Search engine optimization (SEO) plays a critical role in marketing for dispensaries. Whether you are just getting started with your website or re-examining your current SEO to reach new customers and drive more revenue, this introduction aims to provide helpful insight for cannabis dispensary owners and managers.
Defining SEO
SEO is the ongoing process of increasing the visibility of a website to search engines.
If we look a little closer at the definition it’s important to note the mention of ‘ongoing process’ since SEO should be managed over time so it reflects not just the changes of the website itself but any shifts in the searching and buying habits of customers. And visibility is much more than just achieving the top search result. It also means readily displaying the most important information of your dispensary for search users, such as location, hours, special promotions, and online ordering.
Since customers are the ones using search engines to find your dispensary, SEO is just as much knowing the intent of your customers. It’s about knowing what terms they are using to search for dispensaries, the information they wish to find, and the types of content they prefer to consume.
Working with search engines
Think of search engines as massive libraries. Search engines like Google and Bing scour the Internet to gather vast amounts of content on a daily basis. Like libraries, they must catalog the content to make it accessible for users and this is known as indexing. Search engines also rank the content to help users quickly find the most relevant results for their search.
As search engines have become increasingly sophisticated, sound SEO strategies have become even more important. Many years ago it was possible to cram a bunch of keywords (also called link stuffing) onto a website to achieve better rankings in search results. There still are techniques called 'black hat SEO' but these run a high risk of penalty, especially since search engines are consistently changing their algorithms and improving their technology.
Importance of good SEO
SEO and digital marketing are becoming ever more important in the cannabis industry as it matures and sees increased competition. Since dispensaries have fewer options for marketing due to regulations compared to other retail businesses, the battle for new customers is usually fought online with websites playing a large role. And the stakes are getting even higher with the cannabis industry expected to see $25 to $30 billion in total annual retails sales by 2023—a three-fold increase over sales in 2018.
To the dispensary customer, a strong SEO strategy means finding your dispensary quickly and easily when searching locally such as ‘Seattle cannabis’ or ‘Portland dispensary’. It also means easier access to important information once they see your dispensary in search results. This can be webpages like store hours or promotions that search engines like Google list as individual links under the description.
Sound SEO strategies
Good SEO revolves around the customer. It means understanding the most popular questions customers ask online and relate to your business. By ensuring that you have plenty of content that directly answers those questions your dispensary can better reach its target audience.
In addition to plenty of content, dispensaries should ensure that each webpage or piece of content is properly tagged. This is a common mistake for most small business especially as their website grows. Sometimes the information is copied/pasted from other pages or left completely blank. In either case this makes it more difficult for search engines to index and, as a result, less likely for customers to find.
More tips on SEO
Be sure to check out some of our other blog posts about SEO. And subscribe to our Facebook or LinkedIn page to see future updates.
Need to improve your SEO? See our announcement of the new Jagernaut app and how it provides a more efficient SEO solution for small business than a digital marketing agency.