Map the searches (capability plus constraint) to a page each, by capability, modality, method and site. Fix the technical basics: descriptive URLs, structured data, HTML text for key PDF content, and pages that meet Google's speed targets. Publish scientist-written content that answers development questions. Keep regulatory wording exact. Measure organic inquiries and shortlists by capability.
The aim is to be found by the few hundred people who could sign a project, not by everyone who types "pharma".
What life science buyers search
Five patterns cover most of the searches that lead to a project:
- Capability plus modality: "peptide CDMO", "sterile injectable contract manufacturer", "ADC conjugation CDMO".
- Process plus constraint: "spray drying scale-up", "HPAPI containment OEB 5", "continuous flow chemistry contract".
- Analytical method: "nitrosamine testing laboratory", "extractables and leachables study".
- Regulatory path: "DMF holder for [substance]", "CEP for [substance]".
- Location and supply: a capability plus a country or region, or "second source" for a named material.
A page map that answers them
Give each capability, modality, analytical method and site its own page, written for the searcher: what you do, at what scale, with what equipment and method, under which quality system, with which people, and what a sponsor should send to start. A single services page cannot answer twenty different searches; twenty specific pages can, if each is genuinely different. Link them together the way a sponsor thinks: from modality to process to method to site. Our guide to life science website design covers the pages themselves.
Technical basics that hide or reveal those pages
Google's SEO starter guide recommends descriptive URLs and notes that parts of the URL can appear in results as breadcrumbs, so a path such as /capabilities/sterile-injectables/ helps both people and search. Structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying its content; organization, product and article markup help search engines read who you are and what a page is.
Life science sites keep much of their value in PDFs. Google can index several file types, Adobe PDF among them, but a capability buried in a brochure PDF is harder to find and to read on a phone than the same content on a page. Put the key facts in HTML and offer the PDF as a download. Speed matters too: Google's Core Web Vitals guidance asks for a Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, an Interaction to Next Paint under 200 milliseconds and a Cumulative Layout Shift under 0.1. Our technical SEO service covers the fixes.
Content that development teams search for
Development scientists search for problems before they search for providers: how to control a polymorph, when a nitrosamine risk assessment is needed, how to plan tech transfer. A scientist-written answer to each, published on your site, brings searchers who may need a provider soon. Google's helpful content guidance asks whether a page shows first-hand expertise and makes clear who created it. Our guide to life science content marketing covers the formats and the review process.
AI summaries
Google's guidance on AI features says the usual SEO best practices remain relevant for AI Overviews and AI Mode and that there are no additional requirements to appear in them. Pew Research Center found in March 2025 that Google users who saw an AI summary clicked a traditional result 8% of the time, against 15% without one, as its report describes. Fewer clicks reach generic pages; the pages that are cited and clicked are specific, first-hand and clear about who wrote them.
Regulatory wording that search engines and sponsors both read
Search snippets and AI summaries quote your words, so the regulatory words on every page must be exact. Under 21 CFR 207.77, registration does not denote approval; "FDA-approved facility" in a title or heading is both wrong and widely repeated once it is indexed. Use "FDA-registered", "DMF on file" and dated inspection facts, as your quality team approves.
How to measure it
By capability page and by quarter: organic inquiries and capability requests, the search queries each page appears for in Search Console, short-list appearances you can trace to organic search, and branded searches over time as a sign of awareness. Track rankings for the capability searches that matter as a diagnostic. Our B2B SEO service reports in these terms.
If you want it done with you
PromotEdge International is an international strategy, technology, marketing and design company, and our delivery team is in India. Life science clients we have worked for include Kopran and Novozymes. That work was for their business in India and was delivered by our team there. Our life science marketing service page describes the work. We promise no rankings, and your quality team approves every regulatory word we write.
Facts we rely on: see our company facts for what we state about ourselves and where each fact comes from.