Cannabis SEO Marketing: Marijuana SEO, Weed & CBD SEO Guide

Nikolay Stoyanov

January 4, 2022

The cannabis industry has boomed in the last decade or so. So has cannabis SEO marketing.

This goes hand-in-hand with legislative changes, and more and more states are allowed to sell medical marijuana.

Although there is still a lot to learn about the plant, its potential medical benefits are remarkable.

As the market changed, the demand started to increase exponentially. People are genuinely intrigued by CBD cannabis. Unfortunately, this also gave rise to competition. 

New companies are being opened each month, making it harder for existing ones to retain their market share. As a result, a cannabis company must have a good marketing strategy.

This article will talk about marijuana marketing and, in particular, marijuana SEO and CBD SEO. 

Let’s dive in!

What Do I Need to Know about Cannabis SEO Marketing?

Like with most other industries, cannabis companies rely heavily on CBD advertising. But, whether we’re talking about online or traditional marketing, there are lots of limitations ahead.

You cannot directly advertise a marijuana business!

This is especially true if you’re trying to promote it online. Major platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are incredibly restrictive for ads. As a result, advertisers have limited options at their disposal.

But, before we go into specifics, let’s mention the 3 main methods for promoting marijuana business online:

  • Marijuana SEO (search engine optimization)
  • PPC (pay-per-click)
  • SMM (social media marketing)

Let’s say a few words about each of the three marketing channels.

Marijuana SEO

Marijuana SEO or search engine optimization is often referred to as simply optimization. It is a process of improving your rankings within various search engines, usually Google.

The logic is simple: if you rank among the top results for a particular phase, there is a higher chance that people will click on your link. So, whenever a person types something like “cheap CBD cannabis,” you will be in a better position to sell your products.

Cannabis PPC

PPC or pay-per-click is a process where you pay money for clicks. As the name implies, you will pay for each click on your ad posted on Google or cannabis business social networks.

The method is pretty awesome as it allows you to target your audience accurately. It is safe to say that each person that clicks on your ad is a potential client.

Unfortunately, this is the worst method for cannabis businesses. Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google are pretty restrictive regarding marijuana PPC.

There are some signs that things may change, but at this point, there is limited viability to this strategy.

SMM for Cannabis Websites

SMM or social media marketing is the third standard CBD advertising method. By implementing this strategy, you’re increasing organic followership on a particular platform.

You can then promote products through your account. Similar to PPC, there are certain limitations for marijuana marketing companies.

You can share news and promote products, but you shouldn’t make any medical claims in your posts. If you do, there is a chance you will be banned. However, unlike PPC, implementing cannabis SMM can be a viable strategy.

Given that cannabis SEO marketing is probably the best strategy, we will analyze it in more detail. Please stick with us!

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How Can You Market a Dispensary or Cannabis Product?

Marketing is easy. All you have to do is identify a problem bothering the customer. Then you create a sustainable solution.

And finally, you educate your potential client base on how your products can help them. 

What Do I Need to Know About CBD SEO? 

CBD SEO is probably the best method for promoting a marijuana business. There are no limitations to this method, given that you’re not breaking any specific rules.

In fact, a cannabis SEO expert will have more freedom when implementing this strategy than some other traditional marketing forms. 

Why can we use cannabis SEO, but we cannot use some other marketing strategies for marijuana businesses? The reason is simple. You’re not actually promoting marijuana per se. Instead, you are merely improving the quality of your site.

When you perform marijuana dispensary SEO, many processes will be done in the back-end. The users will not notice this. You will also have to rely on hyperlinks, quality content, and cannabis content optimization.

If you do everything the right way, Google will perceive your pages as more relevant to users, thus positioning them higher within Google rankings.

Google’s main priority is to give users useful information and to improve their web experience. 

In a sense, you provide better information while also having cannabis products on your website.

The best strategy you’ll pursue in marketing is understanding your customer. And here’s how:

How to Use Empathy to Boost Your Cannabis Business Profits

Do you want to be the top-grossing business in the industry? Then you have to work with the end-user in mind. Therefore, ‌invest time, energy, and resources to know and care for your customers. 

