Published 18 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1083
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1083

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Google needs better control of its advertisements and suggested links

Marco Masoni, researcher1, Maria Renza Guelfi, researcher1, Gian Franco Gensini, dean2

1 Faculty of Medicine, University of Florence, 2 Department of Critical and Surgical Care, University of Florence

Correspondence to: M Masoni m.masoni@med.unifi.it

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Searching for information is one of the most popular uses of the internet, and medical information is among the types of information that are most sought. Therefore how internet search engines present sources of information to users is important. As the internet is not well policed and regulated, it is up to members of the medical community to be vigilant and to suggest improvements.

Google, the most popular internet search engine, earns much of its revenue from advertisements related to search terms entered into it. We have noticed that Google’s sponsored links are sometimes to web pages that contain worrying medical claims. On 19 January 2009 we used Google Italia to search on the keyword "aloe." On the first page of results two sponsored links appeared at the top of the page. The first one said (in Italian): "Aloe vera or arborescens? http://www.aziendaagricolaghignone.it. To purify use aloe [Aloe . . . [Full text of this article]


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