Cannabis Dispensary SEO

The medical and recreational cannabis markets are increasing nationwide. Marijuana Business Daily released their 2016 fact book indicating that the industry is expected to inject 44 Billion dollars into our economy. With this accelerated growth, comes an increase in competition. Whether you’re a new MMJ dispensary, an existing medical cannabis dispensary that is transitioning to target the recreational market, or a new recreational store coming to market, cannabis dispensary SEO (search engine optimization) will play a vital role in driving traffic to your business.

According to WikipediaSearch engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website on organic (“natural” or un-paid) search engine result pages (SERPs), by incorporating search engine friendly elements into your website. In layman’s terms, this means that the higher you rank in search results pages, the more visitors you’ll receive from search engines, and therefore the more opportunities you’ll have to convert these leads into customers.

To show you an example of a search engine results page, I performed a search on Google.com for the keyword “dispensary near me.” From the screenshot below, you can see the local three pack, which displays the three most relevant local businesses based on my geographical location. These three companies have added their business listing to Google My Business, which is a free business listing you can create to reach local customers.

Just below the local map pack, are the organic (“natural” or unpaid) listings. These are the most relevant search results Google displays the for your keyword based on 200+ factors, which consist of a combination of on-page and off page optimization.

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On-page Optimization

On-page optimization incorporates carefully selected relevant keywords that apply to your dispensary and strategically utilizing them throughout your website. Research and implement one to two target keywords per page, maximum. Here is a list of the top 5 on-page ranking factors:

01. Keyword in the title tag

02. Keyword in the meta description tag

03. Keyword in the H1 tag

04. Keyword in page copy

05. Keyword in image alt tags

Off-page Optimization

Off-page optimization improves your website ranking through factors beyond your site, including the number of quality backlinks coming to your site from other locations. Here is a list of the top 5 off-page ranking factors:

01. The number of linking domains

02. The number of linking pages

03. Domain authority of linking pages

04. Number of do-follow vs. no-follow links

05. Anchor text optimization

Let’s take an in-depth look at each digital marketing channel.

Given the unique position of the cannabis industry, we’re only covering the digital marketing channels that are permitted to use by ancillary businesses, brands, dispensary owners, mobile applications, producers, processors, and websites. There is a legal gray area when marketing cannabis companies, and you should regularly reference the laws within your state before starting any campaign.

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