Posted by Dan Brough, SVP, Director of Search Marketing, Draftfcb New York
Earlier this month, Google began cracking down (I.E. removing) online pharmacy sites in the US and Canada. Google AdWords will only accept ads from online pharmacies in the US which are accredited by the National Association Boards of Pharmacy VIPPS program. Also, pharmacies may only target ads to users in the country in which they are accredited.
Here is a screenshot taken in February of a Google SERP page containing a query for a popular cholesterol drug Vytorin. Notice the amount of AdWords advertisers:
Since the policy change, notice the lack of competitors:
So why all the fuss?
For years, epharmacies competed head to head with the major pharmaceuticals and questions have been raised about the quality and safety of drugs offered by these companies. When Google lifted its trademark policy in 2009, epharmas began aggressively adjusting search copy to include branded drug names in their creative.
I view this change as a good thing for both the pharmaceutical companies as well as Google’s users. If you are going to advertise a sale of a drug, you should be accredited to sell that drug in the country you are targeting.