.svg)
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
7 Game-Changing SEO Tips for Cannabis Entrepreneurs
Cannabis—the exotic undergrowth shoot that was once thought hazardous for life is now seen as its elixir. And why not so! - Its rejuvenating healing properties are the perfect nature's gift. It’s pretty astonishing to imagine that the deep green colored aromatic plant has become famous lately. Initially, it was thrown off balance and off the shelves. But soon it kicked back! The nutritional benefits unearthed by herbalists and biologists are helping cannabis gain traction online and offline.
Cannabis contains compounds and minerals with healing and inflammatory properties that have positive impacts on human health. Whether it’s the drug store, cafés, or even the internet—with Search Engine Optimization—cannabis is selling like hotcakes. Even Forbes has articulated the health benefits of cannabis on their websites.
As a matter of fact, cannabis is now considered a gold leaf that lets entrepreneurs earn gold worth of cash. In other words, good dough is exchanged for every vivid green blade.
Unique Local SEO Challenges and Opportunities in The Cannabis Industry
Keep in mind that every country has its distinct laws—and how they see—cannabis. Most see it as an addict's charm. It feels so awkward that only a few have rich knowledge about this plant. So, make sure you promote your cannabis products as per the country's laws.
- Some countries even prohibit using certain keywords and pictures in your advertising content. Why? Because spreading scheming misinformation has stern consequences. Expect penalty charges and even jail time.
- Mainstream advertising mediums like newspapers and TV news channels often have strict restrictions from the government. Even local SEO agencies are ordered to show vigilance and maintain transparency when circulating cannabis-related products on websites. This is the reason why one should prefer selling CBD cannabis online and avoid illicit business activities—and—earnings.
- You have limited advertising options for the controversial herb that not many see as a healthy substitute for pharma-approved medicines.
- Avoid stigma and local legal complexities at all costs. This limitation makes organic SEO content even more vague and dubious. Thus making it critical for visibility—and reaching—the target audience.
Even after facing such challenges, SEO can make the most of the open market. Credit goes to the growing cannabis industry that has raised awareness among the masses.
Growing Market: The exotic plant is getting legalized owing to its curative benefits in many countries around the world. This growth clearly indicates more customers—and more—online sales for Cannabis. Even the German pharmaceutical company Demecan is licensed to produce medical cannabis as the industry is set to flourish in the coming years.
Community Engagement: Local SEO allows you to connect and interact with your community and local cannabis businesses effectively. Therefore, it’s better that you create localized content based on local interests and trends. Last but not least, organizing community events can also help you build a loyal customer base.
What Readers Will Learn in this Guide
- Effective Keyword Strategies and how to identify and use the right keywords to attract local customers.
- Local Listings Optimization and best practices for optimizing Google My Business and other local listings to enhance online visibility.
- Tips for creating engaging content and writings and illustrations that educate the masses while adhering to laws and regulations.
Tip 1: Optimize Your Google My Business Profile for Cannabis Dispensaries
Complete and Accurate Business Information
Make sure that you add every business detail therein—in the Google My Business account. Add your business’s name, shop address, timings, and contact information. Keep all the information up-to-date and gain the trust of customers in due course.
Don't forget to add Cannabis-specific attributes like "dispensary," "herbs shop," and "cannabis store." These tags will help Google find your business and crawl and index it. Plus, it will put your business in the right category. This will help potential customers discover your online store as quickly as a whistle.
High-Quality Photos
Interesting content without absorbing visuals is like a book without illustrations—it may be engaging, but it lacks the spark that captures attention. So, you better be on it! Use high-definition pictures and professional imagery to stand out from the crowd. Putting a big poster with eye-catching colors and illustrations of your welcoming storefront can entice customers for sure.
Be unique from the rest of the cannabis business owners. Magazine and photo albums in the cozy lounge of your shop are a great way to introduce yourself and your cannabis endeavors to anticipating visitors.
Collect and Respond to Reviews
Encourage Buyer Reviews: Request your customers to leave reviews on your Google My Business profile after their positive experience. In this way, new customers will be able to get insights into what they can expect from you.
