Search engine optimization (SEO) standards

Overview

When a search engine's crawler navigates through a webpage, there are several types of content and elements on a page that get analyzed as part of the indexing and ranking process.  The structure and maintenance of the website is also important.

SEO standards for Penn Medicine are intended to:

• Increase visibility in search engine results aligned to organic growth-focused areas
• Result in more qualified traffic to the Penn Medicine website and digital properties
• Boost patient engagement and recognition for Penn Medicine services and specialties

Google consistently dominates the global search engine market with an estimated average of 80 percent and 90 percent of all desktop and mobile searches, respectively. For this reason, most of our data and techniques are based off of Google's algorithm updates and top metrics. Note that Google’s algorithm is constantly evolving.

SEO techniques

At Penn Medicine, search engine optimization is achieved primarily through the following techniques:

• Keyword and search intent standards
• Content guidelines
• Page structure standards
• Site architecture and hygiene

SEO metrics

Some of the important SEO metrics for Penn Medicine include:

• Organic traffic
• Keyword rankings
• Conversion rate
• Engagement rate
• Average engagement time
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Branded search volume and share of search
• Core web vitals
• Emerging AI-native metrics: AI citation/attribution rate, zero-click surface presence (brand visibility in “Position 0” features like knowledge panels and AI Overviews)

These metrics are important as they contribute to:

• User experience (UX) - High engagement rates, longer average engagement time and high conversion rates are all indicators of a positive user experience.
• Content quality and relevancy - High ranking content that keeps users engaged indicates that content supports the user search intent.
• Increased use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Conversion quality rather than raw traffic is becoming more important with AI-driven search.