Client: AstraZeneca

How we helped AstraZeneca executives dominate search through strategic entity optimisation   

2,660+

av. clicks on leadership pages

position 1.1

for key executive queries

XX

XXXXX

The Challenge

AstraZeneca faced a visibility problem that many pharmaceutical companies overlook: their executives were barely findable online. When someone searched for their Executive Vice President of Oncology R&D, for instance, they'd find scattered third-party profiles, LinkedIn results, and generic directories.

But AstraZeneca's own leadership page? Buried on page 2 or 3. 

This isn’t a vanity metric problem. We know trust, authority, and scientific credibility drive business decisions, so having key executives invisible in search meant: 

  • Weakened thought leadership positioning 

  • Diminished investor confidence (inability to easily verify executive expertise) 

The pharmaceutical sector is unique. When someone searches for an executive name, they're often looking for: 

  • Academic credentials and research background 

  • Publications and clinical trial involvement 

  • Awards and fellowships demonstrating peer recognition 

  • Company association and role verification 

  • Speaking engagements and thought leadership 

Generic corporate bio pages don't capture these searches, meaning LinkedIn profiles rank higher. Wikipedia entries (when they exist) tend to outperform company pages. And with Google's increasing focus on entity recognition and knowledge graphs, companies that don't optimise for this are missing out. 

The brief: help AstraZeneca's key executives establish dominant search visibility, outrank third-party profiles, and leverage entity recognition to build long-term authority.  

How we addressed it

Research: Understanding entity recognition and competitive landscapes 

We knew this wasn't a typical SEO project. Entity optimisation requires understanding how Google recognises people as distinct entities, associates them with organisations, and surfaces them in knowledge graphs, AI Overviews, and voice search results. 

Competitive benchmarking revealed the gap: We analysed how executives at competitor pharmaceutical companies appeared in search: 

  • Most pharma companies had basic leadership directory pages with minimal detail 

  • LinkedIn profiles consistently ranked positions 2-3 for executive names 

  • Wikipedia entries (where they existed) captured position 1 

  • Company leadership pages rarely broke into top 5 

  • Almost none had video content, comprehensive publications, or structured entity signals 

SERP analysis showed the opportunity: For executive name queries, Google was displaying: 

  • Featured snippets with biographical information 

  • Knowledge panels for well-known executives 

  • "People also search for" related executives 

  • Company association in search snippets 

  • Publications and awards in rich results 

Entity recognition research identified critical factors: We studied how Google's algorithms recognise and rank people entities: 

  1. Structured biographical data (education, career history, roles) 

  2. Authority signals (awards, fellowships, board positions) 

  3. Publications and citations (academic credibility) 

  4. Media mentions and external validation 

  5. Visual identity (consistent professional imagery) 

  6. Company association (clear organizational connection) 

  7. Unique identifiers (distinguishing from others with same name) 

The push and pull: Navigating corporate disclosure 

One significant challenge: pharmaceutical companies are understandably cautious about executive information disclosure. There's a balance between: 

  • Providing enough detail to establish authority and entity recognition 

  • Maintaining privacy around personal information 

  • Meeting regulatory requirements around executive communications 

  • Protecting competitive intelligence about leadership moves 

  • We worked closely with AstraZeneca's communications team through multiple rounds of negotiation: 

Our initial recommendations featured too much information: Our first recommendations included comprehensive career histories, all publications, detailed award descriptions, and personal background. Legal and communications teams flagged concerns. 

Corporate pushback woudl give too little information: The scaled-back version was a basic bio, job title, and company boilerplate. We explained this wouldn't achieve entity recognition or competitive advantage. 

Our final compromise was strategic disclosure: We identified the sweet spot: 

  • Recent, relevant publications (demonstrating current expertise) 

  • Prestigious awards and fellowships (peer recognition signals) 

  • Education credentials (authority establishment) 

  • Role and responsibilities (clear organizational context) 

  • Key achievements (without competitive sensitivity) 

  • Professional video interview (authentic voice and visual identity) 

This process took several weeks but was critical. The resulting content provided enough entity signals for Google whilst respecting corporate boundaries. 

