Q4 2008 Pharmaceutical Rankings

March 13, 2009 – 10:13 am

Today’s economic turmoil is forcing many companies to trim their advertising budgets. With fewer resources it is becoming even more critical for marketers to be able to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. This is one reason spending on search marketing – the most quantifiable channel – is continuing to grow despite the downturn.

As we do each quarter, we’ve just analyzed how well the top eleven pharmaceutical companies ranked in Q4 2008 on the Search Engine Results Pages of the major sites. We were curious to see if the current climate would be reflected in our results.

We applied basic search marketing analysis to brands that exist in the highly competitive and intensely regulated pharmaceutical industry.

We looked at the top five brands of each company (based on revenue) and searched for four keyphrases for each brand: “[indication]” and “[indication] treatment” and “[indication] medication” and “[indication] symptoms.”

Then we recorded each brand’s website rankings for each keyphrase on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask. (You can see the complete process below). Their scores indicate whether a brand appeared on page 1, 2, 3 or lower when a searcher specifically looked for their indication.

Our goal with this quarterly analysis, as with most SEO campaigns, is to find out which pharmaceutical companies are claiming valuable marketing “real estate” and sustaining these high rankings over time. Our results, consistent with previous analyses, show a big gap in rankings between those at the top and those lower results. The economy hasn’t made a dent in their successful SEO.

Here are our results:

  • The same three companies have kept their top scores since we began this analysis in January 2007: Novartis, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline. But for the first time, this quarter Pfizer (1.27) has edged out Novartis (1. 20) for the #1 spot.
  • Although it appears these three have mastered the art of producing superior SEO rankings, keep in mind that a perfect score is a 7.0. There is plenty of SEO opportunity even for the leaders.
  • Pfizer leads with brands Lipitor, Lyrica and Viagra posting strong results, including nine results in the Top Five.
  • Novartis has four out of five brands posting strong results on all search engines, including seven rankings in the Top Five. For some reason their breast cancer drug Femara is not ranking well.
  • GSK (.71) is #3 with Advair, Avandia and Valtrex ranking well and five Top Five rankings.
  • For the third quarter in a row Roche (.56) holds the #4 spot with one strong brand, Rituxan, that scores well to bump it into the top 4.
  • Johnson & Johnson (.52) is only a few points behind at #5.
  • AstraZeneca (.32) leaps into #6 this quarter with Sanofi Aventis (.26) close behind.
  • Merck (.28) falls to #8 with only its cholesterol drug Vytorin ranking.
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb (.17) is in position #9.
  • Wyeth (.05) and Eli Lilly (.01) continue to trail, with virtually no web presence at all for their top five brands.

Methodology:

We developed the methodology below.

  • Compiled data between January 5-9, 2009
  • Examined top 5 brands produced by top 11 companies based on revenue from financial statements provided by each company
  • Searched four keyphrases for each brand: “[indication]” and “[indication] treatment” and “[indication] medication” and “[indication] symptoms”
  • Recorded each brand’s website rankings for each keyphrase on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask
  • Assigned each ranking a point value based on Search Ranking Score: Top 5 Ranking = 15 points; First Page Ranking = 10 points; Second Page Ranking = 3 points; Third Page Ranking = 1 point; Not Listed on First Three Pages = 0 points
  • Identified each search engine’s market share based on HitWise November 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings
  • Calculated each company’s index score using Index = (Search Ranking Score * Search Engine Market Share)/11
  • A perfect score = 7.0
By Heather | Posted in Catalyst, Healthcare Search, Pharma Marketing, Pharma SEO Rankings, Pharma Search, Regulated Industries, SEM, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Search Marketing | Comments (0)

Q3 2008 Pharmaceutical Rankings

November 17, 2008 – 11:07 am

September’s financial earthquake will be felt by all of us for some time to come. Even before the turmoil hit, this year was shaping up to be a critical one for many industries. The results of the 2008 presidential election, changes in the global marketplace, and new developments online will be factors in many companies’ ability to succeed.