The plan involves investing in the best SEO tools and creating content that resonates with your customers before buying cannabis. Also, subtly influence users with copywriting skills (what seasoned marketers call a ‘soft sell’). 

For example, you can create ‘How to’ articles, compare popular products, or post educative content. And then you discreetly place your product as a recommendation.

Improve your content delivery to succeed in cannabis marketing. That approach means you avoid the trap of conforming to industrial standards. And accordingly, you have to write your blogs in the most exciting way possible.

Our agency recommends you enhance your content with pictures, gifs, videos, applications, and slide shows. Those visual forms show users ‌you’re an authority in the niche.

And people will be more open to buying what you’re selling. Therefore, don’t be afraid to invest in the finest designers and writers.

You’ll create customer loyalty, satisfaction, and word of mouth when you solidify your reputation as the leading cannabis brand. Imagine your popularity going viral such that your competitors site you as a reference.

You’ll get that effect when you selflessly invest in your customer. And there’s no doubt the profits will follow.

Learning empathy isn’t as hard as it seems. And lucky for you, there’s a practical way to approach the problem. 

Questions You Need to Address Your Cannabis Clients

Here are relevant questions that’ll help you know your customer’s needs:

  • What is their day’s schedule? 
  • What are the popular terms they use to refer to cannabis?
  • Are they students or working?
  • What are the things they search for online?
  • What will motivate them to want to purchase your product?
  • How does a good or bad day look and feel to them?
  • What feeling will they get after using your product?

Now you have a clear vision of what your customer is like through the answers to those questions. That knowledge will push you closer to knowing what they search for before finding your products. And you’ll therefore create content that is more relevant to them.

You’ll win when your plan’s foundation is factual evidence. Mainly when that customer data helps you adapt to the ups and downs of the market.

Moreover, you’ll seem like a fortune teller when you guess people’s needs before they experience them. And that characteristic is not only charming but also a good selling point.

How Can You Boost Traffic with Cannabis SEO?

Cannabis SEO provides your website with organic traffic. And that marketing plan means you don’t have to pay for ads, which diminish your brand authority. Therefore, visitors will flock to your website provided you give them free, high-quality content.

There are a few rules concerning cannabis SEO. Majorly, you can’t make medical claims on your content.

That regulation arises because cannabis is still under research for therapeutic use. And breaking that law attracts the penalty of losing trust with the search engine, thereby lowering your rank on the search page.

Optimize On-page, Off-page, Technical SEO, and Cannabis Local SEO

There are three areas to improve before becoming a top-ranking vendor:

On-page cannabis SEO

Ensure your content is consistent with the keyword. You achieve that efficient optimization by aligning your meta-descriptions, titles, and headings with the ideal search term. 

Meta-titles and Descriptions

Optimize your meta-titles by ensuring they attract customers’ attention. The headings also show customers what to expect in the article. Therefore, only add relevant information.

You can also modify meta-descriptions because they show a summary of your content. But note that search engines such as Google can change those descriptions to show other search terms.

Keyword Research

Keyword research helps you use high-quality and relevant keywords, identify user intent and plan content creation. Therefore, invest in the best keyword research tools to see the potential in your market and seize opportunities.

Off-page cannabis SEO

Off-page SEO solidifies your reputation as a trustworthy brand. An excellent example of how you can enhance your brand’s off-page image is through backlinks. That technique involves having many other websites link back to your page. However, you can’t succeed with this strategy if you have poor-quality content.

Technical cannabis SEO

Technical SEO means improving your site’s speed and maintaining security through an SSL certificate. Additionally, the strategy requires ensuring your site is crawler friendly for easy indexing, which leads to better ranking.

Optimize the User Experience

Google promotes fast-loading, mobile-friendly sites to rank higher. Furthermore, you’ll reduce the bounce rate when sites load quickly. Therefore, commission an excellent web developer to improve your site speed and compress media to an efficient size.

A good web design helps users locate your products quickly. And that’s one more frustration you’ve removed towards securing the customer. Therefore, link pages internally and group similar topics.