Content brief: Building entity recognition through strategic structure 

We developed a comprehensive content brief that went far beyond typical biography guidelines. Every element served a purpose in entity recognition: 

H1 and title tag strategy: 

  • Format: "[Full Name]" as H1 

  • Subtitle: "Executive Vice President, Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca" 

  • Purpose: Clear entity name + role + organisation association 

Opening paragraph architecture:

  • Full name (entity anchor) 

  • Current role with full title 

  • Company name (organizational entity link) 

  • Primary responsibility or achievement 

  • Geographic context (entity location signals) 

Biographical sections

  • Education: Universities attended (entity associations with academic institutions) 

  • Career milestones: Previous roles and organisations (career graph building) 

  • Current role: Detailed responsibilities (expertise demonstration) 

  • Research focus: Specific therapeutic areas (topical authority) 

Authority signals: 

  • Awards section: Fellowships, honors, recognition with years 

  • Publications: Recent, relevant papers with co-authors and journals 

  • Speaking engagements: Major conferences and thought leadership 

  • Board positions: External appointments and advisory roles 

Visual and media elements: 

  • Professional headshot: High-quality, consistent across platforms 

  • Video interview: Embedded, with title and description 

  • Infographics: If relevant to achievements or research 

Internal linking strategy: 

  • Links TO: Oncology therapy area, R&D section, relevant WSCD articles 

  • Links FROM: Company leadership page, therapy area pages 

  • Related executives: "You may also like" suggestions 

  • Publications: Links to full papers where available 

Structured data recommendations: While we couldn't implement schema directly, we advised future markup: 

  • Person schema elements (name, role, affiliation) 

  • Organisation association (employee of AstraZeneca) 

  • Award and honor listings 

  • Publication citations 

Implementation and the visibility breakthrough 

AstraZeneca's team implemented the brief in November 2024. The page launched with: 

  • Comprehensive biographical content 

  • Five recent publications with full citations 

  • Seven major awards and fellowships 

  • Embedded video interview 

  • Professional photography 

  • Clear internal linking to related content 

Initial performance was modest, competing with LinkedIn and other third-party sources. 

Then, in September 2025, something shifted. 

The results:

2,667 av. clicks over 15 months 54,455 impressions Position 1.00-1.12 for primary name queries 754 clicks from "susan galbraith" at position 1.12 16-34% CTR on top branded queries 56 queries ranking positions 1-3 47% of traffic from top-3 positions 7-position average rank improvement during September 2025 algorithm updates 

Immediate competitive displacement 

The optimised leadership page design quickly began displacing third-party profiles: 

  • Position 1.12 (AstraZeneca page) 

  • 754 clicks with 16.21% CTR 

  • Outranking LinkedIn, Wikipedia, and other sources 

"name + astrazeneca" query: 

  • Position 1.00 (featured result) 

  • 454 clicks with 34.76% CTR 

  • Dominant brand association established 

Entity recognition achieved 

The page design successfully triggered Google's entity recognition systems, evidenced by: 

1. Position 1.00 rankings indicating knowledge panel triggers 

When a page consistently ranks position 1.00 (rather than 1.2, 1.5, etc.), it often indicates Google is showing it as a featured entity result or knowledge panel source. 

2. Name variant and misspelling capture 

Google successfully associated multiple query variations with the same entity.

3. Company-person association established 

Queries combining name + company achieved position 1.00 with exceptional CTRs: 

  • "name + astrazeneca" - 34.76% CTR 

  • "astrazeneca + name" - 60.00% CTR 

4. Broader organisational queries captured 

We saw general leadership searches surfacing:

  • "astrazeneca leadership" - position 9.75 

  • "astrazeneca board of directors" - position 6.44 

  • "astrazeneca leadership team" - position 2.64 

This shows the page contributes to AstraZeneca's broader organisational entity graph. 

The September 2025 breakthrough 

For the first 10 months (Nov 2024 - Aug 2025), performance was solid but not exceptional: 

  • Average position of targets: 7-10

  • Monthly clicks: 113-188 range 

  • Competing with LinkedIn and third-party sources 

Then in September 2025, dramatic improvement: 

  • Average position of targets: 1-3 (7-position improvement) 

  • Monthly clicks: 168-211 range 

Google's algorithm updates in mid-2025 appear to have enhanced entity recognition systems. Pages with strong E-E-A-T signals (such as awards, publications, professional credentials) received significant boosts. The investment in comprehensive biographical content, structured authority signals, and internal linking paid off. 

Comprehensive query coverage 

The page design captures around 150 different queries, demonstrating breadth of visibility. The use cases include direct name lookup, company verification, professional title verification, reference checking, and other general information seeking. Position distribution also showed decisive dominance.

