Ranking high in the organic search results isn’t a fluke. It presumes a long and arduous process during which you try to maximize all your marketing resources. This is why it’s crucial for marijuana businesses to implement a viable yet effective cannabis SEO strategy.
Like all other businesses, cannabis companies can benefit significantly from search engine traffic. In fact, we can say that SEO is much more important for the cannabis industry than some other fields. Due to limited promotional opportunities, these companies generally have to focus on organic website visits they receive from Google and other search engines.
However, that doesn’t mean you should jump into this endeavor headfirst. When you hire an SEO company, you’re effectively giving them reigns of your cannabis website. Having a lousy partner at your side can do more harm than good, which is why you should go with a reputable provider such as MiroMind.
In this article, we’ll talk about the importance of marijuana SEO and how it can help your business, and we’ll share some cannabis SEO tips to boot. Check it out!
The importance of SEO for cannabis companies
If you have had a cannabis business for a while, you know how hard it is to advertise your products. While these miraculous plants are legalized in most US states, Canada, Europe, and Australia, promoting marijuana is still seen as somewhat of a taboo. Unlike other industries, social media marketing and pay-per-click are unavailable to cannabis websites.
So, it’s not that search engine optimization is the best digital marketing activity for your cannabis business. It’s simply the only option you have at your disposal. And while SEO might not be your first choice, this method still carries some incredible benefits for your brand.
Simply put, there isn’t a marketing activity that can provide the same amount of exposure for your cannabis company. Ranking your web pages for lucrative search terms can provide more traffic than just about any other marketing activity. On top of that, you’ll also get numerous indirect benefits, such as improved reputation and authority within the field.
So, whether you’re a large grower or a small shop that relies on local SEO, you can gain massive organic traffic via Google. These visitors convert at a much higher rate than leads you would get from other marketing activities. As long as you have an effective SEO strategy, you can rest assured your investment will be well warranted.
The SEO challenges cannabis brands face
Unfortunately, creating a good cannabis SEO strategy isn’t as easy as some people might think. The biggest issue is that all businesses are vying for a small piece of the pie, using the same marketing approach. Even if you reach the top of a search engine results page, there’s a high probability someone will take over your rankings soon enough.
Because of that, you need to be extremely meticulous in your approach. This refers not only to your content marketing strategy but also link building processes. Furthermore, you need to create a stable working environment, with the same team handling all your promotional activities from day one.
Speaking of link building, this is the hardest marketing activity for cannabis businesses. Despite the fact this product is legalized in the US and many other countries, bloggers are generally reluctant to link to these sites. Most notably, they’re worried about the potential penalties they might receive from the search engines.
The best course of action is to create a comprehensive approach that would involve a combination of traditional and digital marketing methods. Although cannabis brands can’t use PPC and are limited in terms of social media promotions, they can still rely on billboards and other forms of advertising.
Should I hire a cannabis SEO agency?
Search engine optimization is an extremely technical process. It requires that you understand basic HTML, link building, technical SEO, and keyword research. And while SEO experts often hire writers to create website content, they need to perform all other tasks themselves.
So, as a marijuana business, it’s usually much better to hire externally or create an in-house team. The need for top-tier professionals is especially important for marijuana-related businesses as you need to face such stiff competition. Trying to do things yourself or employing half-measures is usually just a waste of company resources.
Ideally, you should hire a company that specializes in this type of product. Agencies such as MiroMind, which have already worked within this field, have various connections that could help with link building. They also have a better idea what are the popular search queries and which keyword strategy can yield the best results.
Anyway, here are a few reasons why you need a specialized company to run your cannabis SEO campaign:
The audit is a vital process not only for SEO but also for conversion optimization and pay-per-click performance. If you don’t have a mobile-friendly website or if your pages open too slowly, people simply won’t be able to interact with the content. Errors, on the other hand, would prevent them from accessing vital pages.
Nowadays, most cannabis companies have well-polished sites, so making technical improvements won’t necessarily help you rank higher in the organic search. It would just put you on the same playing field as other businesses.
2. Keyword research
After doing the audit, it’s time to find phrases that will become the focus of your cannabis SEO strategy. Thorough keyword research helps you understand what people search for and how hard it’s to rank for these phrases. Ideally, you should find keywords that have low difficulty and that carry large search traffic.
When it comes to length, SEO experts differentiate between short-tail and long-tail keywords. The first group represents phrases that consist of one or two words, while the second group includes phrases that have three or more words. The general rule is that the longer the keywords, the less traffic it brings.
Nowadays, you can easily perform the analysis with a keyword research tool. Aside from assessing potential search traffic, you can get from each phrase, these programs also analyze difficulty. Some of them even assign scores to each keyword, showing you with ones to prioritize.
User intent analysis
User intent analysis is the subset of keyword research. It helps you understand what visitors are looking for on a cannabis-related website. When people browse these sites, most of them are looking for general information about the plant or cannabis niche. However, there are also those looking to make an immediate purchase.
Analyzing user search intent provides additional insights beyond online traffic and difficulty. Basically, it tells you what kind of an impact a phrase will have on your bottom line. For example, so-called “money keywords” are the best phrases to rank for, as they are more likely to result in sales. By comparison, “brand keywords” will help increase brand awareness.
3. Content planning and creation
Once you have all these phrases in front of you, it’s time to create content that will help drive valuable traffic. During content planning, you create a schedule prioritizing phrases that can have the biggest impact on your brand. Ideally, you are looking to make as many quick wins as possible.
Aside from creating a work schedule, the planning process is vital for clustering and interlinking. Basically, you try to organize articles into funnels and clusters, thus increasing the likelihood of ranking. This logical structure is also vital for driving leads through your marketing pipeline, from informational articles to product pages.
Content creation
When marketers talk about content creation, they primarily refer to written articles. And while this form has been around for quite a while, it never stops evolving. Here are some of the best practices that will help you create quality articles for your cannabis site:
5. Local SEO for cannabis companies
While local SEO might not be that important for large cannabis businesses, it’s vital for small local shops and growers. The local optimization relies on best optimization practices but also requires a few additional actions:
- By adding your company to Google My Business, the search engine can classify your organization as a legitimate business. This will also show your business on local maps.
- Add your business profile to other major cannabis directories and forums. This provides additional signals to search engines that they’re dealing with a real company.
- Make sure your data is the same in all directories. If there’s any change, make modifications across all platforms.
- Add Schema Markup. This code is vital for receiving featured snippets, including the local ones.
- Try to create as much content revolving around local neighborhoods and city-related topics.
- Get as many positive online reviews as you can.