Introduction

SPEAKERS:

Ben Myall, CEO, Everybody Agency

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• AI overviews doubled to 13% in three months, cutting top organic click-through rates by over one-third
• Zero-click searches reached 60% as 800 million weekly ChatGPT users shift from websites to conversational AI
• Pharma pilot achieved 227% SERP feature increase and 520% AI overview growth in just two months
• Modular question-based content architecture replaces page-centric SEO as LLMs prioritize easily parsed information
• Schema markup enables gated promotional content visibility in LLMs, solving pharma's compliance-discoverability tension

The scale of health information-seeking online is staggering, but how people find that information is undergoing a revolution that most pharma marketers aren't prepared for. "There are 70,000 health-related searches per second on Google, which is just a staggering number," Ben Myall explained at Pharma Customer Engagement Europe 2025. Yet the comfortable assumptions about search engine optimization, that strong organic rankings translate to website traffic and engagement, are crumbling as artificial intelligence reshapes the search landscape. The rise of zero-click searches and AI-generated answers means pharma brands must fundamentally rethink how they structure content, measure success, and engage customers who may never visit their websites at all.

The Zero-Click Crisis Accelerates

The numbers tell a stark story about the erosion of traditional search traffic. Myall presented data showing that the zero-click phenomenon has intensified significantly over recent years. "Over the last six years we've gone from 50% of people carrying out a search and then doing nothing, they didn't click on anything, to now 60%," Myall noted. This represents searches where users get their answers directly from the search results page without clicking through to any website.

The acceleration of AI-powered search features is happening faster than most anticipated. "Between January this year and March this year, about 6.5% of queries had an AI overview. Now we're over, well by March we were over 13%, so double in three months," the Everybody Agency CEO revealed. The implications are immediate and measurable. Google now reports 2 billion monthly users for AI overviews, and the trend shows no signs of slowing.

The business impact extends beyond vanishing traffic. Even when pharma companies maintain strong organic search positions, the value of those rankings is diminishing. "When an AI overview is present, when somebody searches, the click-through rate on the top organic listing drops by over a third," Myall explained. This isn't a theoretical future concern, it's reshaping marketing ROI calculations today.

Looking ahead, the disruption will intensify. "Gartner predicts a 25% drop in search engine volume by 2026," Myall shared. The message is clear: pharma organizations that continue investing primarily in traditional SEO without adapting to AI-mediated search are watching their return on investment decline in real-time. The shift from search engines to conversational AI platforms represents a fundamental change in information-seeking behavior, and early adopters will capture visibility while competitors debate strategy.

The convergence of these trends, rising zero-click rates, exploding AI overview prevalence, declining click-through rates, and massive user adoption of ChatGPT and similar tools, creates an urgent imperative for pharma marketers to develop what Myall calls Generative AI Engine Optimization strategies.

Content Architecture for AI Consumption

The critical insight Myall emphasized is that strong traditional search rankings don't automatically translate to visibility in LLM-generated responses. Pharma companies may rank on page one for important keywords yet remain invisible when healthcare professionals ask ChatGPT or Perplexity the same questions. "Studies have shown that the content needs to be structured in a way which is easily absorbed and then reproduced by the LLM in order for it to be visible," Myall explained. Simply having good search visibility isn't enough anymore.

This requires a fundamental reconceptualization of content structure. Traditional SEO treats the web page as the basic unit of optimization, with keyword targeting and internal linking designed to rank specific URLs. GAEO demands a different approach.

"It's not all about the page and the keywords, it's about the topics and how to structure them in a modular way so that they can be used by the LLM to meet that need," the CEO emphasized.

Rather than thinking about pages competing for keyword rankings, pharma marketers should envision content as collections of independently valuable information modules. When an HCP asks an LLM about treatment options, side effect profiles, or dosing considerations, they're asking specific questions. The content that appears in the AI-generated response may be one section from a longer page, the module that best answers that particular question.

This architectural shift has practical implications for content development. Myall advocates for structuring content around clear questions with comprehensive answers beneath each heading. Each question-answer pair becomes a module the LLM can extract and serve independently. The content should include varied formats including text, video, and infographics, along with clear headings, references to authoritative sources, and comprehensive structured data markup.

