The Role of Information Boxes in Search Engine Results for Symptom Searches: Analysis of Archival Data
BackgroundSearch engines provide health information boxes as part of search results to address information gaps and misinformation for commonly searched symptoms. Few prior studies have sought to understand how individuals who are seeking information about health symptoms nav...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2022-09-01
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| Series: | JMIR Infodemiology |
| Online Access: | https://infodemiology.jmir.org/2022/2/e37286 |
| _version_ | 1827858007981031424 |
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| author | Lorien C Abroms Elad Yom-Tov |
| author_facet | Lorien C Abroms Elad Yom-Tov |
| author_sort | Lorien C Abroms |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundSearch engines provide health information boxes as part of search results to address information gaps and misinformation for commonly searched symptoms. Few prior studies have sought to understand how individuals who are seeking information about health symptoms navigate different types of page elements on search engine results pages, including health information boxes.
ObjectiveUsing real-world search engine data, this study sought to investigate how users searching for common health-related symptoms with Bing interacted with health information boxes (info boxes) and other page elements.
MethodsA sample of searches (N=28,552 unique searches) was compiled for the 17 most common medical symptoms queried on Microsoft Bing by users in the United States between September and November 2019. The association between the page elements that users saw, their characteristics, and the time spent on elements or clicks was investigated using linear and logistic regression.
ResultsThe number of searches ranged by symptom type from 55 searches for cramps to 7459 searches for anxiety. Users searching for common health-related symptoms saw pages with standard web results (n=24,034, 84%), itemized web results (n=23,354, 82%), ads (n=13,171, 46%), and info boxes (n=18,215, 64%). Users spent on average 22 (SD 26) seconds on the search engine results page. Users who saw all page elements spent 25% (7.1 s) of their time on the info box, 23% (6.1 s) on standard web results, 20% (5.7 s) on ads, and 10% (10 s) on itemized web results, with significantly more time on the info box compared to other elements and the least amount of time on itemized web results. Info box characteristics such as reading ease and appearance of related conditions were associated with longer time on the info box. Although none of the info box characteristics were associated with clicks on standard web results, info box characteristics such as reading ease and related searches were negatively correlated with clicks on ads.
ConclusionsInfo boxes were attended most by users compared with other page elements, and their characteristics may influence future web searching. Future studies are needed that further explore the utility of info boxes and their influence on real-world health-seeking behaviors. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:48:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8b1e2a7c421d45cf8aedd5b85590ec7e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2564-1891 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:48:34Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Infodemiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-8b1e2a7c421d45cf8aedd5b85590ec7e2023-08-28T23:04:50ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Infodemiology2564-18912022-09-0122e3728610.2196/37286The Role of Information Boxes in Search Engine Results for Symptom Searches: Analysis of Archival DataLorien C Abromshttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6859-283XElad Yom-Tovhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2380-4584 BackgroundSearch engines provide health information boxes as part of search results to address information gaps and misinformation for commonly searched symptoms. Few prior studies have sought to understand how individuals who are seeking information about health symptoms navigate different types of page elements on search engine results pages, including health information boxes. ObjectiveUsing real-world search engine data, this study sought to investigate how users searching for common health-related symptoms with Bing interacted with health information boxes (info boxes) and other page elements. MethodsA sample of searches (N=28,552 unique searches) was compiled for the 17 most common medical symptoms queried on Microsoft Bing by users in the United States between September and November 2019. The association between the page elements that users saw, their characteristics, and the time spent on elements or clicks was investigated using linear and logistic regression. ResultsThe number of searches ranged by symptom type from 55 searches for cramps to 7459 searches for anxiety. Users searching for common health-related symptoms saw pages with standard web results (n=24,034, 84%), itemized web results (n=23,354, 82%), ads (n=13,171, 46%), and info boxes (n=18,215, 64%). Users spent on average 22 (SD 26) seconds on the search engine results page. Users who saw all page elements spent 25% (7.1 s) of their time on the info box, 23% (6.1 s) on standard web results, 20% (5.7 s) on ads, and 10% (10 s) on itemized web results, with significantly more time on the info box compared to other elements and the least amount of time on itemized web results. Info box characteristics such as reading ease and appearance of related conditions were associated with longer time on the info box. Although none of the info box characteristics were associated with clicks on standard web results, info box characteristics such as reading ease and related searches were negatively correlated with clicks on ads. ConclusionsInfo boxes were attended most by users compared with other page elements, and their characteristics may influence future web searching. Future studies are needed that further explore the utility of info boxes and their influence on real-world health-seeking behaviors.https://infodemiology.jmir.org/2022/2/e37286 |
| spellingShingle | Lorien C Abroms Elad Yom-Tov The Role of Information Boxes in Search Engine Results for Symptom Searches: Analysis of Archival Data JMIR Infodemiology |
| title | The Role of Information Boxes in Search Engine Results for Symptom Searches: Analysis of Archival Data |
| title_full | The Role of Information Boxes in Search Engine Results for Symptom Searches: Analysis of Archival Data |
| title_fullStr | The Role of Information Boxes in Search Engine Results for Symptom Searches: Analysis of Archival Data |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Role of Information Boxes in Search Engine Results for Symptom Searches: Analysis of Archival Data |
| title_short | The Role of Information Boxes in Search Engine Results for Symptom Searches: Analysis of Archival Data |
| title_sort | role of information boxes in search engine results for symptom searches analysis of archival data |
| url | https://infodemiology.jmir.org/2022/2/e37286 |
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