Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/55965
++++++++++++++++++ + + ++++++++++++++++++ MARKETING +++ +++ Your Online Brand Managing By Katie Harvey IT IS NO SECRET — t he Internet has changed hea l th c a re. Today 's patient is no longer pas- sive. Instead, she is searching the vast amount of health information at her fingertips, self-diagnosing, connecting with like-minded patients, educating herself on her condition and choosing her (and her family's) doctor. With the era of the online consumer upon us, the question exists: Are you managing your brand online? Search Engine Optimization The term search engine optimization (SEO) describes a diverse set of activities that you can perform to increase the number of desirable visitors who come to your website via search engines. This includes things you do to your site itself, such as making changes to your text and HTML code, and communicating directly with the search engines. As a continually evolving area of online marketing, SEO may sound complicated, but it is very simple in its fundamental goal: gaining targeted visitors. For a basic check to see if your site is optimized for search engines, review the following: + Title bar: The title bar is code contained in an HTML document that briefly describes the website's contents and is displayed as the first line of a search engine results listing. What does yours say? Does it include key phrases you think people will search? + URLs: URLs are Web addresses for unique pages of your website and should contain specific keywords describing the content on each page. This additional data helps a search engine determine a site's relevance. Look at URLs. Are they unique to each page? + Links: According to Google, a best practice is to establish quality