The video format deserves particular attention. Myall referenced benchmark research showing that YouTube videos appeared frequently as citations in LLM responses, suggesting that pharma companies should consider video content not just for engagement but as a GAEO strategy. A well-structured video with proper metadata and schema markup can achieve LLM visibility alongside text-based content.

The technical requirements also differ from traditional SEO. While core web vitals, mobile-friendliness, and internal linking remain important, schema markup becomes absolutely critical for GAEO success. "You need great structured data. You need great schema markup," Myall stated. Many organizations rely on automatically generated schema, which covers only basic elements while missing the advanced structured data that LLMs prioritize when selecting sources.

Solving the Gated Content Challenge

One of the most valuable moments in Myall's presentation came during the Q&A session when an attendee asked about gated promotional content, a challenge unique to pharma marketing where compliance requirements often mandate authentication before accessing detailed product information. The CEO's response offered a practical solution that addresses both regulatory and discoverability needs.

"If we do our schema in the right way, we can produce quite a lot of information, which is actually going to be really useful to an LLM, because they really care about the schema and they'll be able to see it even if the content is gated," Myall explained. This addresses a pain point that has long frustrated pharma digital strategists: balancing regulatory compliance with discoverability. If LLMs can access and utilize structured data even when detailed content sits behind HCP verification, it provides a pathway to brand visibility that respects regulatory constraints.

The approach requires collaboration between technical teams, medical affairs, and compliance to determine what information can be safely provided in schema markup. Product names, approved indications, mechanism of action summaries, and links to full prescribing information might all be candidates for structured data that feeds LLMs while keeping detailed promotional content appropriately gated.

This solution is particularly relevant as healthcare professional information-seeking behavior shifts rapidly toward AI tools. HCPs increasingly ask conversational AI platforms for quick clinical information between patients rather than navigating to pharma company websites. If brands aren't present in those AI-generated responses, they're missing critical moments of consideration, even if their websites contain excellent content behind compliant authentication.

The schema markup strategy also aligns with medical affairs priorities for accuracy and appropriate sourcing, potentially creating unexpected common ground between traditionally siloed marketing and medical functions.

Implementation Roadmap and Urgency of Action

The most compelling evidence that GAEO delivers results came from Myall's case study of a pharma company pilot program. "In two months they increased their SERP visibility from 68 to 223 SERP features and they increased their AI overviews from 5 to 31 in two months by doing a fairly simple implementation," he reported. The results were achieved through relatively straightforward interventions: page speed improvements, detailed schema markup audits and updates, and content restructuring around question-based architecture.

The adoption curve for conversational AI platforms has been unprecedented. "ChatGPT alone has got 800 million weekly users and we hadn't heard of it a year ago," Myall noted. The implication is clear: the behavior change is happening now, not in some distant future that pharma companies can plan for leisurely. Healthcare professionals and patients are already using these tools daily, and brands absent from AI-generated responses are simply invisible in those critical information-seeking moments.

Myall's recommended approach is pragmatic: start with pilot programs on high-priority brand subfolders or therapy areas to demonstrate ROI before committing to enterprise-wide implementation. Use tools like AccuRanker to identify which keywords trigger AI overviews and benchmark current visibility. Conduct detailed schema markup audits and updates. Structure content in modular, question-based formats. Measure success across multiple platforms, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, SearchGPT, rather than betting on a single LLM winner.

The CEO also addressed concerns about which platforms will dominate the emerging landscape. "I think that here's my theory. People like Google and people like Microsoft are really good at monetizing search and they really understand how to run a programmatic engine," Myall suggested. He believes established players have significant advantages in monetization expertise and resources, making them likely long-term winners despite current competition from newer entrants. The fundamental principles of GAEO remain consistent regardless of which specific platforms ultimately capture the largest user bases.

When asked about helping marketers understand LLM search, Myall offered practical advice.

"How many people do you want to see your content? How important is it that our target audience see this content? Well, if it's that important, we need to make sure it's appearing in ChatGPT,"

he explained. The strategic imperative is immediate action through focused pilots that demonstrate value, followed by systematic rollout across therapeutic areas and brands.

