Introducing new ways to help you find answers to your health questions

When it comes to our health, we trust healthcare professionals to give us the best advice.

At YouTube, we’re working to make it easier for people to find authoritative information to help answer their questions, and we’re putting health professionals at the core of our efforts to connect people with helpful content. In our increasingly digital world, the next phase in health communication is video, where we can connect with people and answer their questions in a way that is both visual and personal. And now, we’re announcing two new ways that we’ll surface credible and relevant health information for people in Australia.

We’re adding new health source information panels on videos to help viewers identify videos from authoritative sources, and introducing health content shelves that more effectively highlight videos from these sources when you search for specific health topics. These context cues are intended to help people to more easily navigate and identify credible health information.

Accredited organisations such as educational institutions, public health departments, hospitals and government entities in Australia, are already creating engaging, evidence-based videos that really connect with people. Now, these videos will be recommended in health content shelves when people search for health information, and have a health source information panel to help viewers identify that these are from authoritative sources.

Certain categories of healthcare professionals and health information providers can also apply to make their channels eligible for our health product features.

To identify the right sources to include in these new features, we applied the principles developed by an expert panel convened by the National Academy of Medicine, a nonprofit, nongovernmental organisation that brings together the top experts in health, medicine, and biomedical science to provide unbiased, evidence-based guidance about health and science. Applicants must have proof of their licence, follow best practices for health information sharing as set out by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, the National Academy of Medicine and the World Health Organization, and have a channel in good standing on YouTube. Full details on eligibility requirements are here.

All channels that apply will be reviewed against these guidelines, and the licence of the applying healthcare professional will be verified. In the coming months, eligible channels that have applied through this process will be given a health source information panel that identifies them as a licensed healthcare professional and their videos will appear in relevant search results in health content shelves. Health creators in Australia can apply starting from June 28, 2024, and we’ll continue to expand availability to additional medical specialties in the future.

This is a big step towards helping people more easily find and connect with content that comes from the extraordinary community of authoritative healthcare creators on YouTube – the smart, dedicated and creative folks who are transforming the ways that we share medical information. Whether you have learned about science and biology with Dr Matt & Dr Mike, or different medical conditions from Dr Syl, or seen explainers on topics like heart disease from Griffith Health, there are communities on YouTube that are helping people become more informed, engaged and empowered about their health.

Effective communication is at the heart of improving people’s health, and we’re excited for this next phase in our work to connect people in Australia with highly authoritative health information that is both engaging and evidence-based.