AI-driven search has rapidly become a part of the way the general public accesses information. The trend, stoked by the popularity of generative AI engines, should spur pharma brands to rethink how they optimize content for search.
For years, pharma marketing has been all about search engine optimization (SEO). We’ve spent so much time fighting for those “top 10 blue links,” obsessing over keywords and trying to get other sites to link back to us. That era is pretty much over. Now that genAI is here, people aren’t just looking for links anymore, but for straight answers.
In healthcare, where being right is extremely important, Google’s AI Overviews are already showing up in almost half of all searches. When an AI search result provides a full summary of a treatment right there on the results page, users don’t bother clicking through to a website.
If we want to keep up, pharma must move from SEO to GEO (generative engine optimization). It’s not about the click anymore; it’s about the citation. Your brand needs to be the trusted source the AI picks to build its answers.
Michael Fusco, manager, omnichannel, at Beghou, outlines the content, data, and measurement strategies pharma teams need to move from chasing clicks to earning citations — before the window to build that authority closes.