5 Local SEO Tips For Marijuana Dispensaries
Medical and recreational cannabis is progressively growing nationwide. As such, the competition is getting fierce in the marketplace. Wherever your niche is, you have a competitor who, if you don’t take precaution, might overshadow your brands.
Aside from that, many are struggling to get a grip on search engines for marketing. That’s because Google is always changing their algorithm. On the surface, SEO may seem easy and straightforward. However, it requires a great deal of work and experience to get it right.
However, you don't have to worry. Here are five approved local SEO tips you can employ to help you gain visibility online. We've made it simple to digest so that whether you're new to SEO or not, you'll be able to use these crucial tips.
Let’s dive right in.
1. Focus Your Keywords for Local Searches
When you optimize your website for a specific keyword, your site will show up when potential customers search for that word on Google. Furthermore, since people search for dispensaries in their locality or near them, they will likely input their exact location when searching online. For example, "marijuana dispensary near me" or marijuana to buy in [location]"
If you integrate geographic locations into your keywords when targeting local searches, you can rank successfully in terms of SEO.
How Do You Proceed? The process is quite simple. Add your location to the keyword. For example, marijuana dispensary Chicago. You can also add words that show buying intent such as "buy marijuana in Chicago," or "medical cannabis for sale." If you need more help, you can use Google Keyword Planner to identify and evaluate the keywords.
2. Get Quality Inbound Links to Your Site
When a site has more inbound links (links for different sites pointing to your site) from reputable websites, they tend to rank higher and get more traffic. That’s because Google sees links like votes. The more links you acquire, the more they see your site as valuable, and thereby rank it.
Why Inbound Links? The top-ranking factor in terms of local organic search is inbound links. Besides, if you take a more in-depth look at it, you'll need other people (sites) to verify that you're authentic. And inbound links is one way to do it.
How To Acquire Inbound Links? There are numerous tactics to use to acquire quality inbound links. But you can begin by creating quality content that people will link to (more on that in point 3). You can also generate links quickly by listing your dispensary in directories in your market niche.
An example includes cannabis.net, CannaPages, Marijuana Business Daily, Medical Marijuana, Cannabis.net, and many others.
3. Create High-Quality Content
If you want to increase traffic, quality content is the way to do it. Remember that Google's goal regarding search results is to link searches to the content they're searching for. If they think your content contains quality information, your site will show up in search results.
Content can convert traffic into leads. In other words, you can convert readers into customers. You can create content through various mediums to attract more visitors to your site, such as articles, web pages, videos, blog posts, infographics, etc.
Why Do You Need Quality Content? Google relies on great content as a high ranking factor next to inbound links. So you need to spend much time creating content that can solve a particular problem in your niche. If people find it helpful, they will consider your brand to be authentic and trustworthy. As a result, they'll try out your product and become loyal customers.
How To Create Quality Content? You can make each product or service you offer to have its page with a minimum of 750 words. Then start creating quality articles. Mediocre content will not suffice. The idea is to develop amazing content that is informational, helpful and solves a problem for your customers.
From there, continue to develop more quality content with time. If you need to hire professional SEO writers, go ahead. You can publish more content as you can with one page or two every month. However, you should focus more on conversion, rather than views.
So, ensure that you encourage your potential customers to try out your product or services and give a review. But make sure you don’t overdo it as it can push your consumers away. Have a strategic approach to telling them.
Also, there are numerous misinformation and confusion about medical marijuana and since state laws are different, your content is vital to sieving through the noise. And your content is also a way to educate your potential customers properly.
Lastly, take your content creation seriously. It can have a large and positive impact on your business. Learn from here.
4. Optimize Your On-Page SEO
When it comes to local SEO, the same fundamental principles of SEO apply to it. That means you should optimize your website according to factors required by Google and other search engines. Google wants to give the right information to the searcher. But how does Google know if your site has the correct info? You can inform Google by optimizing your website. Check it out here
How To Optimize Your Site: Include keywords in your URL page title, main text, and headers. Ensure your site is user-friendly, loads quickly, and is mobile friendly. For local searches, embed Google Maps of your location on your website.
5. Create Google My Business Profile
Google My Business is free, straightforward, and can help you manage your online visibility on Google. Ideally, your profile on Google My Business shows up in search results, which improves your chances of a searcher finding your business or site.
You can create your account by visiting the Google My Business page and follow the step by step guide to set up your account. Check it here
Conclusion
The steps outlined in this guide can help you improve your cannabis SEO if you follow through diligently. Follow the steps, and you'll gain a competitive advantage and grow your brand. If it's too much for you, you can always resort to SEO professionals.
