NEHA July/August 2025 Journal of Environmental Health

ple use when searching for environmental pollutants. PFAS go by many names because the acronym refers to a group of chemical compounds. By understanding what terms people use, health communicators can infuse their content with keywords and specific information to ensure their content is rel- evant to their intended audience. Strategic implementation of keyword research can enable health communicators to streamline their informational output, and the intentional use of these data (including findings from our study) for content devel- opment about PFAS in drinking water can help increase the accessibility and reach of educational health content as well as its per- ceived usefulness. Communicators can create information for any communication platform and use the insights from keyword research to answer the questions they know are being asked most frequently as obtained from sta- tistics generated from Google, the dominant search engine in the U.S. and the world. Limitations The Semrush data used in our study focuses on nationally collected data and thus the data do not capture local, regional, or global dif- ferences between areas of varying degrees of PFAS exposure. This study was intended to provide a snapshot view of what questions people in the U.S. are asking about PFAS in their drinking water. Semrush can provide more locally or regionally focused results for greater site-specific insights; however, the results will be influenced by local and regional events and media coverage. Search engines other than Google were not exam- ined in our study. Our study also did not account for underserved populations that include individuals who might have limited or no internet access. Additionally, our study did not account for people who prefer to seek information in ways other than internet searches. We also did not examine inquiries related to PFAS in well water or exposure from sources outside of drinking water. Conclusion Our results suggest that people already per- ceive PFAS as something to avoid and are inquiring about how to reduce exposure rather than further investigating more detailed information about these substances and their health impacts. Future research could

Search Volume for Questions Related to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and Water TABLE 1 continued

Question

Search Volume

How to filter PFAS from tap water How to remove PFAS from tap water Can I test my water for PFAS How to measure PFAS in water Does Dasani Water have PFAS Does distilled water have PFAS Does Mountain Valley Water have PFAS Does Poland Spring Water have PFAS Does purified water have PFAS Does Smartwater have PFAS Does sparkling water have PFAS Does spring water have PFAS Does zero water filter PFAS Is bottled water free of PFAS Is there PFAS in bottled water What are PFAS in sparkling water

30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

Are there PFAS in my water Does my water have PFAS

Does NYC [New York City] water have PFAS

Is there PFAS in my water

Google users already are interested in topics when they use Google to seek answers to their questions. They are, by definition, already deliberating about PFAS and, as active infor- mation seekers, they are looking for answers. Exposure to new information has been found to increase information-seeking behaviors; searchers may conclude they need more infor- mation to inform their decisions (Hovick et al., 2020). Using results from this study, pub- lic health communicators can better address online information seekers’ questions about PFAS in drinking water by ensuring they can find the information they are looking for, espe- cially information regarding ecacy of filter- ing water or buying PFAS-free water. Further- more, even if a public health communicator wants to cover other information about PFAS they deem more important on the websites, our results show that web-based outreach must contain content that people are search- ing for, or those websites will not appear on organic Google searches.

Our review of the questions internet users ask about PFAS in their water suggests that the information-seeking public seems to understand that consuming PFAS should be avoided because searchers’ questions are neg- atively framed and focus on avoidance. In our preliminary discussions for this article, we anticipated a greater focus on inquiries per- taining to specific adverse health outcomes from PFAS exposure. Our findings show, however, that most Google searchers do not ask about the specifics of health eects, but rather searchers inquire about avoiding or removing PFAS from items they want to con- sume. While toxicologists identify new forms of PFAS and the government works to estab- lish solutions to reduce and remove PFAS, the public must know best practices to reduce their exposure (Dauchy, 2019). Environmental toxicology outreach infor- mation can get technical very quickly; by conducting keyword research, health com- municators can identify the words most peo-

July/August 2025 • Journal of Environmental Health