Cannabis SEO Link Building: How to Improve Rankings and ROI the Right Way

Cannabis SEO link building is one of the most effective ways to increase your cannabis business or dispensary’s visibility online, especially in a tightly regulated industry. But not all links deliver equal value. To climb search rankings and attract high-intent customers, you need strategic backlinks from trusted, relevant, and high-authority sources.

Search engines like Google view backlinks as endorsements. When a credible site links to yours, it passes along authority, boosting your site’s ability to rank. But if those links come from spammy or low-quality websites, they can actually harm your SEO. That’s why understanding the difference between high- and low-value backlinks is essential to building a cannabis SEO strategy that works.

What types of backlinks matter most for cannabis SEO success?

Cannabis SEO and CBD SEO link building are essential for boosting visibility, ranking higher in search results, and driving more qualified traffic. In an industry where paid advertising is more restricted, backlinks serve as a powerful lever for long-term digital presence.

There are several types of cannabis backlinks to understand:

• Editorial backlinks from news outlets or blogs
• Guest post links placed within high-quality content on a media site
  Directory links from cannabis-specific business listings
• Referral links from partners, affiliates, or influencers
• Internal links that help search engines crawl your site more effectively
  
  

The quality of these backlinks for cannabis businesses directly impacts how search engines assess your credibility. A single link from a reputable cannabis publication can be far more valuable than dozens from unrelated or low-authority sites. And while strong backlinks help boost your domain authority and SEO rankings, low-value or spammy links can damage your visibility, making it critical to build your backlink profile strategically.

What Are Internal Links and How Do They Support SEO?

Internal links, the other primary type of links used in Cannabis SEO strategies, are precisely what they sound like – links that point internally to other pages or content on your dispensary website. Internal links don’t provide quite the same value as backlinks, though they’re still considered valuable for SEO.

Internal links are useful for establishing site architecture and spreading link equity. A crawlable internal link structure will make it easier for search engine spiders to find and index your website's pages.

Many websites hide or bury pages deep inside their network in their rush to produce content. However, for search engines like Google to rank your pages in a user’s search results, it must first be able to find them. A solid internal link structure will make your pages more accessible and easier to find. Incorporating CBD backlinks into your internal linking strategy can significantly boost the visibility of your CBD-related pages. 

Internal links also work to distribute link equity among your network of pages. Link equity can be considered as passing value and authority from one page within your network to another. The actual value of a shared link can depend on various factors, including the linking page’s authority, the page’s HTTP status, and topical relevance.

What are toxic links, and how can dispensaries eliminate them?

If you have too many low-quality or spammy links pointing to your site, it can hurt your SEO. Use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to audit your backlink profile.

If you identify toxic links, you can use Google’s Disavow Tool to ask Google to ignore those links when ranking your site. While this tool is powerful, use it carefully — misusing it could do more harm than good.

Why Is Cannabis Link Building So Important?

The importance of obtaining high-quality backlinks has never been higher. Links are a significant part of how Google determines the quality of a website and where to rank it. For dispensaries and cannabis businesses, cannabis link building—earning backlinks from credible, industry-relevant sources—can improve visibility and authority. Webmasters can boost their page rankings by increasing the links pointing to their site from high-quality, high-authority websites.

By linking to your site, other websites effectively vouch for your content, indicating to visitors that it is worth viewing. If you’re committed to pushing your website up Google’s rankings, obtaining high-quality backlinks is necessary. Just don’t resort to black-hat techniques.

How Does Link Building Compare to Other Dispensary SEO Tactics?

Link building is a powerful long-term strategy, but it's most effective when paired with other core SEO tactics like:

• On-page SEO (keywords, meta descriptions, headers).
• Technical SEO (site speed, mobile responsiveness, crawlability).
• Content marketing (educational blogs, landing pages).
• Local SEO (Google Business Profile optimization, reviews, local citations).

To learn about these other core SEO activities, visit our Cannabis SEO Academy. It is full of amazing tips and roadmaps fto help your business rank organically on search results.  

How Can Cannabis Dispensaries Gain High-Quality Backlinks?

Dispensaries can gain high-quality backlinks by focusing on relevance, authority, and trust. Here are the most effective strategies:

1. Local SEO Citations and Directories

• Submit to reputable cannabis-friendly and local business directories (e.g., Weedmaps, Leafly, Yelp, or Cannabis Chamber of Commerce).
• Ensure NAP consistency (name, address, phone) across all listings.‍

2. Partner with Cannabis Blogs & Media

• Pitch guest posts, product features, or expert commentary to authoritative cannabis sites (e.g., Ganjapreneur and Marijuana Business Daily).
• Offer unique content like product reviews, dispensary insights, or consumer trends.
  

3. Create Link-Worthy Content

• Publish useful resources (e.g., “Cannabis Terpene Guide,” “First-Time Buyer Checklist,” “Local Cannabis Laws Explained”).
• Use infographics, data studies, or blog posts that others will want to cite.
  

4. Leverage Community Involvement

• Sponsor local events, nonprofits, or industry meetups and ask for a backlink.
• Host or collaborate on educational webinars and ask co-hosts to link back.
  

