1. Page 1
POINT OF
VIEW
Google has updated their Knowledge Graph yet
again in an effort to provide fast, accurate
information to those searching for common
health conditions. With over 30 billion health
related searches occurring last year on Google,
you can understand why Google continues to
make these types of updates. By arming the
Knowledge Graph with as much relevant
information as possible, Google decreases the
risk of a user navigating away to other Pharma or
health focused sites.
As you may have read in our previous Knowledge
Graph POVs here & here , you will also see more
high-quality illustrations from licensed medical
illustrators. These illustrations will accompany
some of the 400 common medical conditions
identified by Google and their panel of
Physicians. Some of these conditions include
diabetes (type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes,
prediabetes and type 1 diabetes), psoriasis,
epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s Disease,
COPD, hepatitis C and Alzheimer’s disease.
While general information, symptoms and
treatment options for the disease or condition
are still available, they will be presented
differently. The Knowledge Graph now
separates the information into separate tabs:
About, Symptoms & Treatments.
What Pharma Marketers Should Know
and Do About Google Updates to the
Knowledge Graph
April 2015
Background
So what has changed?
While this update helps drive user engagement
and separates proper content, an
understandable area of concern can arise with
the Treatments tab as multiple, competing
brands can potentially show in random order.
Obviously, Brand A doesn’t want to show
behind Brand B in an effort to secure authority
resulting in many questions being fired at
healthcare marketers like, “How can I show
before my competitors?” or “Why isn’t my
brand showing at all?” These are all completely
understandable concerns. Google worked with
the same panel of physicians to identify eligible
brands based on frequency of prescription
ultimately determining which will show under
the Treatments tab.

2. Page 2
From a Paid Search standpoint, there aren’t any
optimizations available that will impact or
change content within the Knowledge Graph.
While the Knowledge Graph still occupies the
top of the right rail on the Search Engine
Results page, these updates should not alter
your SEM efforts. Implementing a granular
structure, writing highly relevant ad copy and
putting a strategy in place should allow for SEM
campaign success with proper management
and optimization. Ensuring ad extensions are
utilized to the fullest extent to guarantee your
ad is taking up as much real estate as possible
could help drive attention toward your ad. As a
result, you should experience cost efficiencies
and effective placement giving your ads the
best possible chance for conversion.
Looking from a SEO lens, Google is now-more
than ever-telling us that it’s time for our tactics
and optimization strategy to evolve. The
Knowledge Graph will be abundantly
recognizable to searchers and provide them
with more information than ever. Furthermore,
it will push the emphasis of traditional results
down by removing the need for a user to click
through in order to receive the desired answer.
In order to help ensure the validity and
relevance of information appearing on search
engines that is related to a brand or its disease
state, brand managers can help ensure the
following tactics are leveraged:
1. Optimize Webpages with Schema Microdata.
The recent Hummingbird algorithm shift layered
in greater level of importance on microdata as a
ranking factor. Looking at Google from an industry
agnostic perspective, microdata is also what
Google frequently uses to determine how
information equivalent to a pregnancy warning,
indication or side effect is displayed in the
Knowledge Graph. Google’s current decision to
rely on third parties for this information is
indicative of the fact that pharma can improve on
providing this contextual piece. If this practice
were to begin to be accepted by pharma
marketers, there’s no reason why Google couldn’t
begin to reward brands with information that is
directly aggregated from their websites to the
Knowledge Graph.
2. Learn to trust your Wikis. This may be hard to
stomach, but Wikipedia and Wikidata are trusted
authorities by search engines. Instead of running
away from them, embrace the authority that
these websites carry.
“Google is now-more than
ever-telling us that it’s
time for our tactics and
optimization strategy to
evolve.”
What should Pharma Marketers do?

3. Page 3
Andrew Miller
Associate Director, Search Engine Marketing
Communications Media, Inc.
Michael Ranalli
SEO Supervisor
Communications Media, Inc.
Analysts:
It is more apparent now more than ever that
Google is attempting to provide searchers with
the information they are looking for without
having to leave Google.com. This could
potentially leads to less organic and paid traffic
reaching your brand websites.
Update the Wikipedia profile and information
on Wikidata that relates to your brand. If you
don’t…. someone else may do it instead. This
information is regularly displayed at the top of
search results and used in Knowledge Graphs
outside the pharmaceutical vertical, but again,
search engines cannot embrace information
that is not provided to them.
3. Don’t assume you are the Only Source of
Content. Competition for organic rankings isn’t
only coming from other brand websites. They
are coming from the heavy hitting health
content providers, including NIH, Everyday
Health and WebMD. Instead of trying to battle
them head on, consider partnering for content
production. Internet users have spoken and
they want information through content.
Whether this means unbranded articles that
drive brand awareness to your indication or
branded content focused on driving rankings,
thinking about content serves a two-fold value
and could potentially be the quickest way to
land yourself and your information on the
Knowledge Graph.
What Does This Mean for Brands?
With more real estate being taking up by the
Knowledge Graph, even less space is now
available for your brand’s listings.
An integrated SEM and SEO strategy that shows
ads and organic listings that are highly relevant
to search queries is now more important than
ever. From a paid search perspective, ads must
directly reflect search queries and on the SEO
side, proper HTML tag optimizations need to be
implemented to ensure organic listings entice
users to click through.
For more information about the Knowledge
Graph or integrating your SEM and SEO efforts,
please reach out to a member of the CMI
Search team.