Whether researching symptoms before seeking treatment, or researching drug side effects before taking a prescription, consumer online health search behavior changes along with the stages of their condition. Search marketing needs to understand these stages and their implication to maximize results.

Full Article from Medical Marketing and Media

Consumers increasingly turn to search for health information, but the various engines and search methodologies don't always return reliable results. Google, the most popular health search engine, is working with health industry partners to tag trustworthy sites in their keyword-based results.

Google competitor Healthline Networks uses a 'taxonomic' approach to manage their search results while the health search engine Healia employs a 'semantic' technique.

Full Article from iHealthBeat

Google VP Adam Bosworth, speaking at the Health Information Technology Summit in Washington DC, reinforced the company's dedication to helping patients find the most relevant and reliable information on the web.

"A large percentage of all Google queries are searches on health issues," says Bosworth. The queries fall into four categories:

- Searches on symptoms
- Searches on a particular illness and treatments available
- Searches for experts in treating a particular illness
- Searches on how to live with an illness or disease

Last year Google launched a project to find the most reliable, expert information on healthcare with its Co-op Health listings. Next, the company is considering some sort of "personal coaching" on searches, though this is still in the idea phase.

Full Article from Healthcare IT News

Microsoft Corp. announced its acquisition of Medstory Inc., a privately held company that develops health-focused, "intelligent" web search technology. Microsoft clearly believes that the consumer health market online is a major strategic opportunity for them. Medstory's search results are based on "intuitive" search technology, providing users with "intelligent guides" to help refine and better target their searches.

Full Article from Microsoft.com

Increasing healthcare costs, an aging population and new biomedical discoveries are all adding up to an increase in consumer health searches on the web. While 81% of consumers are searching for health information, only 16% are finding what they need.

Full Article from Online Media Daily

Lots of new health search engines promise health searchers access to more relevant results, doctors, insurers and more.

Full Article from Health IT World

Healia.com, a new personalized health search engine, has launched in beta form today. The site claims to be a significant advancement in health search engine technology, acting as a "personal health librarian" by sorting through billions of pre-screened pages on the web. Its filtering technology allows users to drill down and find results that fit their personal characteristics, such as gender, age group, and race/ethnicity.

Full Article from HealthDecisions.org

Faced with the constant challenges of search regulations, pharmaceutical brands require the essential guidance that experienced pharma marketers can provide.

Full Article from Search Engine Watch

Jupiter Research reports that while 71% of web users seek health information online, most are disappointed with the quality of information they find. Survey respondents cited a need for clearer indications of source of material, and suggested improvements to search (for both general and health-specific engines), including a list of related keywords and site reviews from other users.

Full Article from MediaPost

A study released from Yahoo! finds that 61% of searchers have visited or plan to visit their doctor after searching for health information online. Once at the doctor's office, 71% of health searchers have pointed conversations with their physician about medications and brands. The study also covers ad responsiveness, finding that 20% of consumers conducted health searches as a result of an ad that they saw.

Full Article from Search Engine Journal

Google releases Health as one of its verticals within Google Co-Op. Google Co-Op, currently in beta form, is a service that relies on contributors from outside Google to label and categorize its search results. Google Health Co-Op is in its earliest stages, with search results labeled by contributors such as Harvard Medical School and Kaiser Permanente. Users are able to refine search results by various health-related categories.

The search engine can be tested here

As the web's most popular search engine, Google also dominates in the health-related search landscape for both consumers and HCPs, out-doing more traditional clinical search sources such as PubMed. What exactly is Google's current and future value as a health care search provider?

Full Commentary from iHealthBeat

Contradicting earlier decisions, a U.S. federal court cleared Canadian pharmacies puchasing the keyword "Zocor" of trademark infringement. At the same time, the court refused to dismiss claims of trademark dilution and false advertising.

Full Article from CNET

Physicians expect to increase time e-detailing by 66% in the near future, but sessions must deliver a balance of both education and entertainment.

Full Article from pharma-mktg.com

With more than 63 million Americans searching the web for health information today, the opportunity to capatilize on a strategy for search marketing is significant. This article examines how to reach consumers effectively, starting with the development of your website.

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Novartis contracts Ask Jeeves to act as a Q&A medium to Web site visitors. This will help increase the quality of each user experience, combining technology and marketing strategy.

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The learning curve for Search Engine Marketing is surprisingly steep still. More direct marketers need to catch on to the possibilities that Search can open for Pharma marketing. Many do not even plan to leverage Search this year at all.

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Instead of replacing its long-standing Google-powered search results with previously-acquired Inktomi results, Yahoo! has surprised the industry by developing and launching a brand new search engine, having its own index and ranking mechanisms.