What Does SEO Mean and How Does It Benefit Your Cannabis Business?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about how search engines like Google view your website and return your business in search results.

What does SEO mean in practice? It’s all about the keywords. Your cannabis business will be able to stand out from the crowd with just a few tweaks to your website.

So how is it done?

What Does SEO Mean?

Search engines use a range of algorithms to analyze websites across the internet whenever someone puts in a search request.

The main thing these search engines look for is domain authority: how trusted is your website, and how relevant is it to the search request?

The search request is the essential part here: it includes all of the words which will be used to analyze the suitability of your website as a search result. That’s why it’s important to use SEO on your site if you want to improve the number of search results you appear in.

How Do I Use SEO on My Cannabis Business Website?

The first rule is to find out your main keywords. There are some obvious ones, such as ‘buy cannabis in my area,’ but you’ll also want to find more specific phrases too.

You can do this by looking at your competitors’ websites and see which phrases they use. There are also plenty of online SEO tools to help you come up with a range of keyword phrases to include on your website, too.

There are a few more rules to SEO:

1. Write as You Would Talk

That is to say: don’t unnaturally stuff SEO keywords. Search engines will crawl your site when somebody performs a search related to your business.

If you include too many keywords in one go, then the search engines will think your website is spam, and you won’t rank as high.

2. Remember Your Metadata

Always use keywords for metadata and alt-tags on images. Search engines look at this information as much as the written words visible on your website.

The more relevant information you have in your metadata, the better your website will rank.

Accurate page descriptions using related keywords will also increase the number of quality clicks through to your website, as people can see that your site offers the answer to their query before they even click through.

3. Use Keyword URLs

Don’t leave it up to chance: remember to name your page URLs with keywords instead of something random.

For example, you want to have www.mycannabisbusiness.com/why-choose-this-strain-of-cannabis instead of www.mycannabisbusiness.com/page-3.

Doing this will help search engines to recognize the content on your website and establish your business as an authority instead of spam.

4. Use Links to Encourage More Engagement

Use internal links to keep customers on your site for longer. Make sure the articles are related in some way so that the reader won’t immediately bounce off the link they click when they realize it’s not useful.

For example, if you have further information on a product, you could use the phrase “find out more” to encourage people to click. They will stay on your website longer, which build domain authority to improve your search engine ranking.

How Improved On-Site SEO Will Benefit Your Cannabis Business

1. Find Local Customers

Local search results are valuable as you will be more likely to capture repeat or immediate custom.

Include local information in your website content such as your town or area name if you want to come up in local search results. If you’re just around the corner from the person searching for a local cannabis business, you’re more likely to capture their custom.

2. Reduce Marketing Costs

Optimizing your website with SEO content is a long-term gain. You won’t see immediate changes to your marketing spend, but as you start to rank higher and organically, you’ll notice the quality of people visiting your website will improve.

This is because keyword-based content will capture people looking specifically for your product or service. They’re already interested in what you’re offering, so there is a higher chance of conversion to a sale.

Remember to Optimize Your Content for Mobile

What does SEO mean for mobile searches?

More people are using their cell phones to search either while they’re sat at home or on-the-go than ever before. This means that with mobile-optimized SEO you can capture both regular local custom and passing customers who may not otherwise have heard of your business.

Read more about using SEO for mobile searches to find out how to boost your cannabis business revenue.