Qiu Junji / Taipei Report The self-pay medical market is so competitive that even the ranking in online search results is contested. For a keyword search, the top position might originally cost only twenty to thirty yuan per click. However, after bidding and competition among medical institutions, some keywords now cost over one hundred yuan per click for the top position, causing some medical facilities that aim for stable operations to withdraw from this ranking battle.

With the widespread use of the internet, many people are accustomed to using keywords to find information. Therefore, businesses purchase advertising priority for keywords from companies like Yahoo and Google. The higher the bid, the higher the ranking, which relatively increases the click-through rate from netizens. The billing method is based on the number of clicks; the more clicks, the more money the business pays to Yahoo and Google.

Nowadays, many businesses are focusing their strategies here. For example, if you type the name of the president's daughter, Chen Xingyu, into the Yahoo search engine, the top result is "Venus shaping underwear" because the product claims to be "princess underwear." Thus, the company bought the priority ranking for the keyword "Chen Xingyu."

The medical community has not forgotten the vast number of netizens. Cai Fengzhou, director of the plastic surgery department at Taipei Medical University Hospital, pointed out that for the keyword "plastic surgery," the current top ranking costs as much as one hundred yuan per click. "Breast augmentation" surpasses "plastic surgery," exceeding one hundred yuan per click.

Cai Fengzhou stated that due to this commercial mechanism, when people use search engines to find medical information, if they search for terms like plastic surgery, weight loss, or breast augmentation, the top results are often not large hospitals like medical centers. He reminded the public not to assume that the top-ranked medical institutions are the most recognized or the best by netizens, which could influence their decisions.

For those considering plastic surgery, Cai Fengzhou suggests not relying solely on friends' recommendations or website promotions. If time permits, they should visit clinics or hospitals in person, communicate face-to-face with doctors, or browse major discussion forums to view before-and-after photos of surgeries performed by various doctors. Surgery is a significant matter, and the person who can truly safeguard their appearance and medical rights is oneself.