To cater for rising public interest in Covid-19, Johns Hopkins Medicine quickly developed a search and content strategy early in 2020, changing the way it worked with experts across the organisation to make the most of its content architecture.

Healthcare authorities and expert sources of health information have had vitally important roles to play throughout the Covid-19 pandemic as misinformation circulates and the public look for sources of health advice that they can trust.

For Johns Hopkins Medicine, which is a leading source of healthcare research, expertise and treatment in the United States, the coronavirus pandemic proved to be the ultimate test of a newfound approach to online content as well as the digital transformation work it had been carrying out in partnership with customer experience management company Sitecore.

I spoke to Aaron Watkins, Senior Director of Internet Strategy at Johns Hopkins Medicine, about how the organisation used search and a new content ecosystem to make authoritative information on the pandemic easily accessible to the general public, how being ‘nimble’ allowed the organisation to provide health information in a timely fashion, and how its approach to communication and content has evolved as the pandemic has gone on.