The landscape of the cannabis industry is rapidly changing, especially with various states enacting progressive changes in their respective marijuana laws. A growing number of states are now allowing the use of legal adult-use cannabis products, opening a lot of doors for new entrepreneurs who want to enter the community.
The main challenge for entrepreneurs in light of this development is that a lot of people have been waiting to enter the legal marijuana industry, which gives them a lot of businesses to compete with. While this is a good thing for the community as it is a sign of a flourishing industry, it can be bad news for your business.
You will be pleased to know that there your marketing activities can help you stay toe-to-toe with your competitors. When it comes to this, digital marketing is your best bet, particularly cannabis SEO and longtail keywords can help you tap into this continuously growing market.
Optimizing Your Website for Google
Search engine optimization (SEO) is used by many companies as part of their digital marketing campaign. SEO is the practice of using different techniques to organically improve your website’s search engine rankings. It involves the improvement of the quality and quantity of your content, to pull in more traffic.
So, how do search engines like Google rank your site and pages? They use algorithms to determine whether your pages will appear as a result of a user’s search. There are several factors considered during this process namely the user’s query, the relevance of pages, quality of content, usability of the website, and context and settings.
You want to make sure that your website contains keywords that potential customers will use. You should also make it accessible, readable, and overall usable in order to gain Google’s favor.
When users make queries, bots scour the Internet for relevant and high-quality content that falls within their context and search settings. As a result, they get pages upon pages of items that Google considers relevant to the search.
However, you should remember that SEO is not only about Google’s bots, but also the person behind the query. It takes a look at the keywords used and the user’s location to turn in relevant results. This is what warrants a closer focus on keywords, particularly longtail ones.
Improve The Rankings of Your Cannabis Company By Using Keywords
There are several factors to consider when optimizing your website for higher search engine rankings. Among the most essential things is to incorporate search terms in the body of all of your web pages. This is due to the fact that Google’s algorithm largely depends on keywords in content when evaluating how to rank your site.
Keywords should also be included in your metadata such as page names, embedded file names, and meta descriptions so that they appear whenever users search for services or products like yours. This is one of the best ways to get organic results. However, Google says that these keywords should be relevant to the company, without being overused.
These keywords should also be unique. You might be thinking, “Keywords are regular words. How can I make them unique?” The secret is modifying the keyword and includes details to cater to a more particular search. Instead of using “cannabis products,” try using “CBD oil in Baltimore, Maryland,” for example. The latter phrase is called a longtail keyword.
What are Longtail Keywords?
Longtail keywords are key phrases composed of three or more words. Aside from length, they differ from regular keywords because there are highly specific to the person’s search. Because of this, they are not commonly used in queries.
What you need to realize about longtail keywords is that they are typically used by people who know what they want and are using the Internet to find it. In the example “CBD oil in Baltimore, Maryland” you can see that the potential customer is not just looking for any cannabis product, but specifically CBD oil. Moreover, they are not just looking for any dispensary, but one in Baltimore, in particular.
In short, these types of keywords can help you target a specific audience, which is crucial for having an effective marketing campaign. Search engines are not as good at finding them, but when they do, it is much more likely that the site will rank well on the search engine’s search engine results page.
How to Properly Use Longtail Keywords?
Your SEO campaign will never be complete with keyword research. In fact, this is the first step if you want to launch a successful one. Doing keyword research will allow you to find the most popular keywords that people search for, as well as the less popular keywords that you might not find elsewhere.
Keep in mind that SEO may use keywords, but so does pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. SEO is your best bet to get organic results, but it may take a long, long time. You can jumpstart the process with the help of PPC advertising.
Your first instinct might be to use extremely popular keywords in PPC advertising in order to help increase your ranking using a paid method. This might sound like a good idea, but the thing is, popular keywords cost more in PPC ads.
This is why longtail keywords are a crucial part of your campaign. They are more unique, thus they may not be as widely popular as regular keywords. However, they are highly targeted keywords, which allows you to aim directly at your market.
When using these types of search phrases, you want o make sure that you use them in relevant contexts. Do not insert your keywords in articles that do not tackle their particulars. In the given example, make sure that you only use it in articles that have something to do with CBD oil, dispensaries, and cannabis products in Baltimore in particular, or Maryland in general. Moreover, make sure to use it in moderation.
Remember, Google can tag your website or pages as spammy if you do otherwise. Such spammy practice can cause your site’s credibility to take a hit.
How to Rank on Search Engines Using Longtail Keywords
As mentioned, Google rankings are decided by the factors the search engine gives weight to including the content of the page, the quality of the links going to it, its relevancy to the search phrase, and the domain’s popularity and authority. These are some of the most vital things you should consider when seeking to improve your rankings using longtail keywords.
However, you should keep in mind that even if your site’s authority is not that high, the proper use of these search phrases can land you at the top of the search results. Here’s how:
-
Research, Research, Research
Looking for ideas for regular KWs is easy. You can easily make a list of it as long as you know what you are selling. As a cannabis dispensary, you can easily choose CBD oil, CBD products, cannabis products, and other similar terms.
Longtail keyword research is more challenging. Luckily, there are programs and tools that can help you get an idea of what your market is searching for, both regular and longtail KWs.
-
Look at it Through the Eyes of Your Target Market
When coming up with ideas, you need to know what your target market really wants. Do they simply want just CBD oil? Or do they want CBD oil for a certain purpose? Writing content around these KWs can make a huge difference when it comes to your rankings.
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Say your target market are millennials over thirty working in different economic sectors like the service industry. What would your needs be? Do these individuals typically have pets? How are their sleeping patterns? Asking these questions can help you formulate great longtail KWs such as “CBD treats for dogs and cats,” “cannabis oil to aid sleep,” and “cannabis for back pain,” just to name a few.
-
Create Genuine Content
After listing down these keywords, you can start generating genuine and worthwhile content around them. Granted that your output can only be as original as your competitors, you should make sure that they are relevant, authentic, and relatable.
You can take a look at your brand for clues. Are you marketing yourself as a friend to your target market? If your target market is working millennials, then you should create content that is relatable to them in terms of tone, style, and topic.
If you are going for more clinical messaging, then taking on such topics in the appropriate tone and style is your best way to go. You can never go wrong with being authentic and on-brand.
The Takeaway
Longtail keywords may seem intimidating at first, but once you get to know how they work, you are sure to find a way to use them efficiently and successfully. If you are still hesitating, you can get help from an experienced cannabis marketing agency.