5. Earn Mentions Through PR

• Use PR tools like Muck Rack to respond to journalists' queries.
• Announce grand openings, new products, or community impact stories with press releases distributed through cannabis-friendly news outlets.
  

6. Collaborate with Influencers or Brands

• Cross-promote with local cannabis brands or influencers who have blogs and can link back.
• Co-create educational content or interviews that both parties share.

Want more inspiration? Read this >  18 Cannabis SEO Link Building Strategies to Boost Your Dispensary’s Local Rankings

What SEO Link Building Tools Can Help You Build Authority?

To build domain authority and climb search rankings, you need more than guesswork—you need the right tools. The best Cannabis SEO link building tools streamline the process of finding backlink opportunities, analyzing competitors, and tracking results. These platforms uncover valuable insights that can shape a smarter, more effective SEO strategy.

Ahrefs / SEMrush

Ahrefs and SEMrush are like the Swiss Army knives of SEO. They’re packed with features, but you'll get a lot of value even if you only use the basics. Think of them as your research tools. Uncover competitor backlink profiles, identify referring domains, and spot broken link opportunities. Use SemRush for analyzing backlink gaps, tracking link-building campaigns, and researching high-authority cannabis-relevant sites.

Moz and BrightLocal

You’ve probably heard of Moz before since it is a popular Dispensary SEO tool with a simple interface that’s great for beginners. Use it to evaluate domain authority, link quality, and spam score before reaching out to potential partners. BrightLocal is more focused on local businesses and listings. 

BuzzStream, Pitchbox, and NinjaOutreach (for Guest Posting)

Guest posting is still one of the easiest ways to earn backlinks especially in cannabis, where traditional advertising is limited. Platforms like BuzzStream, Pitchbox, and NinjaOutreach help you find websites and blogs that are open to guest contributions, personalize your outreach emails (without sending 100 one by one), stay organized with follow-ups and responses, and track where your guest posts are live. If you’ve ever sent a pitch email and never heard back, these tools help you do it better and at scale.

BuzzSumo 

Find trending cannabis content and influencers on BuzzSumo who are likely to link to thought leadership or data-driven assets.

Hunter.io / Snov.io 

Discover contact information for outreach and automate backlink email campaigns.

How to Track Cannabis Backlink ROI?

You built links, great! But now what? Google Analytics can help you understand what happens after someone clicks a link to your site. You can see where your traffic is coming from, whether those visitors are sticking around, and if the referral traffic is turning into sales, orders, or newsletter signups. It’s the best way to measure your efforts. Over time, you’ll see which links (and content) drive results and which don’t.

Can Social Media Help You Track Link Building ROI?

Another way of calculating the ROI of links is by tracking social media activity.

If you can determine the average value of each social media visitor and how much referral traffic each social media link generates, you can get an idea of just how valuable each link is. To determine the ROI of your social media links, simply compare their estimated revenue to their cost to produce. 

Pro Tip: Use UTM codes. Learn how to create cannabis UTM codes here. 

Can You Accurately Calculate the ROI of a Link Building Campaign?

The short answer: not precisely, but you can get close enough to make informed decisions.

Link-building is a foundational part of SEO, but it doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Google ranks pages based on hundreds of signals—content quality, page speed, mobile experience, internal links, and yes, backlinks. Because of this, isolating the direct impact of backlinks on traffic, rankings, or conversions is difficult, especially when multiple strategies are at play simultaneously.

Why ROI is Hard to Pin Down

• No single attribution model exists for backlinks in SEO.
• Link value is indirect—it improves domain authority, which boosts rankings, which may increase traffic, which may improve conversions.
• Time delays are common. A link may take weeks or months to deliver measurable SEO value.
• Other SEO activities (content updates, technical fixes) may affect the same metrics, muddying attribution.
  

So, Is It Worth Estimating?

Yes—even directional ROI matters. While you may not get perfect accuracy, you can measure:

• Changes in organic traffic to the linked pages
  Increases in keyword rankings post-link acquisition
• Estimated traffic value (based on CPC) attributed to ranking gains
• Assisted conversions using Google Analytics multi-channel attribution.
  

Ultimately, link-building ROI is a long-game play. It’s more about building authority, visibility, and defensible rankings than short-term spikes in sales. If you're looking for exact attribution like you might get in paid media, SEO link-building will always feel fuzzy, but with the right benchmarks, it can still prove valuable.

Final Thoughts: Is Link Building Worth It for Cannabis Dispensaries?

While it can be hard to get a handle on the exact value of a link, there's no doubt that internal, inbound, and outbound links are crucial to SEO success. Calculating the ROI of your links can help you identify what works and what doesn’t. With a bit of creativity and outside-the-box thinking, your dispensary’s marketing team can piece together a link strategy that boosts brand awareness, drives traffic, and generates sales, all at the same time.

Link building for SEO isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Most marketers agree that a website’s link profile will continue to be an essential criterion in search engine rankings for years to come. While link-building can often be costly and time-consuming, its value cannot be overstated.

At MediaJel, our team of SEO experts is ready to help you develop an effective link-building strategy for your dispensary website.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can build an SEO strategy that will rocket your cannabis business site up the rankings! 

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