Google will be introducing health data into their knowledge graph. Knowledge graph information such as this appears in the knowledge panels and info cards alongside normal search results, providing users with quick, relevant information in the SERPS.
A recent report from Google stated that 1 in 20 searches were of a medial nature. In their official announcement, Google provide the example, “maybe a co-worker shook your hand and later found out she had pink eye, so you looked up “pink eye” to see whether it’s contagious”.
The update aims to help improve speed, relevancy and credibility of information provided to users, especially on mobile. To this end, Google has worked closely with medical professionals to collect, analyse and verify the information in order to combat the high number of results that are incomplete or untrustworthy. Google hope that by providing information in this manner, users will dig deeper and be better positioned to identify high-quality content on 3rd party sites. It will be interesting to see how this change will affect SEO going forward.