Pharmaceutical SEO for pharma, life science and pharmacies in the Nordics

  • A structured SEO process that stands up to regulatory review
  • Data-driven goals that hold up when you can’t promote the product
  • A workflow that follows your review processes and lead times
  • Full visibility for medical affairs and regulatory into what we actually do
  • A focus on getting things done together, not on recommendations you can’t act on
  • Control over how your information appears in AI answers

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Need help with pharmaceutical SEO in Sweden and the Nordics?

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What is pharmaceutical SEO?

Pharmaceutical SEO is search engine optimization in a heavily regulated environment. In Sweden and across the Nordics, you can’t promote prescription medicines to the general public. An ethical code governs what you can say and to whom, and everything you publish must go through review before it goes live. None of this changes what works technically in Google. It does change how you have to work around it.

The hard part is rarely knowing what to do. It’s getting it done within the rules, in an organisation where someone else has to sign off every sentence. That’s the kind of delivery Topdog is built for.

What makes pharmaceutical and life science SEO different?

  • The rules decide the content. The Swedish Medicinal Products Act, the pharmaceutical industry’s ethical rules and review by IGN and NBL (the industry’s self-regulatory bodies) set the boundaries. Promoting prescription medicines to the public isn’t allowed, so your SEO work needs to start from that, not try to stretch it. Each Nordic market also has its own national rules, so what works in Sweden can’t always be copied across.
  • Two audiences across two sites. Content for healthcare professionals (HCPs) often sits behind a login or a confirmation step, so Google can’t see it by definition. Keeping the public and HCP sections properly separate without losing public visibility is a technical and structural challenge.
  • YMYL content. Google classifies health content as ‘Your Money or Your Life’ and sets the highest possible bar for credibility. A named medical reviewer, clear sources, publication and update dates and a traceable publisher aren’t cosmetic. They’re ranking factors in practice.
  • Review takes time. A text that goes through medical and regulatory review can take weeks. Plan your SEO process around that, with fewer, better-prepared texts rather than high volume.
  • Search behaviour is symptom-driven.Patients look for help with their condition, not for your product. That demand exists, but it sits in a space where you can only partly act. Finding what you can actually own is the core of the keyword research.
  • The competition is authoritative. In Sweden, 1177, Fass, Netdoktor, the pharmacy chains and healthcare providers all have high credibility in Google’s eyes. You aren’t competing with other pharmaceutical companies. You’re competing with them.
  • International group structure. Your local site often sits in a global template with limited room for change. That means splitting the work into what you can decide locally and what you need to raise with the group.

Who is pharma SEO for?

We provide pharma SEO for organisations selling into Sweden and the Nordics, including:

  • Pharmaceutical and generics companies
  • Medtech companies
  • Diagnostics and biotech companies
  • Pharmacies and pharmacy chains
  • Healthcare providers and healthcare groups
  • Self-care, over-the-counter and dietary supplement companies
  • Life science companies selling to healthcare and research

How does Topdog approach pharmaceutical SEO?

1. Mapping what you can and can’t rank for

We go through search demand in your therapy area and split it into three groups: what you can publish for the general public, what belongs in the HCP-facing section, and what you can’t touch. That shows you what’s realistically achievable before you spend time on content that review would block anyway.

2. Technical SEO and separating your audiences

We review how your site is indexed and rendered, and how it separates public content from logged-in content. Many life science sites lose visibility for no good reason because they handle that split the wrong way. For sites serving several Nordic markets, we also check your language and country versions.

3. Content structure and E-E-A-T

We build a template for information on diseases, conditions and products. It meets Google’s credibility standards: a named reviewer, source references, a review date and a clear publisher. We also format it so it passes through your review process first time, without rework.

4. Working around your review process

We plan the work around your lead times and prepare material you can submit for review in one piece rather than in fragments.

5. Visibility and accuracy in AI answers

We work on how AI services present your information, both to make you more visible and to make sure what they say about your products is accurate.

AI search and pharmaceutical SEO

For most industries, AI search is an opportunity. For you, it’s a risk as well. When ChatGPT or Google’s AI answers summarise a treatment, they pull the information from sources you don’t control. An inaccurate summary then becomes a regulatory issue, not just a marketing problem. Being visible matters, but it matters just as much that AI tools draw on your own sources. That applies to answers in Swedish and the other Nordic languages as much as to English ones.

How much does pharmaceutical SEO cost?

All prices exclude VAT.

Our clients

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Why choose Topdog for pharmaceutical SEO?

  • We’re used to regulated industries. Finance is our largest area, and it comes with similar demands for review, traceability and control over what can be said.
  • You work directly with the senior consultant who does the job, so the dialogue with your medical affairs and regulatory teams is shorter.
  • We work in defined projects at a fixed price, so procurement can approve them in advance.
  • We say no when something conflicts with your rules, instead of handing the risk back to you.
  • We include knowledge transfer, so your editorial team knows more about what works when the project is over.
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Frequently asked questions about pharmaceutical SEO

  • Can we promote prescription medicines through SEO?

    No, not to the general public in Sweden or elsewhere in the Nordics. That's a matter of law, not SEO. There's still plenty of room to work with disease and condition information, with content aimed at healthcare professionals and with your brand as a company. That's where the work happens.

  • How do you handle content that needs regulatory review?

    We adapt the pace and the format. We write fewer texts and prepare each one more carefully, then hand them over in complete sections you can submit for review without splitting them up. We also factor the lead time into the project plan from the start.

  • What is YMYL and why does it apply to us?

    Google classifies content that can affect someone's health or finances as 'Your Money or Your Life' and sets a higher bar for the publisher's credibility. In practice, a named medical reviewer, sources and update dates influence how you rank, not just how you're perceived.

  • How do you handle the separation between the public and healthcare professionals?

    We look at how your site draws that boundary technically. The aim is to keep the HCP-facing section properly separated while making sure the public section doesn't lose visibility by accident. That's a common mistake.

  • How can we make sure AI services present our information accurately?

    We work on which sources the models draw from and on how your own information is worded and structured. You can't control it fully, but you can influence it far more than most people think.

  • We're the local Swedish or Nordic part of a global group and can't change the site. What can we do?

    We split the work into what you can decide locally, usually content and structure within your own section, and what you need to raise with the group. For the latter, we prepare material to help you win internal buy-in.

  • How much does SEO cost for a pharmaceutical company?

    A technical project normally costs SEK 75,000 to 300,000 and a content and structure project SEK 50,000 to 250,000. If you'd like to see how we work first, we offer pilot projects at SEK 30,000 to 50,000. All prices exclude VAT.