Schooling Dr. Google with Mark Traphagen

There are many healthcare providers who dread hearing "Dr. Google" quoted in the exam room. From inaccurate or misleading information to downright "malpractice" (says Tanya Feke, MD in a blog posted on KevinMD.com ), Dr. Google is a challenge when dealing with patient education. I asked Google expert (actually, Guru) Mark Traphagen of Stone Temple Consulting to join me in a conversation about the "Good News/Bad News" regarding health information online and what a healthcare practitioner can do to become a trusted voice in their community. Listen to our conversation or drop in at the discussion topics below.

00:00 Intro00:45 Mark Traphagen - Guru03:30 "Dr. Google Should be Sued for Malpractice"04:50 Healthy skepticism for online health information05:55 Google is part of the solution, Google's ranking algorithm07:00 Up to 20% of Google searches are health related07:30 Google's Direct Answers08:18 "How do I boil and egg"08:40 Google Highlights one answer from one source09:12 Google partnering with trusted healthcare organizations09:52 Re-purposing existing content or producing new content?10:30 Pre-approving content12:30 Competition between large healthcare brands for providing content14:01 Do we care about anything other than Google?14:24 "Google's Mission is to organize the information of the world and diseminate it."14:58 You've got to be more creative than ever.15:38 Can Bing or Yahoo compete with Google?16:00 "The User doesn't give a hoot about you. They just want the answer."16:44 How many trusted sources do you need for information?18:13 Google's Truth Algorithm "Knowledge-Based Trust"20:15 Become a reliable and trusted source, and you could gain a "truth rank" from Google20:50 Local emphasis may become more important22:00 Does linking a blog post to a highly regarded website help with ranking?24:34 If you are building a good content site - cross link to other content on your site25:00 Create reasons to link content from other places on your website or blog25:35 Pogo-Sticking26:30 Google measures time spent on your website?28:00 Google wants "useful' information - not just "good."29:23 Google Search Quality Guidelines - Human evaluation of content30:17 Google wants to provide more than the answer to the question31:00 Don't write for Google - write for your audience31:35 Serve as a Physician online and offline but still need technical expertise33:05 Next time: Mark shares his own patient experience34:32 Social Media Tip: Mary Pat Whaley - Content ideas for your blog

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Links referenced in the show:

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2015/08/dr-google-should-be-sued-for-malpractice-heres-why.html

http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/10/googles-knowledge-graph-will-soon-answer-your-health-related-questions-directly-in-search-results/

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/googles-truth-algo-5-facts-know/129103/