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The market size of the cannabis production industry has grown 83.0% per year on average between 2017 and 2022 for every company. So, it’s not surprising that the level of competition in the marketplace is also increasing.
Local SEO is 1 of the most critical and long-term investments you need if you own a marijuana-related business offering services like cannabis delivery in Quinte West and other cities. It will help your business grow and surpass your storefront and web-based competitors.
When done right, Cannabis SEO allows your website to rank higher on search results pages. Online visibility is a critical concern for cannabis companies like yours since an estimated 80% of consumers do internet research before purchasing.
Whether you’re planning to work with an SEO agency in Montreal or want to learn the basics, here’s how to ensure your brand stays on top of Google:
Strengthen Your Authority.
As Google continues to fine-tune its algorithm, 1 effective way to conquer today’s market competition is to ensure website authority. Search engines don’t look at the number of backlinks on your webpage but their quality and relevance.
Display your cannabis brand with high-quality links to boost your site authority and secure a thought leadership position in your field.
Quality links can help your business build a reputation in search engines and target consumers. For example, in cannabis content, companies will seek high-quality links from top cannabis outlets. You can feature these authority links in a “media” section of your website and by linking to the content intermittently in your website’s blog, social media, bios, etc.
Avoid Link Schemes.
Backlinks play vital roles in any SEO strategy and must conform to these requirements. You should avoid practicing link schemes to entice those looking to build backlink strategies. This practice may include tactics like buying backlinks, creating unnatural backlinks, or hiding links to increase your page rank. Google can see through this behaviour and may penalize your rank accordingly. This is also especially significant because Google algorithms have become stricter on ranking requirements.
Be Active on Social Media.
Ensuring the high activity of your cannabis company on social media channels can improve your relationship with potential customers and helps boost your SEO if done the right way. The right social media platforms for your company will depend on your strategy. Experts recommend having a Facebook and Google+ page at a minimum.
Facebook is 1 of the most popular channels and is a great way to reach new potential customers, resulting in high traffic to your website.
On the other hand, although Google+ isn’t as popular of choice among the public, it proves to be beneficial in ways other channels aren’t: Google indexing. Every post you publish on Google+ will be indexed for search rankings. As long as your posts are optimized, new audiences are more likely to be found.
Optimize Your Website.
Since your website represents a considerable part of your business, you must ensure high mobile site speed and fast page load times. These are 2 of the often-ignored interconnected elements regarding cannabis SEO and website optimization tactics.
Your customers will quickly ignore your website if it takes too long to load. They’ll opt for a site that will load immediately, within 1 to 3 seconds maximum. Other ways to optimize your site speed include:
- Minimizing the server response time
- Optimizing all images to 150kb-200kb maximum
- Implementing asynchronous loading of CSS and JavaScript
Produce Quality Content
For cannabis SEO, finding trending keywords and topics is critical. You must produce quality, authoritative content to increase site traffic, which improves your site’s authority and relevance. Quality content means that you create posts specifically for your intended audience. Your content should be authoritative enough to present a window of opportunity to become perhaps the sole source of topical information.
For example, when you create in-depth content such as a comprehensive guide or an authority post, you can showcase your ability to be informative and confident. Creating high-quality content is essential, so fine-tune your web writing skills and present yourself as an authority in the field.
Use the Right Keywords.
In connection to the previous tip, consider the relevant words your clients will likely use when looking for your products or services on the web. This will help you when you write your content. For example, your customers may search for “cannabis companies near me” or “how to get a cannabis prescription.” When choosing the right keywords for your content, consider whether your customers are more likely to use formal or slang words.
You can list 20 to 50 keywords, then consult a keyword tool. With this, you can validate whether those words are frequently used in online searches. When prospective customers search using those keywords you’ve built your list with, it will contribute to your pages ranking higher in search engines.
Include your selected keywords in the URL, titles, and meta descriptions. The latter will tell search engines what your content is all about.
Update Content Regularly.
Search engines will also feel pretty strongly about content. One of the key indicators of a site’s relevancy is regularly updated content, so keep yours engaging, relevant, and fresh. You can conduct content audits on a schedule, preferably bi-annually and make revisions and updates when necessary.
When writing your additional content, inject strong keyword phrases to boost your search engine rankings.
Be Patient while Aiming High.
We briefly mentioned that a local SEO strategy is a long-term investment. To ensure your rank in search engines is high, always aim high but don’t expect fast results. Monitor them from day 1 because it usually takes a few months to move significantly higher in search engine rankings.
It’s also worth noting that SEO is constantly changing, so your tactic today might not work in the next 2 or 3 years. Adopt the latest practices to keep working on your SEO strategy. This way, you will effectively monitor your rankings and try to stay on top. Remember that a high position means ranking on the first 2 pages of the search results because most users won’t make it past the 1st page.
