By Evan Nison
It’s likely you looked up SEO tips to help guide you already on your path to a #1 search engine ranking. But like other marketing strategies, SEO has unique challenges if you’re a dispensary, CBD brand, or cannabis company.
SEO for cannabis companies and dispensaries is different from federally legal businesses or shops because the traditional tactics such as Google Ads, social media activity, and listing services (such as Yelp and TripAdvisor), will sometimes block or censor posts. There are also directories that are specific to cannabis and each subsection of the industry, such as MJBiz Daily’s directory, WeedMaps, and Ganjapreneur’s directories which can help your search engine rankings. This article will share some advice for choosing high-quality keywords with the most search traffic.
Cannabis SEO Keyword Research Tips
Creating the best SEO keyword list and search phrases to target for your cannabis business or CBD e-commerce website requires a few strategic tactics.
When creating your list of SEO keywords, start with a competitive analysis and asking your consumers the different ways they would describe your product or service. If you can’t afford an SEO agency, a good DIY way to conduct competitive research is by looking at your competitors’ meta tags. This can be done by typing in “site:” before their URL in Google. For Example: “Site:https://www.cnn.com/”. This will allow you to see if your competitors are optimizing their website for SEO, and if so, what search phrases they’re targeting. Then you can use this knowledge to target your own keywords accordingly.
You should also be sure to ask real consumers what they would type in. For instance, a term like ‘long-lasting vape pen’ may be Googled often but not be targeted by your consumers. Get a list of these search phrases and work to include them in your copy. A good free tool to try to verify your keyword and search phrase ideas is Google Trends, which tracks keyword performance over time and can help you compare different keywords to see which garners more consumer traffic.
As you begin to rank for your first initial search phrases, keep an eye on your Google Search Console and adjust the search phrases based on what has the highest search volume and click-through rate for you. Harnessing these keywords is a simple way to propel your company’s website higher in search engine rankings over time.
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This guest post is written by NisonCo, a top cannabis marketing agency and PR firm with a specialty in SEO.
Author
About NisonCo: NisonCo is a media, internet and content marketing agency deeply rooted in advocacy. NisonCo is America’s oldest cannabis PR firm and was established in 2013 with an emphasis on harm reduction and cannabis legislation. As leaders in public relations for the emerging cannabis, CBD, and hemp space, NisonCo’s team is passionate about creating and maintaining a positive image for the industry. Access NisonCo’s free, resource-rich blog here and connect with them here.
