title: A method for the design and development of medical or health care information websites to optimize search engine results page rankings on Google.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Internet is a widely used source of information for patients searching for medical/health care information. While many studies have assessed existing medical/health care information on the Internet, relatively few have examined methods for design and delivery of such websites, particularly those aimed at the general public.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study describes a method of evaluating material for new medical/health care websites, or for assessing those already in existence, which is correlated with higher rankings on Google's Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
  
  
  METHODS
  A website quality assessment (WQA) tool was developed using criteria related to the quality of the information to be contained in the website in addition to an assessment of the readability of the text. This was retrospectively applied to assess existing websites that provide information about generic medicines. The reproducibility of the WQA tool and its predictive validity were assessed in this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The WQA tool demonstrated very high reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.95) between 2 independent users. A moderate to strong correlation was found between WQA scores and rankings on Google SERPs. Analogous correlations were seen between rankings and readability of websites as determined by Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of the WQA tool developed in this study is recommended as part of the design phase of a medical or health care information provision website, along with assessment of readability of the material to be used. This may ensure that the website performs better on Google searches. The tool can also be used retrospectively to make improvements to existing websites, thus, potentially enabling better Google search result positions without incurring the costs associated with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professionals or paid promotion.
authors: Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland. suzanne.dunne@ul.ie
authors: Suzanne
authors: S
authors: Dunne
authors: Niamh Maria
authors: NM
authors: Cummins
authors: Ailish
authors: A
authors: Hannigan
authors: Bill
authors: B
authors: Shannon
authors: Colum
authors: C
authors: Dunne
authors: Walter
authors: W
authors: Cullen
mesh_terms: D020407:Internet; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D057386:Search Engine
keywords: Google; Internet; generic drugs; health care information; medical informatics; patient education; quality assessment; website development
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