, which "can have significant consequences for patients making medical decisions," the Journal reports. However, a new generation of tailored search engines seeks to address some of the issues by using different searching methods to limit the number of pages they search and taking consumers directly to the relevant information. In addition, some of the sites organize results into different categories to improve searching efficiency. For example, California-based Cosmix in February launched Kosmix, which searches more than three billion general Web pages, then divides the results into about 20 relevant categories - such as diet and nutrition, symptoms, and message boards. WebMD in 2005 launched a feature to allow users to search within particular categories, such as news or experts, and in March, WebMD's search function expanded to allow users to search the entire Web. According to the Journal, many Web sites also are using vertical search methods that focus on a smaller range of content and can "pull specific information out of sites to highlight or organize results into categories relevant to their theme." With 79% of Internet users now using the Web to find health information - and online health ad spending projected to increase to $662 million in 2010 - "health information is the next logical place for vertical searches to take hold," the Journal reports. Other companies that are developing dedicated health search sites include Google, Healthline Networks, Mamma and MedStory (Vascellaro, Wall Street Journal, 3/21).


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