SEO Tips for Dispensary Marketing
Search engine optimization is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies for cannabis businesses looking to raise brand awareness, improve search engine ranks, and increase qualified website traffic. The technique of changing and influencing the online visibility of a cannabis-related website or landing page in a search engine's unpaid results, often referred to as "natural," "organic," or "earned results," is known as dispensary SEO.
The terms "cannabis SEO," "marijuana SEO," and "dispensary SEO" all refer to the same thing. Each strategy helps your website rank higher in search results pages, allowing you to attract more quality visitors and convert them into repeat customers.
If you're looking to promote your dispensary business aside from developing an excellent dispensary design, here are some SEO tips for your dispensary marketing.
SEO Tips for Dispensary Marketing
1. Analyze current data
To get started on a new cannabis SEO strategy, you should first analyze your cannabis website's current search traffic to find critical user behavior indicators like the ones below:
- How many people saw your marijuana website through an organic search?
- What are the most popular/high-performing pages?
- What search terms do cannabis users use to find your content?
This cannabis SEO information may be found in your website's Google Analytics account. If you don't already have Google Analytics code on your website, you should do so as soon as possible so that you can track your website's statistics.
After you've gathered this data, look through your top ten website pages to see what they all have in common. You can also identify or create new posts that aren't time-sensitive and won't get dated and update them with both on-page text and back-end information.
The data gathered from this study can also help you refresh your social media content schedule with topic ideas that are more relevant to your audience, which is an added plus to analyzing your organic search traffic to optimize your cannabis SEO strategy.
2. Understand user search behavior
When customers are actively looking for marijuana or CBD goods, a cannabis SEO expert should understand how they search. This is a necessary second step before moving on. Keyword research has always been a part of cannabis SEO and any other sort of search engine optimization.
When it comes to cannabis SEO, there are numerous free keyword research tools available. Use these tools and never assume you understand what people are saying. However, SEO has evolved significantly over the years. While keyword research is still critical for cannabis SEO and content marketing, today's SEO is more concerned with understanding the user's search intent.
An effective and long-term SEO approach should be based on the search purpose and reasoning behind each cannabis or CBD user's search. People's search habits are far more dynamic and "long-tail" these days than they were a few years ago, especially now that our cell phones have "voice search" capabilities.
3. Prioritize mobile optimization
A mobile responsive, mobile, adaptable, and mobile-optimized website should be part of your marijuana SEO strategy. Customers that use cannabis spend a lot of time on their phones. Every year, the amount of time spent on smartphones by the entire population grows.
As a result, mobile optimization must be part of any new cannabis SEO plan. Understanding the “mobile consumers” and how their searching behaviors differ when they are on the go vs. when they are on a desktop/laptop is key to effective marijuana SEO.
4. Social media and SEO
We all know that organic social media is one of the most acceptable ways to market your cannabis shop or dispensary, but did you know that it also aids your marijuana SEO strategy? Google trusts websites with a large number of shares and other forms of social media interaction. It's a well-known truth that Google considers this data when determining search engine rankings.
As a result, if you have popular content on your website's cannabis product pages, CBD blogs, and other sorts of information on your Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, Google may index those pages faster than other pages.
When people share your cannabis content on social media, it creates "social signals," which Google picks up on.
5. Optimize site speed
When it comes to cannabis SEO and website optimization strategies, mobile site speed and page load time are two interconnected elements that are frequently overlooked. Most users want a website to open instantly, if not within 1-3 seconds at most, regardless of whether they are using a laptop or a smartphone. The average time it takes for a mobile landing page to load fully is 22 seconds.
However, data shows that if a mobile page takes more than 3 seconds to load, 53% of consumers will leave it. Keep in mind that we live in a world where internet speeds range from 4G to 5G. We advocate having a mobile responsive website optimized for 1-2 second page load speeds if you want to have a successful cannabis SEO plan in place for your marijuana business.
6. Blogging
Including optimized blogging in your cannabis content marketing strategy will help you increase your website's authority, relevance, and trust, allowing you to rank higher than other cannabis and marijuana-related content.
The three most crucial Google search ranking variables to focus on when building your marijuana SEO strategy are authority, relevancy, and trust. This type of content will get ranked on page 1.
7. Video content
You may believe that producing video content marketing is costly, but this is not the case. Your target demographic isn't seeking a big-budget blockbuster.
Your potential clients want high-quality, relevant content, and studies show that video is quite popular. To optimize your cannabis SEO strategy, we strongly advise you to include video content on your website and social media platforms.
Conclusion
Right now, the cannabis sector is exploding. You should develop excellent SEO content if you want to capture as many potential consumers as possible as quickly as possible. Produce high-quality blogs to attract new customers while ensuring that the existing ones stay with you and see your dispensary grow in the right direction.