The Visibility of Health Web Portals for teens: a Hyperlink Analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to analyse the hyperlinks leading to six teen health websites in order to assess the visibility of teen health web portals as well as to discover which websites refer teens to reliable health information.Design/methodology/approach – An environmental scan of the web was conducted to find sample health websites for teens. Inlink data was gathered using Google Webmaster Tools, and the inlink sources were classified by the type of creator.Findings – The teen health websites in this study had a low level of visibility on the web compared to general health web portals (such as Medline Plus, for example) and a weak level of referrals from health‐related groups compared to other organisations such as schools and public libraries. Many non‐healthcare related websites are linking to teen health information, demonstrating that teens' health information needs are being met by sources that lack expertise in health care.Research limitations/implications – Due to the small sample...

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