When you've come down with a few symptoms of illness, what better way to self-diagnose than just googling them? Chances are, you've probably done it. Google says 1 percent of all its searches (totaling millions) are symptom-related.

There's only one problem: Most of the time — no matter how mild the symptoms or the ailment — the search results likely lead to one of two things: You have a serious illness and/or you're dying. Even if that's not the consensus (but it probably is), perhaps the search results are just confusing, with too much information to sift through.

"Many people when they become ill, the Internet is often their first source of information," Ateev Mehrotra, associate professor at Harvard Medical School, told USA Today. "Given Google's prominence there, that often also equates with going to Google. We also know that the process doesn't work very well."

Of course, we all know going to the doctor is the only guaranteed way to diagnose and treat one's illness. But in the meantime, if you still want to Google your symptoms first, you might soon get better, more accurate results.

Google recently announced on its blog that it plans to make it easier to find answers to symptom-related questions. It will do so by updating its catalog of searched health symptoms and adding information on related health conditions that have been reviewed by experts at Harvard Medical School and Mayo Clinic.

The company will do this using its Knowledge Graph, a knowledge base it added to its search engine in 2012 that provides structured and detailed information about the topic in addition to a list of links to other sites.

For example, a Google search for "headache on one side," will show you (in addition to the search results you would normally get) a list of related conditions such as headache, migraine, tension headache or common cold. For individual symptoms like "headache," Google will also give users an overview description along with ways to self-treat and when a doctor's visit might be needed.

Google says its goal in doing so is to help users "navigate and explore health conditions related to your symptoms and quickly get to the point where you can do more in-depth research on the web or talk to a health professional."

Google says its hopes to improve the feature over time, covering more symptoms and offering the feature in across other countries and languages, Google product manager Veronica Pinchin told USA Today. Pinchin also noted that although Google has worked with medical professionals to streamline its health search results, the information should not be a substitute for medical advice from a doctor, but rather, a "starting off point."

Wanda Filer, a family physician and president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, told The Wall Street Journal that the new search results could be helpful for both doctors and patients.

"Knowing what a patient has read and seen gives us a good starting point for a conversation," she said. "No information given out online could replace a doctor's visit, but it can be a complement."