What are people asking about PFAS in their drinking water based on online search behaviors?

Holland, Tim

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/122959 Copy

Description

Title

What are people asking about PFAS in their drinking water based on online search behaviors?

Author(s)

Holland, Tim

Issue Date

2024-04-25

Keyword(s)

• PFAS
• per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a human health concern that are associated with increased incidence of specific cancers, reproductive health, immune effects, developmental effects on children, among other issues. A recent study found that 45% of tap water in the U.S. contains at least one or more PFAS, and the US Environmental Protection Agency now requires municipal water utilities to report PFAS levels identified in public water. For public health communicators to be successful in supporting communities with PFAS communication, we first need to elucidate what questions people are asking about PFAS. Therefore, we aim to answer critical questions to inform applied outreach using Semrush, a search engine analytics tool. We used Semrush to categorize the type of questions people search for related to PFAS and rank them based on search volume. Overall, the highest search volume was related to what PFAS are, followed by how to filter or avoid PFAS, and finally, the human health effects of PFAS. Second, Semrush was used to identify what websites Google provides as search results. These insights will help health professionals create informational resources tailored to answer their communities’ questions and optimize their websites to rank highly in PFAS-related Google search results.

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https://youtu.be/ZtxKPLxt5ec

Type of Resource

• text
• still image

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