Utilization of Structured Data to Improve Visibility of Digital Health Websites

Objective This article proposes a framework to design, organize, and implement structured data, a standardized format to embed metadata into websites, to improve visibility of information from digital health websites. Methods We described the utility of structured data to improve visibility of websites and a proposed framework to design and evaluate context-specific structured data using existing structured data schemas. Results To motivate the increased use of structured data of health websites, we 1) highlight the considerations of implementing structured data in websites, 2) outline a framework and case study to build structured data, and 3) describe practical methods to implement structured data into healthcare websites. Discussion The use of structured data in healthcare websites can increase the visibility of health resources through search engine optimization (SEO), show rich, personalized results to target users, and allow the website to serve as a living digital directory of resource information for patients. Conclusion Further quality improvement and implementation science research is needed to promote the systematic uptake of structured data as a tool to deliver personalized healthcare information to patients.