Those who rely on search engines as a makeshift doctor to look up symptoms when they are sick have some good news headed their way. Google announced Monday its search engine will have curated responses from medical professionals when users look up symptoms. According to Google, an estimated one percent of all searches on the site (read: millions of searches) are related to symptoms.
“Health content on the web can be difficult to navigate, and tends to lead people from mild symptoms to scary and unlikely conditions, which can cause unnecessary anxiety and stress,” wrote Google on its official blog.
How does it work? When users type in symptoms, the search engine will pull up a list of related conditions. For example, typing “headache on one side” will show a list of similar conditions like “headache,” “migraine,” and “sinusitis.” Searching for one individual symptom will give users an overview description of the ailment, along with self-treatment options and whether or not they should visit a doctor.
“By doing this, our goal is to help you to navigate and explore health conditions related to your symptoms, and quickly get to the point where you can do more in-depth research on the web or talk to a health professional,” writes Google.
Doling out medical advice and suggestions is risky, as a search engine is not a medically trained professional. Google has worked with a team of doctors to ensure accuracy.
“We worked with a team of medical doctors to carefully review the individual symptom information, and experts at Harvard Medical School and Mayo Clinic evaluated related conditions for a representative sample of searches to help improve the lists we show,” writes Google.
That’s not to say a good ole’ Google search can replace a visit to your primary care physician. Google still asserts the new update is “intended for informational purposes only” and users should always consult a doctor.
The update will be rolled out over the next few days for English language users in the U.S. and will expand with time. “We hope to cover more symptoms, and we also want to extend this to other languages and internationally,” writes Google.
