- Bianca Valdebenito-Millet
SEO for Cannabis Brands: Important Tips
With medical and recreational cannabis becoming legal throughout the United States comes a wave of businesses crashing into the market.
While this sounds like a good thing, the large amount of competition is making it difficult for brick-and-mortar and web-based stores to survive.
About 80% of people research a pot company online before purchasing, making your online presence vital to surviving in such a flooded marketplace.
Here are some SEO tips to help your business stay afloat and increase your chances of showing up to consumers online.
Creating a Google Business Profile
Creating a Google business profile will index your name, address, and phone number with Google. It’s also the only way to put your business on a Google map whenever someone searches for your type of service.
Use Social Media
Staying active on social media will help build a relationship with your audience, as well as benefit your cannabis SEO when done right.
The best platforms for your business depends on what strategy you approach with, but the general consensus is to use at least Facebook and Google+.
Facebook is one of the most used social media platforms as it has the ability to reach a variety of people and redirect traffic back to your website. This helps you reach your audience easier. It also has a targeted and customizable ad platform that, when utilized properly, can boost your SEO and sales.
Google+ may not be as popular as other platforms, but it does offer Google indexing, which most others don’t have. Posts published under this platform are indexed in search ranking, meaning using the right keywords can greatly increase your chances of being found during a Google search.
List Address and Phone Number on Your Website
Having a website nowadays is essential if you want to be competitive. It should have a unique and quality design and content in order to draw in consumers and keep them coming back.
What’s just as important is to have your name, address, and phone number in the text within your website so, that when someone is looking for searches in your area, Google can give your information to them.
Add Business to Popular Directory Listings
Websites like Yelp, Local, and YellowPages provide high-quality links to your website and increase the chances of the traffic going to your business.
There are directories specifically for cannabis-related businesses, but be careful. Use credible directories, however, and only a few at a time, or else it could hurt your SEO rather than help it.
Gather Reviews
With listings and directories under your belt, ask customers to leave a review. Not only do potential customers see these positive reviews, but they also tell Google that your business is something to suggest.
Have a Blog
A good SEO increases traffic, and regularly publishing blog posts is an easy way to keep people coming back to your website.
You can use them to promote new products, events, and industry news, it’s important to post on a schedule to keep your audience engaged.
Apply an On-Site Strategy
You may want to consult a cannabis SEO professional or a web developer if you’re not experienced in the technical aspects.
Either way, applying an on-site strategy is vital to building your SEO and shouldn’t be disregarded.
Keyword strategy: using keywords to reference your business helps consumers find you.
Title tags: name the pages appropriately for consumable content.
Header tags: organizing content makes it easier to peruse through.
Image alt/title tags: providing contextual info about an image.
Content structure: Organize your content so readers can easily navigate your site.
URLs: naming links so Google can decipher them easily.
301 Redirects: forwarding URLs that are no longer used, so visitors never reach a dead-end.
Quality Web Development: website coding must pass a range of criteria to be ranked well by Google.
Use Google Analytics
Without Google Analytics, it will be near impossible to track what SEO strategies were for you and which don’t.
It’s an easy and quick way to keep track of your traffic, bounce rates, conversions, and other things as more visitors filter on and off your website.
In order to increase sales and visibility, you should optimize your website for better search results.
When a potential consumer searches for your service or product, your SEO will guarantee that your business shows up for them.
Building a quality website that drives lots of traffic to you and reaches a high ranking on Google isn’t impossible, but takes time and effort to accomplish without a strategist.
With all the tips included in this article, you should have a foot in the door and push yourself and your business into higher ranks, keeping yourself afloat in such a flooded marketplace.