With this in mind, we’ve just completed our analysis of how well the top eleven pharmaceutical companies ranked in Q3 2008 on the Search Engine Results Pages of the major sites.

We looked at the top five brands of each company (based on revenue) and searched for four keyphrases for each brand: “[indication]” and “[indication] treatment” and “[indication] medication” and “[indication] symptoms.”

Then we recorded each brand’s website rankings for each keyphrase on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask. (You can see the complete process below). Their scores indicate whether a brand appeared on page 1, 2, 3 or lower when a searcher specifically looked for their indication.

The top ranked companies continue to have a strong consistent presence online that is in sync with – and reaps the benefit of — their print, TV and other offline marketing campaigns.

Our results:
• The same three companies have kept their top scores since we began this analysis in January 2007: Novartis, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline.
•    Novartis (1.42) continues to lead with four out of five brands posting strong results on all search engines, including eight rankings in the Top Five.
•    Pfizer (.98) is #2 with brands Lipitor, Lyrica and Viagra posting strong results, including seven Top Five rankings.
•    GSK (.72) is #3 with Advair, Avandia and Valtrex ranking well and five Top Five rankings.
•    For the second quarter in a row Roche (.45) holds the #4 spot with one strong brand, Rituxan, that scores well to bump it into the top 4.
•    Johnson & Johnson (.44) is only .01 points behind at #5.
•    Merck (.28) maintains its status at #6 with one brand’s results.
•    AstraZeneca (.26) is #7 this quarter.
•    Sanofi Aventis (.12) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (.12) are tied in position #8.
•    Eli Lilly (.04) has dropped to #10.
•    Wyeth (.00) continues to trail at #11, with no web presence at all for its top five brands.Methodology:
We developed the methodology below, using data gathered from the most recent publicly available financial information.

•    Compiled data between October 15 - 22, 2008
•    Determined the top 11 pharmaceutical companies based on revenue
•    Examined the top 5 brands based on revenue
•    Searched four keyphrases for each brand: “[indication]” and “[indication] treatment” and “[indication] medication” and “[indication] symptoms”
•    Recorded each brand’s website rankings for each keyphrase on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask
•    Assigned each ranking a point value based on Search Ranking Score: Top 5 Ranking = 15 points; First Page Ranking = 10 points;  Second Page Ranking = 3 points; Third Page Ranking = 1 point; Not Listed on First Three Pages = 0 points
•    Identified each search engine’s market share based on HitWise September 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings
•    Calculated each company’s index score using Index = (Search Ranking Score * Search Engine Market Share)/11
•    A perfect score = 7.0

By Heather | Posted in Catalyst, Healthcare Search, Pharma Marketing, Pharma SEO Rankings, Pharma Search, Regulated Industries, SEM, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Search Marketing | Comments (0)

Q2 2008 Pharmaceutical Rankings

August 19, 2008 – 11:19 am

You all know the stats about how many consumers (and physicians) go to the Web first for healthcare info, and the percentage is growing every day. Most often, searchers start with a simple term like “arthritis treatment” and proceed from there.

Engaging these motivated searchers at the top of the funnel is crucial for long-term brand recognition and, ultimately, revenue.

We wanted to find out who was successful, and who was not.

We’ve just completed our analysis of how well the top eleven pharmaceutical companies ranked in Q2 2008 on the Search Engine Results Pages of the major sites.

We looked at the top five brands of each company (based on revenue) and searched for four keyphrases for each brand: “[indication]” and “[indication] treatment” and “[indication] medication” and “[indication] symptoms.”

Then we recorded each brand’s website rankings for each keyphrase on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask. (You can see the complete process below). This isn’t a popularity contest. Our results don’t reflect how many visitors each brand attracts, but what position these brands appear in when a searcher specifically looks for their indication.

Our results show that the top ranked companies are reaping the rewards of their investment in organic search. They’ve recognized the value for these brands of having a vital, consistent Web presence that reinforces their significant offline marketing.

