User evaluation and perception of optimized websites for health-related queries : a user study within the SEO Effect project ; SEO-Effekt Working Paper 4

Abstract

This working paper describes the laboratory study within the research project SEO-Effekt. The study is based on previous project parts. First, according to the representative online survey, only a small fraction of Internet users is aware of search engine optimization (SEO). Second, our SEO classification tool can distinguish websites based on the probability of performed SEO measures. Our main objective is to investigate what quality differences users perceive between optimized and non-optimized websites for health-related queries. We ask (I) whether quality differences are perceived between websites that are classified by our tool as either optimized or non-optimized, whether medical expertise (II) or perspectives on SEO (III) have an influence on the quality ratings, and (IV) how the ratings are justified. For answering the research questions, we conducted a multi-method study consisting of evaluations of website quality based on various criteria (e.g., trustworthiness, expertise) plus think aloud protocols. The study was conducted completely online and involved N = 50 laypersons and N = 11 experts on health-related topics. The results show that non-optimized websites are rated as having a higher level of expertise than optimized websites. This assessment is independent of the subjects’ medical expertise and SEO perspectives and is justified mainly by the website operator and its competent appearance. No significant differences were found for criteria other than expertise. Potential future research could focus on repeating the study with a much larger number of subjects and by using a more sophisticated classification of SEO probability.