BACKGROUND: Online weight loss information is commonly sought by internet users, and it may impact their health decisions and behaviors. Previous studies examined a limited number of Google search queries and relied on manual approaches to retrieve online weight loss websites. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify and describe the characteristics of the top weight loss websites on Google. METHODS: This study gathered 432 Google search queries collected from Google autocomplete suggestions, "People Also Ask" featured questions, and Google Trends data. A data-mining software tool was developed to retrieve the search results automatically, setting English and the United States as the default criteria for language and location, respectively. Domain classification and evaluation technologies were used to categorize the websites according to their content and determine their risk of cyberattack. In addition, the top 5 most frequent websites in nonadvertising (ie, nonsponsored) search results were inspected for quality. RESULTS: The results revealed that the top 5 nonadvertising websites were healthline.com, webmd.com, verywellfit.com, mayoclinic.org, and womenshealthmag.com. All provided accuracy statements and author credentials. The domain categorization taxonomy yielded a total of 101 unique categories. After grouping the websites that appeared less than 5 times, the most frequent categories involved "Health" (104/623, 16.69%), "Personal Pages and Blogs" (91/623, 14.61%), "Nutrition and Diet" (48/623, 7.7%), and "Exercise" (34/623, 5.46%). The risk of being a victim of a cyberattack was low. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggested that while quality information is accessible, users may still encounter less reliable content among various online resources. Therefore, better tools and methods are needed to guide users toward trustworthy weight loss information.

• Keywords
• Google, consumer health informatics, cyberattack risk, data mining, digital health, information seeking, internet search, online health information, website analysis, weight loss,
• MeSH
• Data Mining * methods   MeSH
• Weight Loss * MeSH
• Internet * MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Search Engine MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• United States MeSH

BACKGROUND: Users with experience of eating disorders use the internet as a source of information, whether for prorecovery activities (such as web-based treatment, looking for information, support, and sharing) or activities that promote eating disorder behavior as a desirable lifestyle choice (such as pro-eating disorder communities and reading and creating pro-eating disorder posts). Their assessment of web-based eating disorder-related information is crucial for understanding the context of the illness and for health professionals and their web-based interventions. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to understand the criteria young women with the experience of eating disorders use in evaluating eating disorder-related web-based information and what eating disorder-related characteristics of these women are involved in their evaluation. METHODS: We analyzed 30 semistructured individual interviews with Czech women aged 16 to 28 years with past or present eating disorder experience using a qualitative approach. Thematic analysis was adopted as an analytical tool. RESULTS: The specifics of eating disorder phases (the disorder stage and the treatment process) emerged as important aspects in the process of information assessment. Other specific characteristics of respondents (eg, motivation, abilities, and resources) addressed how the respondents arrived at certain web-based information and how they evaluated it. In addition, the respondents described some content cues as features of information (eg, novelty and social information pooling). Another finding is that other users' attitudes, experiences, activities, and personal features are involved in the information evaluation of these users and the information presented by them. Finally, the respondents evaluated the websites' visual look and graphic components. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that web-based information evaluation reported by women with experience of eating disorders is a complex process. The assessment is influenced by current personal characteristics related to the illness (mainly the motivation for maintaining or curing the eating disorder) using cues associated with information content, other users, and website look. The study findings have important implications for health professionals, who should ask their clients questions about web-based communities and their needs to understand what information and sources they choose.

• Keywords
• Czech women, eating disorders, web-based health information,
• MeSH
• Internet MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Motivation MeSH
• Feeding and Eating Disorders * therapy   MeSH
• Health Personnel MeSH
• Life Style MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH