“Every original article is reviewed by our staff of full-time, board-certified physician editors.” That line sits in WebMD’s editorial policy, and it is the first thing to understand if you want to know how to get featured on WebMD.
It means there is no shortcut through the editorial side. No guest post, no pay-to-play article, no friendly writer who can slip a product mention past review. What there is instead is a small set of real doors, each with its own rules. Most people who try to get on WebMD fail because they knock on a door that does not exist. They email a press release to a general inbox, offer to write an article, or ask what a feature costs. None of those reach anyone who can say yes.
This guide covers how WebMD content gets made, then walks through the four doors that do exist, from earned news coverage to the commercial programs that sit outside the editorial wall.
How WebMD content gets made
WebMD’s editorial policy is unusually specific about its process, and every detail matters for a pitch.
The policy says the content WebMD produces and the news it features are determined by its staff of physicians and medical journalists. It draws on peer-reviewed medical journals, announcements from federal health agencies, and analyses of health trends. Its reporters, the policy says, talk daily with prominent medical leaders for analysis and updates. And every original article is reviewed by full-time, board-certified physician editors.
Three implications follow.
First, WebMD decides what to cover. Story selection starts with research, federal health news, and trends, not with incoming pitches. Your pitch has to attach to something the newsroom already cares about.
Second, the people WebMD quotes are medical leaders. Reporters reach out to clinicians and researchers with recognized expertise, usually tied to a hospital, university, or professional society. If you are not one of those, you need to become one or partner with one.
Third, everything is checked by physicians. Any claim you make has to survive a doctor’s review. Overstated benefits, weak studies, and marketing language get stripped out or get the whole quote dropped.
The policy also draws a clear line between editorial and commercial. Licensed third-party content is reviewed for consistency with WebMD’s standards. Educational collaborations are created by WebMD, reviewed by the partner, and then edited and approved by WebMD’s editorial staff. Advertising, by contrast, is not reviewed by the editorial team and is not subject to the editorial policy.
Ownership matters less than process here, but for context: WebMD has been part of Internet Brands since 2017, and its professional sibling, Medscape, serves physicians rather than consumers. A clinician who builds a profile as a reliable voice often shows up across both audiences over time.
That structure is unusual in its transparency, and it gives you a map. Two of the doors below are editorial. Two are commercial. Knowing which one you are walking through changes everything about how you prepare.
Door one: become a source for WebMD news
The first door is earned coverage, and it runs through the newsroom.
WebMD covers new research every day. When a major study publishes in a journal like JAMA or The Lancet, or when the CDC or FDA makes an announcement, reporters need independent experts to explain what it means for patients. That is the opening.
To be one of those experts, you need three things. A credential that matches the topic, such as board certification in the relevant specialty or a research track record in the field. An affiliation that reporters recognize, such as an academic medical center, a well-known practice, or a professional society. And a public footprint that lets a reporter confirm both in a minute.
Then you need to be findable. Hospital and university media relations offices maintain expert lists and field reporter requests every day, so if you work at one, tell your communications team which topics you can comment on. Professional societies run similar programs for their members. Query platforms such as Qwoted and Featured connect reporters with sources directly. Set alerts for your specialty and respond fast.
A strong response states your name, credential, and affiliation on the first line, answers the question in plain language in three or four sentences, and flags one practical point for patients. It stays strictly within your expertise. It never mentions a product you sell, and it never criticizes a competitor’s treatment by name.
Here is the shape of a reply that gets used. A reporter asks how worried parents should be about a new RSV study. “Dr. Priya Raman, board-certified pediatric infectious disease specialist, Lakeside Children’s Hospital (a composite example). The study is reassuring for most families: the higher risk it found was concentrated in premature infants under six months. Parents of babies in that group should ask their pediatrician about preventive antibody shots before RSV season. I can talk by phone until 4 p.m. ET.” Credential, a calm read of the evidence, one action for patients, availability. Nothing more, and nothing less.
The payoff is real. A quote in WebMD news carries a byline-level trust signal and often lives on the page for years. For a physician building a practice or a researcher building a profile, it is one of the most credible mentions in consumer health.
Door two: the physician directory
The second door is the most overlooked, and for practicing clinicians it is the easiest.
