Another good thing about Google

‘Suicide’ Query Prompts Google to Offer Hotline

As with any omniscient being, you can ask Google anything. You just don’t know what the answer is going to be.

That changed slightly last week when the Google search engine started automatically giving a suggestion of where to call after receiving a search seemingly focused on suicide.

Among the searches that result in an icon of a red phone and the toll-free number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline are “ways to commit suicide” and “suicidal thoughts.” The information takes precedence over the linked results and is different and more prominent than an advertisement. Guidance on suicide prevention was suggested internally and was put in place on Wednesday.

This is only the second time Google has added such guidance on troubling search terms, Dr. Roni Zeiger, chief health strategist for Google, said in an interview. A few months ago, the search engine began providing a phone number for the national poison control hotline after searches like “poison emergency.”