Google now accepts LegitScript's Healthcare Merchant Certification for advertisers of pharmaceuticals and other healthcare-related products in the US and Canada.
This means that healthcare merchants who are certified and monitored by LegitScript can advertise on Google AdWords, Shopping, and DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM) without ads being paused or suspended for not complying with this new policy. And LegitScript certification doesn't just apply to online pharmacies. It includes:
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- Pharmacies: including internet pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, brick-and-mortar pharmacies, local pharmacies with remote dispensing, internet veterinary pharmacies, and sterile compounding pharmacies
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- Telemedicine providers that facilitate prescribing
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- Other healthcare merchants: including wholesale websites/apps, price comparison websites/apps, and discount pharmacy websites/apps
This is great news for merchants who are already LegitScript-certified. It's also one more reason for healthcare merchants who aren't already part of the program to get certified. In June 2017, Visa announced that all pharmacy merchants and telemedicine providers that process card-not-present transactions had to be certified and monitored by a recognized certification organization, such as LegitScript.
Being LegitScript-certified now means healthcare merchants can participate in search engine advertising on Google with minimal disruption, and adhere to credit card brand requirements.
"I'm really pleased that Google now utilizes LegitScript certification in their policy processes," said LegitScript CEO John Horton. "We want to make it easy for legitimate healthcare merchants to advertise and maintain merchant accounts, and, of course, we want to make it impossible for the bad ones to do the same. This is a great development in our years-long relationship with Google, and we're glad to work with more healthcare advertisers going forward to help ensure and demonstrate ongoing regulatory compliance."
Interested in getting your business certified? Learn more about how LegitScript Healthcare Merchant Certification can help your business in 2018.
