You may have heard the announcement to day, the NYTimes is offering health content supplied by A.D.AM. a company that maintains an online compendium of information on health conditions, treatments and insurance, among other topics. The content is written by physicians and reviewed by a network of third-party doctors. No big surprise, Hearst bought RealAge.com in mid-September and several big consumer magazine publishers have recently opted to buy online health information Web sites.
Why is this important? Because online health portals are being established (or acquired) by some really large media outlets. For example companies like the NYTimes heavily invest in SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Marshall Simmonds works as chief search strategist to institutionalize SEO as part of the regular editorial production at the New York Times.
The next time you’re reading something at the New York Times or Realage (or WebMD etc etc), remember it was probably SEO that got you there. Furthermore, the next time a consumer or HCP does a search, the outlets like the NYTimes may be providing competing content for your drug, condition, symptoms, etc.- because their primary marketing tactic is SEO.
One Comment
So what should a brand do Heather? It sounds like a pharma brand will have a very difficult time competing with sites like the NYT for generic keywords like Treatment, Medication or Symptoms. Will it come to a point where brand sites can only rank organically for their name and nothing else?
David