IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i3p1491-d736881.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Online Information of COVID-19: Visibility and Characterization of Highest Positioned Websites by Google between March and April 2020—A Cross-Country Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Kłak

    (Department of Environmental Hazards Prevention, Allergology and Immunology, Medical University of Warsaw, st. Banacha 1a, 02-091 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Jolanta Grygielska

    (Gerontology, Public Health and Didactics Department, National Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Institute, st. Spartańska 1, 02-637 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Małgorzata Mańczak

    (Gerontology, Public Health and Didactics Department, National Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Institute, st. Spartańska 1, 02-637 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Ewelina Ejchman-Pac

    (Gerontology, Public Health and Didactics Department, National Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Institute, st. Spartańska 1, 02-637 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Jakub Owoc

    (Gerontology, Public Health and Didactics Department, National Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Institute, st. Spartańska 1, 02-637 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Urszula Religioni

    (Collegium of Business Administration, Warsaw School of Economics, st. Madalińskiego 6/8, 02-513 Warsaw, Poland
    School of Public Health, Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education of Warsaw, st. Kleczewska 61/63, 01-826 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Robert Olszewski

    (Gerontology, Public Health and Didactics Department, National Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Institute, st. Spartańska 1, 02-637 Warsaw, Poland
    Department of Ultrasound, Institute of the Fundamental Technological Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, st. Pawinskiego 5B, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract

