A SEO problem?

According to an article published in BMJ, people researching suicidal methods on the Internet are more likely to find sites that promote suicide instead of ones that provide help and support.

It is known that suicidal behavior is influenced by the way the media covers suicides and how television and film approach the topic.

Recently, the popular press has reported on the availability and influence of Internet sites and web forums that encourage suicide in young people.

This led researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Oxford and Manchester to further study suicide on the Internet.

A total of 480 web addresses (the first ten from each search) and 240 unique sites were retrieved, visited, and viewed.

Contrastingly, 13% (62 of 480) of sites focused on suicide prevention or offered support, and 12% (59 of 480) sites forbade or discouraged suicide.

Of sites that were dedicated to suicide and sites with factual information, almost all offered information about suicidal methods.

Another interesting finding was that Google and Yahoo returned the most sites dedicated to suicide, while MSN retrieved the highest number of sites focusing on prevention, support, academics, and policy.

In the UK, suicide sites are legal and there is no regulation.

"It may be more fruitful for service providers to pursue website optimisation strategies to maximise the likelihood that suicidal people access helpful rather than potentially harmful sites in times of crisis," conclude the authors.

So, if you relly do have a good reason to kill yourself, as most of us probably do once in a while, Google and Yahoo are your friends.