SEO for Cannabis Brands: 3 Tips to Boost Your Online Visibility in the Search Engine Results
The cannabis and CBD industries are booming, and with increasing competition, it's critical for cannabis brands to stand out in the digital landscape. Search engine optimization (SEO) plays a pivotal role in boosting online visibility and attracting more customers. In a highly-regulated, adult-consumer industry like cannabis, where many of the most common digital advertising channels have unique barriers to entry, SEO (search engine optimization) is an invaluable tool to help you grow your business. SEO, alongside an optimized website, allows businesses to reach a wider audience, build credibility, and drive organic traffic. In this article, we'll explore essential SEO strategies tailored to cannabis brands that can help improve your search engine rankings and grow your business.
1. Keyword Research
An effective SEO strategy begins with understanding exactly how your customers are searching for your business online. Google and other search engines try to match a user’s search intent with website results that most closely align with that intent. Keyword research is the process of compiling the most common words and phrases your customers use to search for or describe your business or product. Tools like Google Keyword Planner (free) and SEMrush (free and paid options) can help you find these relevant keywords and assess their search volume and competition. Once you’ve identified keywords that are relevant to your business, you’ll want to incorporate those keywords in a natural way into your website’s headings, meta titles, meta descriptions, alt tags, landing page copy, and blog articles - like this one! The next time Google, or another search engine, reviews your website (referred to as “crawling”), these keywords will help them better understand what your website is about and show it more often to appropriate searchers.
2. Mobile Optimization
Most of your customers are browsing the internet nowadays from a mobile device - such as a tablet or a cell phone. Because of this, it is paramount to make sure that your business’ website and other digital assets are built to be “mobile-friendly”. But why is this important? Search engines prioritize mobile-responsive websites in their results page rankings. So if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, but your competitors is, there is a good chance your website could get deprioritized. Being mobile-friendly means more than just have a "responsive” website - or a website that automatically resizes the elements based on the screen resolution the user is viewing it on. Text being too small, buttons being too close to other objects, and embedded objects on your website such as menus and checkout forms can all take away from your website’s mobile-friendly score. Google offers a great testing tool to gauge just how optimized for mobile your website truly is and that can provide you or your web developer with feedback on improvements you should consider.
3. Local SEO / Business Listings
Particularly for cannabis dispensaries and retail stores, local SEO is key to helping potential customers in your area discover your business. There are a variety of free and paid options that can help build your local online presence. One of the easiest and free ways to enhance your Local SEO is to ensure that you have claimed and optimized your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) listing. If you haven’t claimed and verified your listing, that is an important first step. If you have, we suggest logging in at least once a month to ensure your contact information remains accurate, your business hours are up to date (don’t forget to adjust hours for holidays), and reply to any reviews, both positive and negative, that might have been left for your business. As far as paid listings for dispensaries, we encourage our clients to partner with Leafly - an online mapping tool and mobile app for retail locations. Leafy has already established a massive user-base of cannabis consumers and offers business listings that include your company logo, a digital menu boards, and the option for online ordering all for as little as $200 per month.
In conclusion, SEO is a critical component of marketing for cannabis dispensaries and brands. By implementing these three SEO strategies, you can increase your online visibility, attract more customers, and establish a strong presence in the very competitive and quickly growing cannabis industry. Remember that SEO is an ongoing process, and consistent efforts will yield long-term results for your brand's success!