Local cannabis SEO

Winning in the cannabis industry means maximizing every lead generation strategy. And you can’t achieve that success without considering your local audience. Therefore, use tools such as Google My Business to attract customers near your dispensary. 

Here are three easy steps:

  • Create a Google My Business account.
  • List the regions you serve and the services you offer on your page.
  • Work with local cannabis directories to mention your company on their site.

Cannabis SEO Offers Additional Benefits

Marijuana SEO is both necessary and the optimal solution for marijuana and cannabis brands.

What do we mean by that?

Other methods are simply not working or are providing limited results for cannabis companies.

At the same time, cannabis search engine optimization gives you some unique CBD opportunities that you wouldn’t have in different industries.

Read also: CBD Keywords: 4 SEO Tips for CBD Companies

You see, CBD SEO can work for any business, but it works best for new products and services.

When there are numerous smaller companies, it is hard for Google to determine who is the best.

There is no historical data, nor are there are industry leaders. This is the case within the marijuana industry, where even successful companies are relatively new (this is especially true in the US).

In other words, all competitors are currently on an equal playing field. Therefore, you can easily penetrate the market as your web competition is weaker.

If you want to position yourself as a market leader, it is best to do it before some other companies take a foothold. Investing heavily in cannabis SEO marketing can give you excellent yields in the long run.

However, keep in mind that you cannot expect overnight results. It takes time to optimize the site, so you will have to be patient. 

In fact, marijuana SEO is the opposite of PPC. With pay-per-click, you get immediate results as soon as you pay for an ad. However, you won’t be promoted anymore as soon as you stop paying for the ads.

CBD SEO is more of a long-term approach. It requires lots of hard work from the get-go, but once Google perceives you as a reputable business, it will be harder for other companies to topple your results.

Where Does Cannabis Content Marketing Come into Play?

Marijuana dispensary SEO is based on several things:

  • Quality cannabis content
  • Link building
  • Having a fast and responsive website
  • Addressing potential external threats

If you want to optimize the right way, you will need to implement all these processes.

In fact, you have to be an expert in each of these. Lack of skill or experience can disrupt the whole process preventing you from attaining the necessary results.

Although it is hard to determine which one is more important, we can say that cannabis content is the backbone of any marijuana dispensary site.

Even if you never invest in optimization, you need to have pages that will convert. Simply scribbling something will not do the trick, though; you need to entice people to purchase your products..

Cannabis Content Marketing Benefits

Here are the main benefits of quality cannabis content marketing:

  • Together with the design and responsiveness, cannabis content marketing is the main reason why people give certain companies a chance over others (if we presume similar products and prices)
  • You can show expertise through marijuana content, which will help all other marketing and business efforts. Showing knowledge through CBD content will help you get recognized as one of the industry’s leaders.
  • It is vital for search engine optimization for cannabis.
  • It supports your social media efforts as people are more likely to share quality cannabis content.
  • Together with other page elements, content can be an excellent cannabis branding tool.

As you can see, there are lots of reasons why you need to invest in quality marijuana blog content and cannabis marketing.

How to Create Outstanding Content

Conduct Customer Surveys

Creating high-quality content means meshing your area of expertise with your customer’s needs. But what’s the best way to know what your customers are thinking? You conduct surveys to know customers’ words about your product, what they do, and how they think.

Do Keyword Research

Keywords help you create content around titles, subtitles, and questions people ask before purchasing cannabis. Therefore, cover the content thoroughly and include links to support your work. Consequently, you’ll sky-rocket your influence in the market

How Can Our Cannabis SEO Agency Help Your Brand?

Our cannabis SEO company provides all the marijuana SEO services mentioned above.

We always suggest cannabis SEO to our clients. In addition, we also offer cannabis content marketing services, which, when paired with our extensive CBD SEO knowledge, can lead to impressive marketing results. 

Regardless of your marijuana company’s needs, we will hear you out and give you the best advice possible. No charge! 

Make sure to contact us via email, and we will respond as soon as possible!

Frequently Asked Questions