Latest News > September 2007

Online Health Info Starts with Search
September 13, 2007

More than three-quarters of Internet users in the United States go online for health information, according to Burst Media. Of this audience, more than one-third researched health topics online before visiting a medical professional. After a medical appointment, 43.5% of respondents went online to learn more.

"As drug makers launch products targeted to specific conditions—oncology, diabetes, depression and high cholesterol, to name a few—the targeting offered by the Internet means more dollars should go to search marketing," said Lisa Phillips, senior analyst @ eMarketer. More than four in 10 respondents to the Burst Media survey said the Internet was the primary source of information used to help keep their households healthy.

Commercial health care Web sites and condition-specific sites, chats and forums were the most popular health care information resources for 35.1% and 33.8% of respondents, respectively. Health care providers' sites (26.4%), government sites (23.5%) and pharmaceutical companies' sites (16.5%) trailed behind. Nearly one-quarter of respondents said they had clicked on a prescription drug or over-the-counter remedy advertisement on the Internet. For the newly diagnosed, a search engine is the easiest solution. Two-thirds of interviewees told the Pew Internet and American Life Project that they turned to a search engine for health information, compared with just 27% who already had a destination in mind.

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