Google Search’s Knowledge Graph that powers the Google Now search cards that pop up when you search for certain things will now offer details about common health conditions when you search for them. One in 20 Google searches are for health-related information, says Google.
When you ask Google about common health conditions, you’ll start getting relevant medical facts such as typical symptoms and treatments, details on how common the condition is – whether it’s critical, if it’s contagious, what ages it affects, and more. It will also offer high-quality illustrations for some.
Regarding this on the official Blog, Google Said:
We worked with a team of medical doctors (led by our own Dr. Kapil Parakh, M.D., MPH, Ph.D.) to carefully compile, curate, and review this information. All of the gathered facts represent real-life clinical knowledge from these doctors and high-quality medical sources across the web, and the information has been checked by medical doctors at Google and the Mayo Clinic for accuracy.
That doesn’t mean these search results are intended as medical advice. We know that cases can vary in severity from person to person, and that there are bound to be exceptions. What we present is intended for informational purposes only—and you should always consult a healthcare professional if you have a medical concern.
This feature will roll out out over the next few days starting from the U.S. in English. Google plans to extend this to other parts of the world and cover many more medical conditions soon.