Medical Marijuana Search Engine Optimization

Is your medical marijuana dispensary using search engine optimization?

Medical marijuana dispensaries have had a tough time in recreational states, especially when it comes to dosing limitations for products. Many MMJ only dispensaries have shuttered their doors and reaching their customer base has only been made more difficult by the number of dual-license dispensaries opening up.

SEO is the best way to reach the people who need your products

Marijuana dispensary search engine optimization (SEO) is the art of fine-tuning a dispensary website so it can rank well for specific search terms, long-tail strings (search queries that are four words or longer), and location-based searches where Google Maps rankings matter most.

Recreational dispensaries are still catching on to the benefits of SEO, and any niche business competing with a broader business type (medical vs recreational) can benefit from SEO even more.

How does SEO help a medical dispensary rank?

There are different ways to implement SEO, but the two most important ways SEO can help a medical dispensary is by increasing their local relevancy signals and helping them create and implement a reliable targeted content strategy.

Medical dispensaries and backend SEO

Tying a dispensary to a location and creating relationships between your dispensary site and the surrounding area are what can help increase your MAP Rankings.

A Google study conducted in May 2014, “Understanding Consumers’ Local Search Behavior,” found that 72 percent of consumers who searched for local info on a smartphone visited stores within five miles of home.

Some of the most frequent searches for dispensaries involve modifying words like:

Searches with these modifying words are typically made by someone looking at options near them, and who chooses based on MAP Pack search results.

Backend optimization uses code snippets called Schema to make it easier for Google to understand how your business location relates to the surrounding area.

Market your medical dispensary with content

Content is one of the two largest ranking factors for a website. That’s because your content is what search engines like Bing and Google to determine what your site is about, how it relates to a users search query, and whether or not one of the pages on your site is the best information to answer a user’s query.

For example, even a simple search like “best nearest dispensary” brings in a lot of individual questions. If the person making the search is logged into their Google account, then Google factors in that information too.

• Where are they located?
• What have they searched for before?
• What makes a dispensary the best?

Can a medical marijuana dispensary do search engine marketing?

Not in the typical sense. Genuine dispensary SEM would require the ability to use something like Google Adwords or Facebook Ads. SEM is a stand-in for the terms paid search and PPC. Because cannabis is still federally illegal, search engines aren’t willing to take the risk on open advertising for dispensaries.

Creating dispensary content that your medical customers find useful is the best to make your dispensary their all-in-one resource. Turning your business into a community hub is one of the best ways to engender brand loyalty, and that’s something every business needs in this industry.