Google It: The Importance of Website Optimization for Health Departments, CBOs and Other Governmental Organizations

Background: Sexual health information is one of the most frequently searched topics online. Public heath clinics and state health departments host websites that provide service information and education related to sexual health. STD and HIV/AIDS testing are among the most commonly sought-out services. However, evidence suggests that adolescents and young adults find it difficult to retrieve local sexual health services online.  

Objectives: To examine the ease of online access to local, government-sponsored organizations that provide geographically relevant STD and HIV/AIDS testing information through a standard Google search.  

Methods: Six cities/towns in 4 US geographical regions were selected and Google was the chosen search engine to seek answers to 7 STD and HIV/AIDS-related health topics. For each query, the first 3 websites on the search results page were coded for relevance, site purpose (i.e., public clinics/health departments, for-profit business, resource landing) and informational content. We define “government-sponsored sites” as web pages designed for organizations such as public clinics, health departments and public hospitals.  

Results: Of the 378 websites retrieved, only 11% (n = 43) were government-sponsored sites and rarely (10.4%) appeared as the first search result.  However, 84% of the 43 government-sponsored sites provided the sought after information for the specific STD/HIV testing search queries, compared to 45% of non government-sponsored sites. Government-sponsored sites appeared more prominently for STD queries than for HIV queries.   

Conclusions: Data from the queries reveal that reliable information regarding government-sponsored STD/HIV testing services, such as local public clinics and health departments, is available but not easily accessible online.  

Implications for Programs, Policy, and/or Research: Our research reflects previous studies on web search strategies and points to the critical implication that public health clinics and local health departments must optimize their website placement in order to reach a greater proportion of the sexually active population who utilize web search engines.