Search Engine Marketing and Online Medicine Sellers: Ethical Versus Unethical Marketing Strategies and Practices

Fittler, András Tamás and Télessy, István and Limbu, Yam and Huhmann, Bruce (2026) Search Engine Marketing and Online Medicine Sellers: Ethical Versus Unethical Marketing Strategies and Practices. In: Business Ethics in the Healthcare Industry. Springer Cham, pp. 297-311. ISBN 978-3-032-07648-9, 978-3-032-07649-6

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Abstract

Legitimate online pharmacies (LOPs) and illegal medicine vendors (IMVs) use search engine optimization and marketing to direct patients seeking medical products (MPs) to internet links for their websites. The volume of search engine traffic is challenging to monitor and IMVs use search engine poisoning (e.g., cloaking, keyword stuffing, and redirects) to artificially boost their rank in search engine results and direct unsuspecting patients to their websites. IMV websites frequently use others’ content, branding elements, and logos to mislead consumers and gain their trust and promote false health claims and counterfeit, adulterated, or off-label MPs. They fail to provide sufficient usage instructions and use pricing and bulk purchase gimmicks to entice purchasers. Unlike IMVs, LOPs adhere to pharmacists’ professional ethical standards, responsibly and accurately inform patients about health claims and treatment options, and protect patient safety, privacy, and personal data while meeting profitability and sustainability goals. A more ethical online market of MPs, which respects patient autonomy while advancing patient well-being and public health, is a priority.

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