Semantic search engine hakia today announced an update to its beta site that will help users looking for the most credible and fresh health content on the Web. For the first time, users will start to get credibility-stamped search results in full view, instead of just popularity-ranked results.

Health related searches on the Web are always important, and can even be a matter of life and death. More than 100 million people search online for health-related information. Not surprisingly, a staggering 30 percent of searchers have concerns about the quality of the information.*

Today’s general search engines, however, are designed to yield only the most popular results. This presents Web searchers with a single viewpoint, which may include outdated, irrelevant or potentially misleading information. Now, hakia.com offers a different worldview, by providing credible and fresh health information online.

To ensure credibility, hakia is providing results from sources that have met the quality criteria set forth by the Medical Library Association. hakia’s users can now trust what they find, because experts have vetted the sources.

“Not all Web searches end when the first piece of information is found. You also need to know if the information provider is credible” said Dr. Riza C. Berkan, hakia’s CEO. “hakia will now eliminate this extra burden by ensuring the credibility of the sources in all top search results.”

The hakia health search difference:

For example, for a query such as “What are the benefits of aspirin,” hakia provides:

* Credibility – To make its determinations, hakia used the Medical Library Association’s list of quality health web sites. (A full list of these credible websites can be found below). These are clearly marked and displayed at the top of search results page.
* Freshnesss – The top hakia search results list news, if available, and the most up-to-date information
* Relevancy – hakia is committed to providing quality search results via semantic technology

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