Background: The WHO has used the term “infodemic” to describe the vast amount of false and true information that was making it difficult for people to find reliable information when they needed it. The infodemic spreads faster than COVID-19 itself. The main objective of the study was to characterize and analyze content about COVID-19 returned by Google during the pandemic and compare it between countries. Methods: The study was conducted between 30 March and 27 April 2020. The information was searched through local Google websites using the “COVID-19”, “Coronavirus”, “SARS-CoV-2” and “fake news” keywords. The search was conducted in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Singapore, Spain, UK and the USA. The total number of the analyzed webpages was 685. Results: The most frequent types were News websites 47% (324/685) and Governmental 19% (131/685) while the least were Health portals 2% (17/685) and Scientific journals 5% (35/635), p < 0.001. United States and Australia had the highest share of Governmental websites. There was a positive correlation between the amount of preventive information and a number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in countries. The higher the number of tests performed, the higher was the amount of information about prevention available online. Conclusions: Online information is usually available on news and government websites and refers to prevention. There were differences between countries in types of information available online. The highest positioned (the first 20) websites for COVID-19, Coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2 keywords returned by Google include true information.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Kłak & Jolanta Grygielska & Małgorzata Mańczak & Ewelina Ejchman-Pac & Jakub Owoc & Urszula Religioni & Robert Olszewski, 2022. "Online Information of COVID-19: Visibility and Characterization of Highest Positioned Websites by Google between March and April 2020—A Cross-Country Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-26, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1491-:d:736881
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1491/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1491/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vincenzo Carrieri & Leonardo Madio & Francesco Principe, 2019. "Vaccine hesitancy and (fake) news: Quasi‐experimental evidence from Italy," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(11), pages 1377-1382, November.
    2. Pablo Lara-Navarra & Hervé Falciani & Enrique A. Sánchez-Pérez & Antonia Ferrer-Sapena, 2020. "Information Management in Healthcare and Environment: Towards an Automatic System for Fake News Detection," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-12, February.
    3. Brian Hughes & Kesa White & Jennifer West & Meili Criezis & Cindy Zhou & Sarah Bartholomew, 2021. "Cultural Variance in Reception and Interpretation of Social Media COVID-19 Disinformation in French-Speaking Regions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-28, November.
    4. Gupta, Ashish & Li, Han & Farnoush, Alireza & Jiang, Wenting, 2022. "Understanding patterns of COVID infodemic: A systematic and pragmatic approach to curb fake news," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 670-683.
    5. Andrea Moscadelli & Giuseppe Albora & Massimiliano Alberto Biamonte & Duccio Giorgetti & Michele Innocenzio & Sonia Paoli & Chiara Lorini & Paolo Bonanni & Guglielmo Bonaccorsi, 2020. "Fake News and Covid-19 in Italy: Results of a Quantitative Observational Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-13, August.
    6. Orkan Okan & Torsten Michael Bollweg & Eva-Maria Berens & Klaus Hurrelmann & Ullrich Bauer & Doris Schaeffer, 2020. "Coronavirus-Related Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Study in Adults during the COVID-19 Infodemic in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-20, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sou Hyun Jang, 2022. "Disparities in COVID-19 Information Sources and Knowledge in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-10, April.
    2. Anna Kłak & Konrad Furmańczyk & Paulina Maria Nowicka & Małgorzata Mańczak & Agnieszka Barańska & Urszula Religioni & Anna Siekierska & Martyna Ambroziak & Magdalena Chłopek, 2022. "The Relationship between Searches for COVID-19 Vaccines and Dynamics of Vaccinated People in Poland: An Infodemiological Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-12, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maria da Penha de Andrade Abi Harb & Lena Veiga e Silva & Nandamudi Lankalapalli Vijaykumar & Marcelino Silva da Silva & Carlos Renato Lisboa Francês, 2022. "An Analysis of the Deleterious Impact of the Infodemic during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil: A Case Study Considering Possible Correlations with Socioeconomic Aspects of Brazilian Demography," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-19, March.
    2. Giulietti, Corrado & Vlassopoulos, Michael & Zenou, Yves, 2021. "When Reality Bites: Local Deaths and Vaccine Take-Up," GLO Discussion Paper Series 999, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Juvalta, Sibylle & Speranza, Camilla & Robin, Dominik & El Maohub, Yassmeen & Krasselt, Julia & Dreesen, Philipp & Dratva, Julia & Suggs, L. Suzanne, 2023. "Young people's media use and adherence to preventive measures in the “infodemic”: Is it masked by political ideology?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    4. Chopra, Felix & Haaland, Ingar & Roth, Christopher, 2021. "The Demand for Fact-Checking," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1357, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    5. Stephanie L. Chan, 2021. "The Social Value of Public Information When Not Everyone is Privately Informed," Working Papers 2021-09-18, Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics (WISE), Xiamen University.
    6. Tuyen Van Duong & Khue M. Pham & Binh N. Do & Giang B. Kim & Hoa T. B. Dam & Vinh-Tuyen T. Le & Thao T. P. Nguyen & Hiep T. Nguyen & Trung T. Nguyen & Thuy T. Le & Hien T. T. Do & Shwu-Huey Yang, 2020. "Digital Healthy Diet Literacy and Self-Perceived Eating Behavior Change during COVID-19 Pandemic among Undergraduate Nursing and Medical Students: A Rapid Online Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-14, September.
    7. Hamby, Anne & Kim, Hongmin & Spezzano, Francesca, 2024. "Sensational stories: The role of narrative characteristics in distinguishing real and fake news and predicting their spread," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    8. Pilar Bas-Sarmiento & María José Lamas-Toranzo & Martina Fernández-Gutiérrez & Miriam Poza-Méndez, 2022. "Health Literacy, Misinformation, Self-Perceived Risk and Fear, and Preventive Measures Related to COVID-19 in Spanish University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-18, November.
    9. Mitja Vrdelja & Sanja Vrbovšek & Vito Klopčič & Kevin Dadaczynski & Orkan Okan, 2021. "Facing the Growing COVID-19 Infodemic: Digital Health Literacy and Information-Seeking Behaviour of University Students in Slovenia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-16, August.
    10. Lina Zhou & Jie Tao & Dongsong Zhang, 2023. "Does Fake News in Different Languages Tell the Same Story? An Analysis of Multi-level Thematic and Emotional Characteristics of News about COVID-19," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 493-512, April.
    11. Sofia Amaral‐Garcia & Mattia Nardotto & Carol Propper & Tommaso Valletti, 2024. "Information and vaccine hesitancy: The role of broadband Internet," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(9), pages 1936-1948, September.
    12. Steven Stillman & Mirco Tonin, 2022. "Communities and testing for COVID-19," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(4), pages 617-625, June.
    13. Vincenzo Carrieri & Raffele Lagravinese & Giuliano Resce, 2021. "Predicting vaccine hesitancy from area‐level indicators: A machine learning approach," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(12), pages 3248-3256, December.
    14. Veronika Anselmann & Simone Halder & Sophie Sauer, 2024. "Nursing Students’ Health Literacy and Strategies to Foster Patients’ Health Literacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(8), pages 1-9, August.
    15. Rafaela Rosário & Inês Fronteira & Maria R. O. Martins & Cláudia Augusto & Maria José Silva & Melanie Messer & Silvana Martins & Ana Duarte & Neida Ramos & Katharina Rathmann & Orkan Okan & Kevin Dada, 2022. "Infodemic Preparedness and COVID-19: Searching about Public Health and Social Measures Is Associated with Digital Health Literacy in University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-9, September.
    16. Kati Hiltrop & Nina Hiebel & Franziska Geiser & Milena Kriegsmann-Rabe & Nikoloz Gambashidze & Eva Morawa & Yesim Erim & Kerstin Weidner & Christian Albus & Nicole Ernstmann, 2021. "Measuring COVID-19 Related Health Literacy in Healthcare Professionals—Psychometric Evaluation of the HL-COV-HP Instrument," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-10, November.
    17. Sheng-Chih Chen & Le Duc Huy & Cheng-Yu Lin & Chih-Feng Lai & Nhi Thi Hong Nguyen & Nhi Y. Hoang & Thao T. P. Nguyen & Loan T. Dang & Nguyen L. T. Truong & Tan N. Phan & Tuyen Van Duong, 2022. "Association of Digital Health Literacy with Future Anxiety as Mediated by Information Satisfaction and Fear of COVID-19: A Pathway Analysis among Taiwanese Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-16, November.
    18. Principe, Francesco & Weber, Guglielmo, 2023. "Online health information seeking and Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy: Evidence from 50+ Europeans," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    19. Shuaijun Guo & Xiaoming Yu & Orkan Okan, 2020. "Moving Health Literacy Research and Practice towards a Vision of Equity, Precision and Transparency," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-14, October.
    20. Aldo Rosano & Chiara Lorini & Brigid Unim & Robert Griebler & Chiara Cadeddu & Luca Regazzi & Daniela Galeone & Luigi Palmieri, 2022. "Coronavirus-Related Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-13, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1491-:d:736881. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.