  • 56 queries in positions 1-3 → 1,252 clicks (47% of total) 

  • 45 queries in positions 4-10 → 33 clicks (1% of total) 

  • 48 queries in positions 11+ → 0 clicks (0% of total) 

Performance sustainability 

The optimised page design maintained strong performance through multiple algorithm updates: 

  • Navigated September 2025 entity recognition improvements 

  • Continued capturing new query variations 

  • Maintained high CTRs indicating user satisfaction 

Monthly performance (recent period): 

  • September 2025: 206 clicks, position 6.72 

  • October 2025: 211 clicks, position 5.25 (peak) 

  • November 2025: 168 clicks, position 5.28 

The slight click decrease in November (despite maintaining position) reflects seasonal patterns. 

Strategic significance

Why entity optimisation matters for B2B brands

This case study demonstrates a strategic approach that most B2B companies - especially in technical, regulated industries like pharmaceuticals - often overlook.

1. Entity recognition is vital SEO - and future proofing for AI search

Traditional SEO focused on keywords and links. Modern search - especially with AI Overviews, voice assistants, and knowledge graphs - focuses on entities: distinct people, organisations, concepts that Google can understand, connect, and surface contextually. 

When someone asks "Who leads oncology research at AstraZeneca?" or "Tell me about Susan Galbraith's background," AI systems don't search keywords, they query entity graphs. Companies without optimised entity signals are losing out in these systems. 

As AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and voice assistants increasingly answer queries directly, they pull from authoritative entity sources. Companies without entity optimization won't be cited. Their executives won't appear in AI-generated answers. They'll be invisible in the next generation of search.

2. Executive visibility drives organisational authority 

AstraZeneca benefits from individual entity search visibility in multiple ways: 

  • Journalists researching stories can quickly verify credentials, find recent publications, and contact information. This increases media mention likelihood. 

  • Analysts and investors researching leadership expertise find comprehensive, authoritative information demonstrating depth of talent. 

  • Top scientists considering AstraZeneca can easily verify the calibre of leadership, seeing awards, publications, and research focus. 

  • Potential collaborators researching AstraZeneca's capabilities see the depth of expertise through leadership profiles. 

  • When executives speak at conferences or publishes research, search visibility amplifies that authority. 

3. Scalable across leadership teams 

We proved the model. It’s replicable across

  • C-suite executives 

  • Therapy area leads 

  • Research directors 

  • Regional presidents 

  • Board members 

Each optimised profile strengthens the organisational entity graph, creates internal linking opportunities, and builds comprehensive thought leadership visibility. 

Broader implications for technical B2B SEO

Entity optimisation isn't just for executives 

The same principles apply to: 

  • Scientific researchers: Publications, citations, research areas 

  • Product innovators: Patents, awards, product development 

  • Technical experts: Certifications, speaking, industry contributions 

Any individual representing organisational expertise benefits from entity optimisation. 

The push-pull process is universal

Every company faces the same balance: 

  • How much executive information to disclose 

  • Balancing transparency with privacy 

  • Meeting regulatory requirements 

  • Protecting competitive intelligence 

The negotiation process we navigated with AstraZeneca is replicable. The key is demonstrating the strategic value: entity recognition isn't vanity, it's business advantage. 

Small investment, sustained returns

Creating an optimised leadership page requires: 

  • Strategic research

  • Content development

  • Visual assets

  • Internal linking  

But once established, the page delivers ongoing visibility with minimal maintenance. Monthly updates to publications or awards keep entity signals fresh.  

Conclusion

Many agencies can write a biography. Few understand how Google's entity recognition systems work, which signals trigger knowledge graph inclusion, how to structure content for voice search and AI Overviews, and the internal linking architecture that builds entity authority.

 Working with AstraZeneca required understanding industry regulatory constraints, corporate communications approval processes and legal review requirements, as well as privacy and disclosure boundaries. We guided the push-pull process to achieve optimal results within real-world constraints. 

When we optimised this page design, we weren't just thinking about current Google rankings. We were preparing for next-generation entity recognition. The September 2025 algorithm improvements validated that approach: the page was already optimised for the new system. 

The results: 2,660+ av clicks, 54,450+ av. impressions, position 1.00-1.12 for primary queries, and successful navigation of the September 2025 algorithm breakthrough that rewarded authoritative entity signals. 

But beyond the metrics, this demonstrates a strategic principle: in technical B2B industries, your executives are your most valuable content assets. Their expertise, credentials, publications, and thought leadership represent organisational authority. Making them findable is a competitive advantage that compounds over time. 

Looking for a touch of authority?

If your company operates in a technical, fast-moving field and you're ready to establish genuine thought leadership (not just "rank higher"), we'd love to discuss how Bottle can help. 

Let’s talk. 

hello@wearebottle.com