Ask.com has introduced new Health Smart Answers which help searchers find trusted health and medical information faster. Smart Answers are special search results placed at the top of the results page that provide editorially-selected information as well as quick links to authoritative content (unlike the user generated and governered content provided by sites like Wikipedia or spammy ‘buy viagra’ style sites).
Ask.com, which usually works under third party partnerships or parent company IAC sites to provide such trusted content, has selected Healthline Networks & Revolution Health to provide medical definitions, images, links to reference materials and other data for the Ask.com Health Smart Answers.
“With so many Americans looking for health information online, it is critical that search engines make it easy for people to get reliable and accurate information,” said Doug Leeds, vice president of product management at Ask.com. “Our new Health Smart Answers provide quick access to trusted information searchers are looking for, right at the top of the search results page. While other search engines require people to ‘hunt and peck’ through an ocean of web links, Ask.com makes it easy to find the best information quickly.”
Here is an example, try searching for Oxycodone on Ask.com and this Health Smart Answer will be served:
Google’s first results are AdWords listings for online pharmacies, same with MSN, Yahoo provides a Yahoo Health link as #1 and NO sponsored results (very responsible from Yahoo).
