In my experience, Mayo Clinic and several other similar sites are ranked far too highly by Google for the paltry information they offer. I can somewhat understand why Google has chosen to deliberately suppress more information-rich sources like Wikipedia specifically for medical queries, but I find it to be extremely annoying. When I search for information about a disease online, I'm usually not trying to use Google as a substitute for asking my doctor, and I don't appreciate Google trying to funnel me to sites that are dumbed down. My use case when searching for information about a disease is usually to explore broader information about the disease, not just look up a listing of most common symptoms.
> My use case when searching for information about a disease is usually to explore broader information about the disease, not just look up a listing of most common symptoms.
OK, I see the problem, and I'm not sure how Google can solve it. The problem is that you are unlike the vast majority of other Google users. Most of the time someone is searching for an illness, it's because they think they (or someone they know) has it. Mayo Clinic is great for that.
I personally sometimes search for more detail, but then I usually go directly to Wikipedia (which has as much info as a layperson like me can understand, but much more than Mayo Clinic).
