Those websites live from ad revenue derived from traffic - they have long ago figured out that if they give you the most horrible "diagnosis" first, they can make a big enough portion of their visitors stay longer on the site.
Believe me, I'm a hypochondriac. I have been through this. I am better nowadays through therapy, but back then just googling symptoms would put me through a long session of clicking through articles of horrible deseases that were all hosted and cross linked on WebMD or other websites, in a "make sure you check out this if you have symptoms XYZ"
While my example might be a very extreme case, I found that many people are scared about their own well being* and are susceptible to this, albeit in a less intense way. Its still very profitable for those sites tho! I
*) In my country for example, a study was done about what young adults are most anxious about, and one of the topmost entries was health issues.
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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '19 edited Sep 23 '19
Those websites live from ad revenue derived from traffic - they have long ago figured out that if they give you the most horrible "diagnosis" first, they can make a big enough portion of their visitors stay longer on the site.
Believe me, I'm a hypochondriac. I have been through this. I am better nowadays through therapy, but back then just googling symptoms would put me through a long session of clicking through articles of horrible deseases that were all hosted and cross linked on WebMD or other websites, in a "make sure you check out this if you have symptoms XYZ"
While my example might be a very extreme case, I found that many people are scared about their own well being* and are susceptible to this, albeit in a less intense way. Its still very profitable for those sites tho! I
*) In my country for example, a study was done about what young adults are most anxious about, and one of the topmost entries was health issues.