WebMD runs a physician directory, WebMD Care, where patients search for doctors by specialty and location. Physicians can find their listing and update it. A complete, accurate profile with your specialty, board certifications, hospital affiliations, insurance, and a clear photo is the most direct way for a clinician to appear on WebMD.
This is not editorial coverage. Nobody will write about you. But it is a WebMD page with your name on it, it can rank in Google for searches of your name, and it is one of the sources patients and AI assistants check when they research a doctor.
Treat the profile like any other part of your public record. Keep it consistent with your practice website, your hospital bio, and your Google Business Profile. Inconsistent names, old addresses, and missing credentials make patients hesitate and confuse the systems that build knowledge panels and AI answers.
Reviews and ratings appear on directory listings too. You cannot control what patients write, but you can respond professionally where the platform allows and fix factual errors in your listing quickly.
For practices with several physicians, assign one person to audit every provider’s WebMD listing twice a year. It takes an afternoon and quietly improves how you appear across the web, for patients and for the systems that summarize you.
Door three: sponsored and educational programs
The third door is commercial, and the editorial policy describes it openly.
Third parties may fund WebMD to create original editorial content. In those programs, WebMD creates the content under its own editorial standards. The policy also describes educational collaborations, where WebMD creates content, the partner reviews it, and WebMD’s editorial staff edits and approves the final version. Separately, WebMD sells display and native advertising, which is not reviewed by the editorial team.
These programs are mostly used by pharmaceutical companies, medical device makers, health systems, and large consumer health brands. Budgets are significant, and the sales process runs through WebMD’s advertising team, not its editors. Pitching an editor about a sponsorship wastes both of your time.
Two warnings apply. First, funded content still has to pass WebMD’s standards, so a sponsor does not control the message the way it would in a pure ad. If you need total control, buy advertising instead. Second, sponsored programs are labeled. Readers and journalists can see that a brand paid for the content, so do not treat it as earned media in your own marketing.
Before any sponsorship conversation, assemble what the editorial side will ask for anyway: the clinical evidence behind each claim, the credentials of anyone who will be quoted, and the regulatory status of the product. Programs move faster when that file is ready on day one, and it forces an honest look at whether your claims will survive physician review.
If you are a smaller brand, this door is rarely the right first step. The money is usually better spent building the evidence and expert voices that make earned coverage possible.
Door four: get cited by the outlets WebMD reads
The fourth door is indirect, and it is the one most brands should start with.
WebMD’s stories draw on peer-reviewed journals, federal agencies, and medical leaders. That means the fastest way into a WebMD article is often to be part of those upstream sources. Publish research in a peer-reviewed journal, even a modest one. Get your clinical team quoted in medical trade outlets, which WebMD’s reporters read. Present data at a professional society meeting, where reporters scan abstracts for stories. Partner with an academic researcher whose work you support without controlling it.
Each of these creates a citation trail that physician editors trust. When a WebMD reporter writes about your area, your study, your expert, or your society presentation becomes part of the source material.
This door also builds the broader authority that matters in AI search. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews lean on medical publishers and journals for health questions. A brand cited in those sources has a far better chance of appearing in AI answers than one with a pile of press releases.
Timing helps on this door too. Medical conferences publish abstracts weeks before the meeting, and reporters plan coverage around them. If your team is presenting, coordinate with the society’s press office, prepare a plain-language summary, and have a credentialed spokesperson ready on the day the embargo lifts. That is how to get featured on WebMD’s news pages without ever sending WebMD a pitch.
It is also where earned placements in trade and business media help. Coverage that names your medical team, their credentials, and their findings feeds the footprint reporters and AI systems check. That is a large part of what we build for health clients before they ever approach a site like WebMD.
What to do this month
Pick your door. If you are a practicing clinician, update your WebMD Care profile this week, then tell your hospital or practice communications team which topics you can comment on. If you are a researcher, set query alerts for your specialty and prepare a three-line bio. If you are a brand, list the studies and credentialed experts behind your claims, and if that list is short, start building it before you spend on sponsorship. Knowing how to get featured on WebMD comes down to choosing the right door and arriving with evidence a physician editor would sign.