Showing posts with label Search. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Search. Show all posts

What Americans Are Googling About Health

 Americans ask Google a lot of health questions every day. From worries about monkeypox to the effects of eating mold (or molded food), people want to know. Soliant Health, a company that finds jobs for health care workers, looked into what health topics people in each state search for the most. They found a wide range of concerns. This shows how different things like where people live, the weather, and who lives there can affect what health issues they think about.


For example, people in Florida look up what happens if you eat mold. In Kentucky, they ask if you can live without a spine. People in Maryland want to know what happens if you swallow gum. In New Jersey, they're curious if diabetes comes from family genes. To help answer these questions, Soliant asked Karen Stockdale, a nurse with over 20 years of experience, for help. She gave clear answers to some common health questions.

One big question is whether bronchitis is contagious. The answer is that the sickness itself isn't, but the viruses that cause it, like colds or flu, can spread to others. Another question is about lupus, an illness where the body's defense system attacks its own parts, causing pain and swelling. This mainly affects women between 15 to 44 years old. People also wonder how much water they should drink each day. The answer depends on the person, including how much they weigh and how active they are.
Here's a look at the top health questions in different states.

In Alabama, people are asking how you get monkeypox, why they sweat in their sleep, and how to get rid of allergies. Alaskans want to know how many calories they should eat, what counts as a fever, and what monkeypox looks like.

Arizonans are curious about the right amount of sleep, how to ease bloating, how long allergies last, and if allergies can cause coughing. People in Arkansas are looking up gout, hemorrhoids, diabetes, ear infections, if sinus infections spread, and how to stop nosebleeds.

Moving on, Californians are researching sleep hours, juice cleanses, living without a kidney, constant yawning, stopping vertigo, night sweats, peeing when sneezing, the effects of swallowing gum, removing ingrown toenails, sleeping with a bra, and more.
Delaware folks are googling how to stop hiccups, daily water intake, the number of bones in the body, and anemia. In the District of Columbia, questions include the duration of strep throat, breaking a fever, heartburn feelings, and if poison ivy spreads.

The list goes on with each state having its own unique set of concerns. In Illinois, people are curious if you can live without a spleen, why they drool in sleep, what causes restless legs, and how to kill toenail fungus.
Indiana residents ask about normal blood pressure, bunions, constant hunger, and easing gas pain.

Maine is looking into how to relieve sinus pressure. Marylanders are asking about swallowing gum, skin tags, sleep paralysis, red eyes, and if allergies cause headaches.

Massachusetts folks want to know about back cracking, high cholesterol, preventing shin splints, and pneumonia.

New Mexico searches include going without food, high blood pressure, heartburn, ear infections, and if allergies can cause sore throats. New Yorkers are curious about dry hands, treating food poisoning, swollen gums, genetic allergies, and winter allergies.

In North Carolina, searches include the effects of too much water, feeling lightheaded, and causes of excessive gas. Oklahomans are asking about coffee limits, rare blood types, eczema, and tonsil stones. Oregonians are looking up swollen feet and stopping ear ringing.
The list of concerns reflects a wide range of health issues Americans are curious about. Each state has its unique set of questions, showing the diverse health interests across the country.

Soliant's study with answers from a seasoned practitioners aims to provide reliable information to these curious searchers, bridging the gap between wonder and knowledge.

Photo: Digital Information World - AIgen

Study Shows that TikTok is the Most Popular App Among Gen-Z For Using As a Search Engine

 A new study by Adobe shows that Gen-Z is using TikTok for their everyday search. People are searching for new trends, information, recipes and music on TikTok. This study was carried out after surveying 800 consumers and 250 business owners. The study shows that 40% of users of social media use TikTok when they want to search for something or want to know about an ongoing news or trend.


The people who were using TikTok for search are mostly Gen-Z, with 64% using TikTok while 49% of millennials use it for searching for different things. Gen-Z and Millennials both use TikTok for searching for recipes, music, DIY ideas, fashion and many more things, with Gen-Z using it 29% more than millennials. The study shows that 10% of Gen-Z prefer TikTok over Google when they want to search a topic.