Our results:

  • The same three companies have kept their top scores since we began this analysis in January 2007: Novartis, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline. But this quarter, for the first time, JNJ dropped out of the top four, swapping places with Roche at #6.
  • Novartis continues to lead the rankings with four out of five brands posting strong results on all search engines. Although it has the high score (1.39) there is room for improvement to reach the best-case scenario (7).
  • Pfizer (.93) is second with brands Lipitor, Lyrica and Viagra posting strong results.
  • GSK (.72) is third with Advair, Avandia and Valtrex seeing good rankings.
  • Roche (.58) has one strong brand, Rituxan, that scores well to bump it into the top 4.
  • Merck (.36) maintains its status at #5 with one brand’s results.
  • J&J (.32) has slipped to #6 with Topamax’s rankings.
  • AstraZeneca (.22) has jumped from #10 and #7 this quarter and is tied with Bristol-Myers.
  • Sanofi Aventis (.17) and Eli-Lilly (.09) both dropped slightly to places #9 and #10.
  • Wyeth (.02) continues to trail at #11, with almost no web presence at all for its top five brands. Only one of its top 5 brands appeared on the results pages, and that was with a third page position.

Methodology:
We developed the methodology below, using data gathered from the most recent publicly available financial information.

  • Compiled data between July 1 - 30, 2008
  • Determined the top 11 pharmaceutical companies based on revenue
  • Examined the top 5 brands based on revenue
  • Searched four keyphrases for each brand: “[indication]” and “[indication] treatment” and “[indication] medication” and “[indication] symptoms”
  • Recorded each brand’s website rankings for each keyphrase on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask
  • Assigned each ranking a point value based on Search Ranking Score: Top 5 Ranking = 15 points;?First Page Ranking = 10?points; Second Page Ranking = 3?points; Third Page Ranking = 1?point; Not Listed on First Three Pages = 0 points
  • Identified each search engine’s market share based on comScore June 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings
  • Calculated each company’s index score using Index = (Search Ranking Score * Search Engine Market Share)/11
  • A perfect score = 7.0
By Heather | Posted in Catalyst, Healthcare Search, Pharma Marketing, Pharma SEO Rankings, Pharma Search, Regulated Industries, SEM, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Search Marketing | Comments (0)

Q1 2008 Pharmaceutical Rankings

May 28, 2008 – 10:29 am

In addition to providing SEM and SEO services to a broad range of clients, Catalyst has a specialty in pharmaceutical brands. Because this is such a competitive and highly regulated space, we are continually interested in how pharmaceutical companies in general are ranking on the Search Engine Results Pages of the major sites.

With more consumers going online for healthcare information, and millions of dollars in R&D at stake, it is critical that pharmaceutical companies take the necessary steps to ensure that health information seekers can find their brands online. We wanted to find out who was successful, and who was not.

Last year, we began a methodical analysis (see the process below) of how well the top five brands of the top eleven companies were ranking on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask. Some of these were Catalyst clients, and some were not, and the same is true today. In 2008 we continue to measure how well these pharma companies are doing in the race for the top positions.

Our results:

  • The same four companies have kept their top scores since we began this analysis in January 2007: Novartis, Pfizer, GSK, and J&J.
  • Novartis continues to lead the rankings with four out of five brands posting strong results on all search engines. Although it has the high score (1.72), there is room for improvement to reach the best-case scenario (7).
  • Pfizer (1.02) is second with brands Lipitor, Lyrica and Viagra posting strong results.
  • GSK (.89) is third with Advair and Avandia seeing good rankings.
  • J&J (.62) has one strong brand, Topamax, that scores well to keep it in the top 4.
  • The top three companies continue to break away from the pack with improved scores, while Johnson & Johnson (#4) dropped slightly.
  • Merck wins most improved player award. After a year in 10th place, the company has jumped from #10 to #5 on the strength of one brand’s results.
  • Sanofi Aventis (#7) had the exact same score as Q4 ‘07.
  • BMS and AstraZeneca improved slightly.
  • Eli-Lilly dropped slightly.
  • Wyeth continues to trail at #11, with almost no web presence at all for its top five brands. Only one of its top 5 brands appeared on the results pages, and that was with a third page position.

