January 21, 2005

MGH website is "most visited" in the country

In the information age, many people are increasingly turning to the Internet for the latest information on health care. As a leading hospital dedicated to state-of-the-art-research and high-quality health care, the MGH has developed a comprehensive website with important health information and descriptions of hospital services and programs. According to the publication Modern Healthcare, the MGH website has become the most frequently visited hospital site, ranking it over competition such as the Mayo Clinic.

In 2000, when the MGH website was first introduced, it averaged about 50,000 visitors per month. In 2002, many updates were made to the site including the addition of 14 directory pages and more than 200 department and program sites, which helped raise the number of average monthly visitors to 75,000. By 2003, the first Search Engine Optimization (SEO) project was completed, which determined the keywords and descriptions that should be added to make sure the MGH site would be ranked high with search engines.

"We don't have definitive data, but I think that people come to the site because of our SEO activity and also because of marketing activities promoting various departmental sites," says Bernie Mendillo, senior manager for Internet and Development in the MGH and Massachusetts General Physicians Organization Marketing Department. "A combination of better content, features and vibrant designs for each department keeps users coming back. We consider this a confirmation that we're moving in the right direction — but there's a lot more that we still can do."