Other than TikTok, ChatGPT is also getting popular as a search engine tone with 10% of users using it to answer their queries. They are also asking ChatGPT for personal advice. The reason why TikTok is getting so famous among Gen-Z as a search engine is because it shows content according to the users’ interest and preference. 40% of Gen-Z like this feature of TikTok and 26% of baby boomers also agree that this feature of TikTok has made them drawn to the app.

62% of the TikTok users like tutorial videos on TikTok and 39% users use TikTok to check reviews of different products. Many business owners are also using TikTok to gain more customers by promoting their companies and products. 25% of small business owners use influencing to gain more customers on TikTok.

The study shows that businesses use 15% of their total budget to promote their products on TikTok. TikTok is offering many opportunities to business owners so they can promote their products among young people. We will have to see what TikTok will introduce now that it is the most popular app among businesses and young people.





Google Introduces AI-Powered Conversational Features to Enhance Search Ads

 Google has recently launched a new feature in Google Ads. With the help of this feature, the users will be able to enjoy a more conversational experience with the advanced Gemini AI model. The innovative strategy was announced in May and is now available in Beta to English-speaking advertisers in the USA and U.K.


Plans for a global rollout are also underway and anticipated to reach a broader audience in a couple of weeks.

This conversational AI allows advertisers to automatically generate relevant ad content, including creative elements and keywords, directly from a website URL. Early testing has shown promising results, with advertisers reporting the creation of higher-quality search campaigns and improved ad-strength scores, which assess the relevance, quality, and diversity of ad copy.


Google, in a blog post, claims that "small business advertisers that use the conversational experience in Google Ads are 42 percent more likely to publish Search campaigns with “Good” or “Excellent” Ad Strength." Adding further, "This is significant", Why? Because, as per the search giant, they've "found a strong correlation between Ad Strength and conversions". They also provided an example for this: "advertisers who improve Ad Strength for their responsive search ads from “Poor” to “Excellent” see 12% more conversions on average."




In future updates, the search platform is likely to become more visual by offering images using generative AI. These visuals will be customized as per each specific campaign. They will also require advertiser approval before going live.
Moreover, all images created with this technology in Google Ads will be marked with SynthID, an invisible watermark indicating AI generation. This feature, developed by Google DeepMind, ensures easy identification of AI-generated images while remaining imperceptible to human users.

Google Downsizes: Ends Contract With Appen's Search Quality Raters

 According to a press release, Google has decided to terminate its contract with Appen. For those who are not aware, Appen is an Australian-based company that provides a large number of third-party search quality raters to Google and other tech giants.


Search quality raters play an important role in streamlining Google's search results. ⁤⁤The search quality raters are not responsible for directly changing the rankings or the positioning of websites in the SERPs. ⁤⁤However, they do use specific guidelines to assess search performance. ⁤⁤Ultimately, this helps Google understand what content is useful for the audience. ⁤

Reports suggest that the move to lay off search quality raters will cause Appen a significant revenue loss of $82.8 million. This move is expected to come into effect on March 19, 2024.
Currently, Google employs around 16,000 search quality raters, and those from Appen make up a large portion of this group. It's unclear if Google plans to end contracts with other partners or if they will replace these human raters with new ,hires or potentially with AI.

However, with the revolution of AI, the latter is most likely a possible move by Google. Industry speculation also foresees the same. Prominent contributor Dawn Anderson has been talking about the possibility of Google replacing human roles with AI for some time.

This shift raises the question that is on everyone’s mind, “What impact might the change have on search quality?” And most importantly, "Will more websites be affected by this downsizing, like they just did after Google's HCU?"
When contacted, Google’s spokesperson stated that the work previously done by Appen would be transferred to other suppliers. This decision is part of Google's effort to periodically modify its partners and offerings. Google also assured that the change won’t affect their output quality.