Using google search volume to inform early detection interventions for public health crises: A policy brief

Abstract

Google search volume offers a novel, efficient, and affordable way of informing early detection and intervention efforts for public health issues, including but not limited to suicide, skin cancer, and the flu. By elucidating regions where searches for terms related to these issues are most common, search trends can be a diagnostic tool for indicating where the need for policy interventions are most needed. Given that such data are both highly accessible (i.e., cost, availability and timeliness) as well as valid in terms of its predictive validity, it may be a particularly useful tool.