The window for first-mover advantage is narrow but still open. Pharma companies that act now can establish authority in LLM citation patterns before competitors optimize their content. "Act now, it's not tomorrow, right? We all put our hands up. We're already using it," Myall emphasized. Those who wait for more data or clearer trends will find themselves playing catch-up in a channel that's already reshaping how their customers find information. The speed of impact demonstrated in the pilot case study proves that GAEO isn't a long-term experimental investment but a tactical opportunity with near-term returns.

To get you highlights of Pharma Customer Engagement EU faster, we are using generative AI technology to summarise the transcripts of the sessions. If you have any feedback about the summary, please contact lucy.fisher@thomsonreuters.com.

"My team tells me, oh, but we don't have a seat at the table. My advice is to be proactive, go find the table and get a chair and share how our expertise can support shared goals. Maybe they were not aware or did not understand. Maybe you have to make it easier for them."

This partnership model extends beyond technology. "Our customers don't see the different roles that we all represent," Kelly reminds. "Our customers see the company that we represent and the products." Internal functional distinctions become invisible to customers experiencing unified company touchpoints. When medical, commercial, and market access messages arrive uncoordinated, customers perceive organizational dysfunction regardless of the sophisticated rationales justifying each department's independent optimization.

Building Capability for Digital-First Engagement

The shift toward increasingly digital go-to-market models requires systematic capability building across three dimensions. Novo Nordisk started with foundational work: creating a glossary ensuring consistent terminology. "Can we all talk about the same thing in the same manner to ensure that when we're meeting a customer journey means a customer journey and not a pathway, not a digital asset," Gala explains. Without shared vocabulary, cross-functional collaboration stumbles on semantic confusion.

Training extends beyond front-line commercial teams to back-office functions. "This needs to be much more a company mindset," Gala argues. Technology upskilling ensures infrastructure readiness for emerging capabilities. Change management acknowledges the emotional reality of transformation: "I haven't met anyone that says that. Oh, I love not knowing what is going to come. I love not knowing what is going to be my job or how to do it."

Perez Casesmeiro adds perspective on navigating constant change: "The only constant is change. So I don't think there's anything new. The difference here is that it's happening very fast."

From Aspiration to Operation

The transformation journey requires patience and persistence. Organizational change messages need approximately eight repetitions before achieving stickiness. "Someone said that for people, for a message to stick, repeat eight times. So probably do 16," Gala advises. Starting with believers before scaling broadly allows proof points to accumulate. Simple tools, Excel-based editorial calendars, transparent customer journey maps, can drive meaningful coordination improvements without waiting for sophisticated technology solutions.

Hergli shares an example of cross-company collaboration that demonstrates possibilities beyond internal silos. Working with a partner holding commercialization rights in Japan for a Chiesi product, the companies coordinated regulatory filings for a new indication. "We have been helping them from a medical perspective with discussing with the healthcare professional and key opinion leaders, but also from regulatory perspective, from marketing perspective," she explains. The cross-functional, cross-company collaboration succeeded because shared purpose transcended organizational boundaries.

Kelly synthesizes the discussion into actionable principles: have one clear goal, communicate prolifically across functions, ensure everyone has voice in strategic conversations, and use meetings to hold up mirrors when customer-first principles are violated. "I think there are some practical things that we can be doing on a daily basis to achieve this vision," she notes. "We're trying new things and we're having to break down the silos global to regional, regional to local, but also within our functions, within our organization."

The imperative is clear: move from customer-first language to customer-first operations, one coordinated touchpoint at a time. As Perez Casesmeiro reminds, overlapping functions create organizational resilience: "No one operates alone. Shared responsibility is crucial in ensuring we don’t fail. There is too much at the stake for patients and healthcare professionals." The challenge isn't eliminating complexity but learning to navigate it effectively, transforming bureaucratic friction into collaborative strength that ultimately serves patients and healthcare professionals better.

To get you highlights of Pharma Customer Engagement EU faster, we are using generative AI technology to summarise the transcripts of the sessions. If you have any feedback about the summary, please contact lucy.fisher@thomsonreuters.com.

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