Observations:

The top five companies are investing in organic search and clearly the investment is paying off. It is not by chance they are at the top. They have clearly made a commitment to “closing the loop’ by having a strong online presence that mirrors their offline efforts. This long term marketing strategy will continue to serve them well as they capitalize on consumer interest generated by DTC campaigns.

Methodology:

We developed the methodology below, using data gathered from the most recent publicly available financial information.

· Compiled data between April 1 - 30, 2008

· Determined the top 11 pharmaceutical companies based on revenue

· Examined the top 5 brands based on revenue

· Searched four keyphrases for each brand: “[indication]” and “[indication] treatment” and “[indication] medication” and “[indication] symptoms”

· Recorded each brand’s website rankings for each keyphrase on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask

· Assigned each ranking a point value based on Search Ranking Score: Top 5 Ranking = 15 points;?First Page Ranking = 10?points; Second Page Ranking = 3?points; Third Page Ranking = 1?point; Not Listed on First Three Pages = 0 points

· Identified each search engine’s market share based on comScore March 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

· Calculated each company’s index score using Index = (Search Ranking Score * Search Engine Market Share)/11

· A perfect score = 7.0

By Heather | Posted in Catalyst, Healthcare Search, Pharma Marketing, Pharma SEO Rankings, Pharma Search, Regulated Industries, SEM, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Search Marketing | Comments (0)

Game Changers Continues: Google Health

May 20, 2008 – 8:19 pm

Google announced today, after eighteen months in development, it offers online personal health records.  I mentioned in my post yesterday my lovely visit to my PCP.  My PCP literally handed me a piece of paper with test results and told to give this piece of paper to my cardiologist, really?!  So I am all for Google offering personal health records online; WebMD and Microsoft also offers this service.  It was reported that in the two month trial with Cleveland Clinic patients were eager to use the Google health records; I am not alone.  Perhaps Google Health, can apply the same concept I mentioned yesterday, embracing privacy to empower and inform the consumer.  Pharma companies can supply information on treatment options, clinical trial information, disease management programs, etc.; one-to-one marketing when relevant!  Isn’t this the CRM program we all dream of?

By Heather | Posted in Google, Healthcare Search, Pharma Marketing, Pharma Search | Comments (0)

Game changers

May 19, 2008 – 9:24 pm

I had a doctors appointment today.  The folks at the front desk were miserable, the nurse was miserable, the doctor had one hand on the door as I asked her important questions.  What is going on?

I also have recently joined Facebook.  It is fun.  It is interesting.  I am finding friends I have not seen in five years.  I am networking.   I am cautiously hooked.  Try it, let me know what you think.  Putting on our marketing hat, what can we do here?  The traditional way to maintain your health is broken or at least has some pretty serious chinks in the armor. 

How about embracing privacy?  My Facebook page knows I am forty.  My PCP told me I needed to go to the optometrist based on my age, lovely.  Instead what if Facebook communicated to me; we know you are forty…do you want any of these potentially relevant medical groups to communicate with you about what health concerns you should be aware of?  Do you want some recommended optometrists?  I could also ask my “friends” on Facebook.  Another example, you are turning fifty, you should consider a bone density test, however if diagnosed with osteoperosis do not worry as there are excellent osteoporosis treatments available today, would you like to find out more?  Ask the consumer who has given their personal information if we can use it to help.   I then get information from the manufacture and can ask my friends for opinions.  What do you think of Dr. Weis?  What do you think of Reclast? Actonel? Boniva?

I would love this approach!  I don’t feel forty.

By Heather | Posted in Pharma Marketing | Comments (0)

Search Marketing continues to Evolve

April 26, 2008 – 11:03 am

Marketers are constantly challenged with how to best segment our consumers.  Search offers an option to allow the consumer to self segment and this option is further evolving.  As we all know, segmentation can begin at the keyphrase level.  What you may not know, Yahoo is allowing us to further enhance this ability.  Let me introduce, Honda’s drive to Search campaign, “Shop Honda.”   Type “Shop Honda” into the Yahoo search box, four options/links appear: See Offers, Locate a dealer, build and price and request a quote.  Depending where the consumer is in the buying cycle they will choose the best link.  This tactic promotes consumer empowerment, and effective marketing campaigns, everyone wins. 

