Search engine optimization, or as it is commonly referred to as SEO can be used for almost any product or service. In fact, marketers believe SEO industry would grow to be worth $80 billion by the year 2020.
The most recent industry segment to make use of SEO based marketing strategies is Marijuana & CBD. If you also belong to the industry concerned, this article is for you. Here you’ll find the most illustrative step by step guide to carrying out SEO for your canna-business.
So, without any further ado, let’s proceed to the first step.
Step 1. Begin with On-Page Optimization for Cannabis-Related Queries
Before you start with anything, your website needs to tune-in with cannabis-related queries. The search engines depend upon crawlers to identify relevant search terms for any content. Your on-page elements, such as your content, are most crucial to SEO for cannabis & CBD products. Look for terms that users search to find your products. Furthermore, you’ll need to interlink your pages using varying anchors. You’ll also need to look into SSL security, meta tags & descriptions, and consider optimizing your content for voice searches & Google featured answer boxes.
Step 2. Make Sure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly
Your on-page optimization efforts can help you with a quick start for traffic acquisition & ranking on SERPs. While this could give a basic setup, your efforts should not limit there. In 2015, Google rolled out its mobile-friendly update to the core algorithm. The update rewards websites which are responsive to mobile screens with a better ranking in search results. So, make sure that your website is mobile-friendly. This would further strengthen your SEO and bring in more traffic, especially users searching using mobile phones.
Step 3. Curate Content to Help Educate Your Consumers
When optimizing for search queries keyword optimization cannot be ignored. But, with search engines growing smarter with every search made, you need to act smart, as well. Additionally, the EAT update from Google lays a more stringent norm for content creation. One of the important inclusions that this update provided was- the content should be informative and helpful for the user. So, you should include a blog section on your website. Furthermore, you can curate blog-posts stating various benefits of marijuana products, and educate your consumers.
Step 4. Collaborate with Influencers Within Marijuana Niche
Now that most of your on-page elements are optimized, it’s time you start with your off-page efforts. And when it comes to off-page SEO, blogger outreach and guest posting for link building cannot be ignored. Backlinks are amongst the top-3 signals that search engines use to rank any content. It is noteworthy, backlinks help establish relevance and earn authority online. Therefore, you need to ensure that backlinks your website secures, are weed and hemp-related niche. Moreover, if these backlinks can be secured as recommendations from marijuana influencers, the results can be long-lasting.
The marijuana & CBD industry is still in its growing phase. But, this has also led to increased competition for market shares. So, you need to be savvy with your SEO efforts, if you really wish to rank first for every query.