Although cannabis is still illegal on the federal level, adoption is growing. More states allow medical use than recreational — 37 compared to 18 (plus Washington, DC). The industry is growing by leaps and bounds, and the sales in 2022 are expected to reach $22 billion. Now is a great time to launch your business. Discover the best strategies for local online promotion in our guide.
Geographical Differences
Capital requirements, licensing fees, taxes, and other costs vary from state to state. As of now, the Oregon license is the cheapest — just $250. In California, you may have to pay up to $120,000! Experienced professionals in local SEO for your cannabis business will help you promote your brand in any state where it is legal. You can check the full list of locations on the NCSL site.
Start with Google My Business Page
To get started, set up your GMB page. Fill it with accurate information and add high-resolution photos. Optimization is trickier than you may think, as the content must correspond to over 50 ranking factors for local SEO. This is why enlisting professional help is advisable.
Why GMB Page?
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. If you searched for a local dispensary, what would you google? Probably, you would type “local cannabis dispensary + city”.
When users make such inquiries, Google provides the “local pack” — listings with top four locations and pins on the map. In the past, the top 4 used to be the top 7. Only the most relevant and optimized GMB pages make the cut. Another coveted spot is the right column of the SERPs showing the leading GMB page.
How to Rank Better Locally
The following five strategies will help you maximize visibility in your area. They correspond to crucial local ranking factors for cannabis dispensaries. The algorithms are changing all the time, and geotags for meta titles with city names are not as effective as before!
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Optimize for Top 4
It is easy to optimize GMB profiles to rank high for branded terms. However, the local pack is not based on normal SEO factors. Here, the three key elements are relevance, distance, and prominence.
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Relevance
Whether a user sees your dispensary or not depends on how well the keywords match their search. It is vital to provide accurate and detailed information about your business, so Google can show it to users with a corresponding intent. Make sure your NAP (name, address, and phone number) are correct.
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Distance
Local dispensaries are ranked based on their proximity to the user’s location. For example, a consumer may want to find a cannabis business “near me,” “within a certain distance, or open nearby. Without a specified physical location, you will fail to gain visibility.
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Customer Rankings
Google’s mission is to show only available results, so poorly ranked companies do not make it to the top 4. Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews and monitor the feedback section. Respond to positive and negative comments alike. Solve problems as soon as possible. Be responsive to reinforce trust in your business and its credibility in the eyes of Google.
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Prominence
This factor concerns your reputation and recognition online and offline. The more prominent your company, the higher it appears in the local search pack. To rise in it, become listed in local directories and gain backlinks from other websites with high domain authority.
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Gain Links
Links leading to your cannabis dispensary from other sites are your invaluable asset in local SEO. Google uses them to determine the credibility and value of your own content. Forget black-hat practices: you will get banned for buying backlinks, so focus on acquiring them naturally. Your text, photos with backlinks, and referring domains all matter.
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Gain Citations
Popular marijuana-related directories and social platforms will help you rise in local results. Any reputable site including the name of your dispensary, its address, phone number, and URL, will work to your advantage. Make sure your NAP details are correct and updated across the web.
These citations will not only make your business name appear where consumers search for cannabis services. It will also help you gain valuable links leading back to your site. Pay attention to the quality, not quantity. Make sure all details are correct. Flawed citations or citations on suspicious directories are harmful to SEO.
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Take care of content
Create content for humans, not algorithms. Google values original and useful information optimized for relevant keywords. Companies that post regular original content have nearly 800% more traffic than those that do not. The conversion rate can be as much as 600% higher!
One of the best ways to boost rankings is to create a blog. You will position yourself as the industry thought leader and guide readers to other areas of your site. Catch their attention with available well-researched content, so they visit your catalog and buy from you. Focus on these essentials:
- Create a calendar to post regularly;
- Avoid salesy language;
- Avoid misleading headlines;
- Use bulleted and number lists, split your text into brief paragraphs, and include bold subheadings for better readability;
- Include popular keywords into every post;
- For location pages and all promotional landing pages, write at least 500 words.
User engagement and the right keywords are vital. Search algorithms are becoming increasingly sophisticated, but what potential customers type into Google still depends on their intent.
Be creative and strategic with your choice and placement of keywords. Use long-term combinations in your page copy and metadata. These rules apply to the homepage, all landing pages, and location pages.