RESTON, VA – Doctors' online behavior shows that when looking for health information they most often reach content through natural search and direct navigation – like most Internet users. But unlike most users, when they conduct searches they have a "clearer picture" of what they want.

This is according to a report released by ComScore, Inc. and pharmaceutical insights company ImpactRx.

"Reaching physicians online is critically important for the health industry," said John Mangano, ComScore's vice president of health marketing solutions. "By observing physicians' actual online behaviors, we are able to understand the inherent differences in how physicians research health content compared to patients. This unique insight into physicians' browsing preferences represents vital information for any marketer looking to communicate with physicians."

[See also: Pew Survey: Health information third most popular online pursuit.]

Key findings of the report are:

• Media, text and link-referred traffic (such as banner or text ads) accounted for the largest share of physician traffic to health and wellness sites, at 40 percent.
• Paid search referred visits represented a relatively small percentage of physicians' overall traffic to health-related sites. Of all health-related subcategories, pharmaceutical sites saw the largest percentage of visits originating from paid search at just 7 percent.
• More than half of physicians that visited physician locator and general health content sites arrived through natural (organic) search results.
• Non-referred visits (which include traffic originating from bookmarks or directly accessing the site via URL address) accounted for the majority of physicians' traffic across many site categories including pharmacy services (73 percent), pharma support (67 percent) and clinic sites (59 percent).
• Network-referred visits (traffic referred by ad networks involving push or interference) accounted for 15 percent of physicians' traffic to social media sites and 10 percent of health-related Insurance sites.

According to the report, deeper analysis of the role of paid and natural search in physicians' online behaviors revealed that, among all health-related content categories, natural search accounted for the large majority of search-referred visits.

Pharmaceutical sites had the highest share of paid search referrals among physicians with 20 percent of search-referred traffic originating from this source, indicating the continued competition among pharmaceutical brands in this space. Health and wellness sites also sourced significant traffic from paid search referrals with 12 percent of search-referred traffic arriving through this method. Paid search referrals were virtually nonexistent in government, medical journal, pharma support and social media categories.

[See also: Americans want docs to be online]

"Physicians have very different browsing behaviors than patients when it comes to accessing health information online, as they generally begin a session with a clearer picture of what they're trying to achieve," added Mangano. "Understanding the clear picture of their distinct browsing patterns can provide marketers with the insights they need to ensure they're pulling the appropriate marketing levers when their target audience is healthcare professionals."