Respond to Reviews: Regardless of positive or negative reviews, respond to everyone in a courteous manner. Show thanks to customers for their positive feedback while seeing negative comments as a constructive analysis. After all, it’s all cannabis—and customer satisfaction.
Tip 2: Get Listed on Popular Niche Cannabis Websites
There's no better dream for cannabis entrepreneurs to see their businesses and products get listed on Weedmaps, Leafly, and PotGuide. It bolsters their website to top Google rankings, makes them found online, and thus, attracts potential customers.
Hey there! Do you know that the cannabis market is just about to cross the $64.73 billion revenue bracket this year? Plus, it is predicted to grow 3.01% per year in the next five years. By the year 2029, the cannabis market volume is expected to reach $75.09 billion.
Importance of Cannabis-Specific Directories
There's no better way to grow your online presence, grow clients, and garner huge profits than getting on the popular cannabis-centered directories. Here's how you do it:
Grow Your Online Presence: The websites already mentioned have an established fan base of cannabis, even older than your passion and online store. So, it simply means that listing your dispensary here is like tapping the entire herbs marketplace. The best part is that these websites have thousands of active users daily. Good luck with product views, sales, and deals.
Drive Targeted Traffic: Putting your ads on Weedmaps, Leafly, and PotGuide helps you sell your products and services to potential buyers. This also means that you redirect them to your offline and online stores—dispensaries and websites. Thus, you get organic traffic from both ends, which drives more sales and maximizes ROI returns.
Ensure Information Accuracy
Consistent NAP: Make sure that your name, address, and phone numbers (NAP) are consistent through the channels. Bear in mind users will skip your business 360 degrees if your NAP details show inconsistencies. Information Incongruences have negative impacts on your business and add to the potential client's confusion; you don’t want that, right?
Regular Updates: Update your listings with new products, the latest deals and promotions, and upcoming events. Pro Tip: Create ads and listings inspired by the website's theme and colors to attract more visitors.
Enhance Your Listings
High-Quality Images: As I said before, always use high-quality visuals to portray your dispensary and products. Remember that a couple of well-lit high-definition snaps and posters are better than hundreds and thousands of pixelated blurs and smudges.
Detailed Product Descriptions: Writing compelling descriptions of cannabis products and services not only attracts customers but makes them confident. They see your business as a legitimate one that sells authentic cannabis products online.
Encourage Customer Reviews: Ask customers to leave their views and feedback regarding your dispensary and products, respectively. Remember that high ratings and positive testimonials increase your business credibility twofold, tenfold, and even more.
Tip 3: Create Pages Dedicated to Cities and Neighborhoods Your Dispensary Serves
Local Landing Pages
Designing separate stunning web pages dedicated to different cities and local regions impacts business credibility and online presence.
1. Unique Tailored Content: Each web page must be designed and formatted with caution and care. Such as that different parts of content must be placed in order—do not create a mishmash of misinformation. For instance, create dedicated pages for customers residing downtown and those in suburban areas—precise targeting—attracts more. In the same way, create separate pages for the latest products, Cannabis deals, local cannabis events, community partnerships, special promotions, and more.
2. Local Engagement: Owning a business isn't always about a BOSS sitting on his chair—movement and meetings matter as well. Therefore, participating in local events and partnering with local businesses matter. For instance, sponsoring a café meet-and-greet session or organizing a workshop that discusses everything—cannabis.
Use Local Keywords
Don’t forget to use domestic terms and homegrown keywords and key phrases if you’re targeting a local audience. Phrases like “cannabis dispensary in [City Name],” “cannabis shop near me,” or “best weed store in [Neighborhood Name]” can help your business gain recognition and visits in no time. Last but not least, well-written meta titles and meta descriptions help with SEO optimization to great extents. These condensed content excerpts also ameliorate the brand's visibility, boost sales, and speed up CTRs (click-through rates).
