Learn how to tackle the technical challenges of advanced search for healthcare websites. From optimizing speed and performance to handling multilingual and multi-format content, this guide compares search tools and provides practical tips to improve patient trust and retention.
I recently wrote an article about how implementing Advanced Search can increase trust and retention for hospitals and other healthcare providers.
We'll now discuss the technical issues in implementing the best practices from that article. We’ll be covering the following:
Speed is critical in healthcare. Users may be seeking time-sensitive information. To optimize search performance on a hospital website, focus on two areas: the front-end (what users see) and the back-end (the behind-the-scenes work).
On the front-end, use techniques like pagination, lazy loading, and minifying code. Pagination limits the number of search results displayed at once. Lazy loading loads content only when a user scrolls down. Minifying code removes unnecessary characters in the site's code. These methods help ensure users get fast, smooth search results without long wait times.
On the back-end, database indexing speeds up data retrieval. Server-side caching stores frequently searched data to load it faster next time. For high-traffic websites, load balancing spreads search traffic across multiple servers. This avoids slowdowns during busy times and keeps the site responsive under heavy use.
The trick is to balance front-end and back-end optimizations. This ensures that search functions quickly and efficiently, providing users with real-time information.
Healthcare institutions serve diverse populations. Users seek information in various languages and formats, like videos.
A strong multilingual website builds trust in those less familiar with English. When you provide info in their preferred language, patients feel your organization meets their needs. The search module must be as effective in these alternative languages as it is in English.
Visitors are trending towards consuming information through video. Many organizations have adapted by adding videos to their websites. It's important that your search module index video transcripts and meta info. This will show users relevant search results. You might even want to separate out the video content type from other types of content in those results.
Intra-site search modules vary wildly in levels of sophistication and implementation cost.
Your website’s CMS platform (Content Management System) provides a basic search module “out of the box.” These tools use simple algorithms. They check if the searched word is in the page title or body. Then, they display generic result pages. You can tweak the algorithms and the results will display improvement, but don’t expect much.
To enable robust search, connect your site to advanced search engines. These include:
Each option can be cost-effective, depending on the situation. So, I recommend that you contact your digital consultancy to explore them.
Implementing these technical changes to your site's search will help attract and retain patients. It will increase their trust in your institution.
