SEO for pharmaceutical companies: accurate content that can be found

A regulated audience problem

Pharma sites serve several audiences with different rules: patients and carers, healthcare professionals, investors, journalists and job seekers. What may be said to one group may not be said to another, and rules differ by country. In the US, the FDA regulates prescription drug promotion; in the UK the MHRA and the PMCPA code apply; in Ireland, the HPRA; in Australia, the TGA.

We are not regulatory advisers. Your medical, legal and regulatory teams decide what is approved, and our job is to structure approved content so people can find it.

Pages and who they serve

Some countries prohibit advertising prescription medicines to the public, so your audience split may be strict. We map pages to the right audience and avoid cross-linking that breaks the rule. Our SEO services page covers the structural basics.

Medical review workflow

Content in this field takes weeks to approve. We plan for it. We deliver outlines first, so medical staff can review claims, then draft text. Each page records its review code, approval date and expiry. We keep copies in version control so the live text always matches the approved text.

References matter. Every medical statement needs a source, and the page should show them. Avoid generic stock claims. Search engines also give extra weight to health pages that show real medical authorship, which fits the review process well.

Search behaviour and adverse events

Searchers often look for side effects, interactions and dosing. These pages must carry safety information, not just marketing, and they must make it easy to report an adverse event. Include the correct reporting contact and link, and make sure the site does not hide it under a tracking banner or a long scroll.

Branded searches matter most. Make sure the correct, approved pages for each product rank for the brand name in each country, and that counterfeit or unrelated pages do not. Hreflang tags and separate country sites help when the label differs by market. See our technical SEO checklist.

Privacy, tracking and accessibility

Patient programmes handle sensitive data. In the US, HIPAA applies in some contexts, and health privacy regulators have taken action over tracking tools on health pages. In the EU and UK, GDPR treats health data as special category. We keep analytics off any page that collects personal health information and configure consent as your privacy team decides. The HHS site is included in sources for reference.

Accessibility is also part of fair access to medicine information. We build to WCAG 2.2 AA, make PDFs readable, and test with screen readers. See our accessibility checklist.

What we do and what we leave to you

• We do: site structure, technical SEO, page templates, structured data, speed and tracking set-up.
• We assist: outlines, formatting and editing of text that you have approved.
• We do not: write or alter medical claims, interpret regulations, or approve content.
• You provide: approved copy, review codes and the sign-off path.

1. Scoping callWe agree the audience split, countries and review process.
2. AuditWe check technical health and the current search presence for brands.
3. BuildWe create templates and place approved content.
4. ReportMonthly reports from your Search Console, excluding any patient data.

Pricing

Liftup Technologies projects start at $1,500, and our rate is $30 an hour. After a short call you get a fixed quote within one working day, so the scope and price are written down before work starts. Liftup Technologies projects start at $1,500, and our rate is $30 an hour, with a fixed quote within one working day. A single-product site is near the minimum; multi-country sites with review workflows cost more. See the SEO cost guide.