Apply this same concept to pharma or any industry.  A drive to search campaign (tracks the efficacy of the TV campaign via query volume and click behavior) with choices for the consumer.  “Learn about Lipitor” possible links: understanding cholesterol, cholesterol treatment, find a doc, Lipitor vs Zocor. 

For the times they are a-changin’  

By Heather | Posted in Catalyst, Healthcare Search, Paid Search, Pharma Marketing, Pharma Search, SEM, Search Marketing | Comments (0)

Digital Asset Optimization (DAO)

April 10, 2008 – 8:54 pm

iProspect recently released a study that shows users are responding to the various specialized content types within search results.  Top-level findings:  36% of search engine users click a “news” results within blended search results, 31% click “image” results and 17% click “video” results.   I just typed in “Lipitor image” in Google.  Three images appeared, none of them were images from Pfizer.  I tried “Plavix image,” same situation.  I then tried “Nexium image” first image was AZ, nice job.  Try this exercise with your brand. 

I would suggest a three part plan to respond to consumers looking for information and responding to the information in their choice format. 

1. Optimizing your images is a simple task for your SEO shop, start today. 

2. Push to optimize all your digital assets this year. 

3. Create a digital asset strategy.  What should we be creating for our digital constituents?  Who are the partners we need to work with to develop and implement the digital asset strategy?  Of course I am biased, so I will suggest first and foremost that your SEO shop be leveraged here, but I would strongly suggest your PR firm, CPA, iAgency, content providers and beyond.

I can hear you asking me, what is the ROI of DAO?  How I would suggest you think about ROI is we are responding to consumers looking information in a format that they choose.  Thus the response rate will improve driving more traffic to your site for further engagement and influence, search IS a branding medium, and we will develop a deep understanding of what consumers are looking for in terms of format of information. 

By Heather | Posted in Catalyst, Healthcare Search, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Search Marketing, Uncategorized | Comments (0)

The Evolution of Search

March 14, 2008 – 8:32 am

I am off to Disney World tomorrow with my family.  I started thinking about how my children will look for information as they grow up.  I have not yet introduced my three year old and five year old to Google.  I was at a CBI conference www.cbinet.com last week.  Henry van den Berg, from P&G www.pg.com gave an interesting presentation that highlighted this topic.  He asked four of his children what they would do to gather information if they were sick.  Each child looked for information differently, Google, MySpace, YouTube and Webkinz.  WOW.  Search is evolving.  Further thoughts on this topic…I recently read an article written by a colleague of mine, Chris Copeland, Managing Director at Outrider www.outrider.com.  Chris stated, “organic search marketing is moving towards a more sophisticated integration of elements, be it image, video, consumer reviews, or social networks. The future is all about Digital Asset Optimization (DAO) and not limited to SEO.”   I agree.   We are all aware that relatively few consumers, 13%, visit pharma company websites (of course I would highlight that this is because only a few have a good organic search strategy in place).  If we optimize our assets and not just our site we have the opportunity to appear in many other places on the web, perhaps a video (approved by legal and regulatory - of course) will be referenced by an affluent blogger in our category or our images will appear in Google.  People are increasingly searching for health-related videos and images.  Type in yours, “Lipitor image” and view the results.  How are your consumers and HCP searching?

By Heather | Posted in SEM, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Search Marketing, Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Q4-2007 Pharma SEO Rankings

March 13, 2008 – 2:08 pm

How did your company do last quarter? If your company is not on the list (to qualify the company must have at least five, billion dollar brands), let me know and we will add you to the analysis…if you dare!

q4-2007 Pharma SEO Rankings

By Heather | Posted in Pharma SEO Rankings | Comments (1)