In one year (between July 31, 2020, and July 31, 2021), the Your COVID Recovery website had 2,062,394 users from 187 countries. More than half of these users (1,265,061/2,062,394, 61.30%) were from the United Kingdom, with 14.27% (294,321/2,062,394) of all users located in London (Table 1).

Users were primarily acquired from an organic search (1,443,057/2,062,394, 69.97%; traffic from search engines), a direct search (290,591/2,062,394, 14.09%; entering the website address in a browser search bar), through referrals (269,142/2,062,394, 13.05%; traffic from other websites providing a website link), and social media (58,160/2,062,394, 2.82%). There were no paid advertisements for the website and 1444 of 2,062,394 (0.07%) users accessed the website via email. The top 3 referral websites were owned by the NHS, British Broadcasting Corporation, and British Heart Foundation. Almost all users used a mobile phone (1,559,072/2,062,394, 75.59%) or desktop computer (437,190/2,062,394, 21.20%) to access the website.

The mean number of daily users who accessed the website each month is shown in Figure 1; the number of users (n=15,298) peaked on January 18, 2021, during the second wave of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom (Figure 2).

The Your COVID Recovery home page had the highest number of page views (1,300,622/4,522,182, 28.76%). This page contains information on the purpose of the website and links to all other pages. After the home page, the following pages received the most views: Cough (550,190/4,522,182, 12.17%), Fatigue (432,421/4,522,182, 9.56%), Musculoskeletal pain (406,859/4,522,182, 9.00%), Taste and smell (270,599/4,522,182, 5.98%), and Breathlessness (203,136/4,522,182, 4.49%). All these pages provide advice on how to relieve and manage a specific COVID-19 symptom and when to seek further help. Shifts in user behavior occurred throughout the study period; Figure 3 shows monthly page views for the 10 most viewed pages.

During the first year of operation, there were 2,642,377 sessions. Most users (2,068,638/2,642,377, 78.29%) visited the website once (Table 2). On average, users viewed 1.71 pages per session with an average session duration of 1 minute 13 seconds (Table 3).

This study was the first to investigate public use of the Your COVID Recovery website and user behavior during its first year of operation. The website contains a myriad of resources, including information on how to manage daily activities, get moving again, care for friends and family, cope with grief and bereavement, and relieve and manage >15 COVID-19 symptoms. Our data show that more than 2 million individuals accessed the website in a 12-month period, primarily to view information on COVID-19 symptoms. Taken together, these findings highlight the potential of this novel tool to help millions of people with their COVID-19 recovery without placing additional strain on health care services.

As previously stated, over 2 million users from 187 countries accessed the Your COVID Recovery website in the study period. Our results show that a large cohort of individuals were actively seeking support with their COVID-19 recovery and were willing to receive this support via a digital health platform. In line with this behavior, other studies have reported an increase in the use of digital social platforms to look up information during the pandemic, potentially due to the isolation imposed by the pandemic [21,22]. The authors of this paper are unaware of any similar health care platforms, negating comparisons between user numbers. However, the large number of website users in this study aligns with the public’s high level of willingness to use other digital tools generated during the pandemic, such as contact tracing apps [23]. We also report that the majority of users accessed the website via organic search (ie, through a search engine)—an observation that is consistent with the information seeking behaviors of university students in Germany during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic [24].

Generally, changes in the number of daily website visitors mirrored those in the number of UK COVID-19 cases (Figure 2). However, several spikes in the number of daily website visitors occurred between August 2020 and November 2020 (Figure 2). Throughout the study period, the website was shared by collaborators, charities, media outlets, and members of the public on an ad hoc basis via news reports, email, and social media platforms; there was no marketing plan in place. The acquisition report on Google Analytics shows that the majority of the aforementioned spikes in website visitors were consequent to an increase in referrals from media outlets. A spike in website users also occurred during April 2021, approximately 10 weeks after the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom. At this time, the number of new daily COVID-19 cases was less than 1000 (Figure 2). This suggests that the UK public accessed the website in response to acute COVID-19 infections and persistent COVID-19 symptoms.

Users were primarily seeking information on how to relieve and manage COVID-19 symptoms. The top 5 pages viewed suggest that individuals would like more information on the following symptoms: Cough, Fatigue, Musculoskeletal pain, Loss of taste and smell, and Breathlessness. Consistent with these page views, 5 months after a COVID-19–related hospitalization, 92.8% (632/855) of patients had a persistent symptom, and the most common symptoms were muscle pain, fatigue, and physical slowing down [6]. Likewise, in a cohort of hospitalized and nonhospitalized patients, 4 months after a COVID-19 infection, the most common symptoms were fatigue, breathlessness, and muscle ache [25]. Thus, page views on the Your COVID Recovery website align with the most frequently reported COVID-19 symptoms.

The number of views received by the top 10 pages each month tended to follow the same trend, except for cough (Figure 3). The factors underpinning the increase in cough page views between March and May 2021 are unclear. The increase in cough page views does not coincide with an increase in page referrals from a single source, suggesting that it is not the result of an external organization promoting the web page. Furthermore, the authors are unaware of any events, announcements, or government initiatives within this period, which may have propagated page views. Thus, it is tempting to speculate that the observation may reflect an increase in individuals experiencing a COVID-19–related cough between March and May 2021. However, further work is needed to investigate this notion and resolve the cause.

Rehabilitation services should ensure that information on the most viewed symptoms is included in their programs to meet the demands of the post–COVID-19 population. Health care professionals involved in acute COVID-19 care and the post–COVID-19 condition care pathway should also discuss the most commonly sought symptoms with patients and signpost patients to the website for symptom support.

The limitations of this study relate to the use of Google Analytics. A new client ID is created each time a user deletes the browser cookies, uses a different browser, or switches devices. Subsequently, the same user can be counted as a new user [26]. Nevertheless, this parameter provides a strong indication of website use.

User demographics can only be collected from users who are logged into their Google account when visiting the website. In this study, demographics were collected for 366,281/2,062,394 (17.76%) of users and were, therefore, not reported. This information is crucial to understand the true use of the website and develop initiatives that target poorly engaged populations. Previously, several factors have been linked to information seeking about COVID-19, including living in an urban area, perceived disease susceptibility, perceived disease severity, higher self-efficacy, and higher health literacy [20].

Pages on chest pain and headaches post–COVID-19 infection were added to the website on June 1, 2021, and included in the analysis. The popularity of these pages remains unclear due to the content only being available for 4 weeks of the study period. Finally, the website may have obviated the need for phone-based or physical appointments between health care professionals and individuals recovering from COVID-19, bridging the gap between demand and limited health care resources. However, to confirm this, further investigation is necessary.

This study describes the usage patterns of the Your COVID Recovery website during its first year of operation. Over 2 million users accessed the website, demonstrating that individuals are keen to receive digital health care support with their COVID-19 recovery. Users primarily visited the website to attain information on how to relieve and manage COVID-19 symptoms, particularly cough, fatigue, and musculoskeletal pain.