Tip 4: Feature Guest Posts from Local Cannabis Influencers or Industry Leaders
Surprisingly, this tip even works better than the entire SEO industry combined. No kidding! It’s like advertising your business and putting it on autopilot mode for the long run. Going the influencer way and style not only enhances your business appeal and content's authenticity but also helps you win customers over!
Identify Relevant Influencers
The first thing you need to do is to find the right people for the job; you need to pinpoint every aspect of them. Besides, cannabis is a bit sensitive, so don't expect social media influencers dying to collaborate with you. Build credibility first! Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are great places to find the perfect match.
Research local influencers: Reach out to the best potential local internet personalities you've listed by name in your diary. Tell them about your plans and how the collaboration can benefit both parties—your cannabis business gains exposure and clients—and they will have more likes and followers.
Create High-Quality Content
Cannabis isn't just about selling your products and services but educating and entertaining the masses with attention-grabbing posts. Don’t forget to post expert opinions and top-rated product reviews within the content to maximize your SEO optimization efforts. Pro tip: Craft original and engaging pieces that website visitors will love to read. Follow the 4 content Ps to write masterpieces: Concise, Conversational, Creative, Curiosity.
Promote Collaborations
Once you've done with collaborations and content creation with social media influencers, it's time to promote it online. What better way could it be than to publish it on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok? For instance, you can share a guest post on Facebook with the right visuals and symbols to attract more readers—and encourage—more likes and shares.
Tip 5: Utilize Local Partnerships with CBD-Friendly Cafes and Local Growers
Identify Potential Partners
A great way to maximize search engine optimization efforts is to boost it with like-minded ones. With this being said, explore shopping malls, cafés, gyms, and cultivators that are with you—on the same page. In other words, find famous internet personalities and local businesses that align with your brand values. For instance, a CBD-friendly café that promotes people’s wellbeing supports a dispensary that focuses on healthy and holistic cannabis products.
Collaborate on Events and Promotions
Organizing workshops, webinars, and product launch events can help a great deal in promoting your cannabis business. Co-branded promotions can also help you gain more customers, gain online visibility, and maximize sales. A classic example here is that customers can avail themselves of discounts at your cannabis dispensary if they drink coffee at a certain café or restaurant.
Cross-Promote Each Other
Featuring your partner’s business can help your business a great deal after social media marketing and gaining widespread exposure with SEO. Therefore, highlight your business partner's coffee shop and restaurant on your website—put them in the spotlight for some time. Share their success stories and bestsellers to inspire visitors to buy from you and visit your website. Don't forget to exchange backlinks for link building in SEO. Not only does it help your business rank better and up on Google, but it also drives organic traffic and sales.
Tip 6: Optimize for Voice Search: Ensure Your Dispensary Is Easily Found
Voice search optimization has become more important than ever due to the fact that people are using smartphones—and—devices—like smart speakers—more often. Alexa, Google Assistance, and Siri, for instance, are trending these days—and that stuff—that’s voice-searched through them. No wonder why voice search SEO practices are becoming increasingly popular these days.
Adapt Content for Voice Search
Modify your writings; convert them from strictly formal to lightheartedly conversational ones. Try to use a natural human tone and everyday phrases in the content to enhance your voiceover search SEO scores. For instance, instead of writing "best cannabis dispensary," rephrasing it into "What is the best cannabis dispensary near me?" can certainly help customers find your business online.
Furthermore, add a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section to your website—it’s already conversational. It underlines questions asked by customers on call or through emails with the best possible suggestions and answers.
Target Long-Tail Keywords
Adding long-tail keywords to your content is pivotal if you wish to see clients land on your cannabis business landing pages. For example, instead of simply targeting “CBD oil,” aim for phrases like “Where can I find the best CBD oil near me?”
Enhance Local SEO
Make sure your search engine optimization efforts best reflect your local settings. This means that the NAP (Name, Address, and Phone numbers) should be accurate on all websites and platforms—everywhere. Google My Business profiles your business's best face and practices. Therefore, make sure you optimize your GMB listing for voice search queries.
Cecilien Dambon
UpSEO.com is a reliable platform for SEO professionals. We track hundreds of thousands of keywords daily, providing essential services to build your SEO strategy.