The news: At last month’s Publicis Health Media HealthFront event in New York City, marketing and business leaders discussed how healthcare and pharma brands can adapt to the rise of AI-driven search and its impact on how consumers find health information online.

Digging into the details: GoodRx is bucking the trend that is punishing most health sites in AI search. After Google’s March 2026 Core AI update recalibrated rankings to favor original, authoritative content, GoodRx’s search visibility rose 69% and its traffic climbed over a two-week stretch, per Sistrix data the company shared at the event. The same window gutted some consumer health and medical reference sites: Healthgrades fell 43.5%, Verywell Health 26.3%, and WebMD 16.9%, according to Sistrix data. Compounding the squeeze, AI Overviews now answer most health queries directly with AI-generated summaries at the top of the results page, siphoning clicks before users ever reach a publisher.

Why it matters: Health publishers face a structural problem rather than a cyclical slump. Informational health queries (e.g., “Why am I experiencing sudden joint pain?”) are exactly the kind Google’s AI Overviews are built to answer, leaving health sites particularly vulnerable to traffic loss. That creates a twofold challenge: stay visible inside AI Overviews and still pull users through to the site. Healthline shows why visibility alone isn’t enough. It is well cited in Overviews and still losing traffic, because the AI answer often ends the user’s journey before a click.

GoodRx is insulated because its value extends beyond an AI Overview. GoodRx user activities typically involve visiting the site to compare prescription drug prices across pharmacies, evaluate brand-name versus generic options, find prescription coupons, and access patient support resources.

Implications for online health brands: Not every health and medical website can respond to AI-driven search trends in the same way. A site's ability to offset traffic losses depends on the products and services it offers and the degree to which it serves high-intent searches, where users are seeking to complete an action that often requires visiting the website directly.

“Generalist” health brands need a different play: out-answer AI on questions that can’t be easily distilled into an AI Overview. That means investing in specialized explainers across conditions and treatment categories, while prioritizing content from medical experts, patient perspectives, and evidence-based research. The goal is to provide distinctive insights and context that differentiate your brand from the many similar health sites competing for visibility.

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