Cannabis Marketing: Why Search Engine Optimization is Crucial for Recreational Marijuana Businesses

The Laws Around Advertising Recreational Cannabis are restrictive and complicated. That’s why Cannabis SEO and Online Marijuana Content are vital to Cannabis Marketing.

If you own or work for a business in the recreational cannabis industry, whether or not you do business in the District of Columbia or one of the 11 states where recreational marijuana has been legalized, you’re probably well aware that the drug remains illegal at a federal level.

Because of national marijuana prohibition, many advertisers—including Google, Facebook and most other popular online platforms and search engines—refuse to accept ads for recreational cannabis products or services, even in states where the drug has been legalized. And if you are able to find an advertiser who’ll accept cannabis marketing content, navigating the complex and ever-changing laws around advertising the drug can be a nightmare, sometimes resulting in hefty fines and penalties when rules and regulations are breached, accidentally or not.

Why is SEO a crucial marketing technique in the recreational cannabis industry?

Although Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines refuse to advertise recreational marijuana and other cannabis products, their organic ranking algorithms do not discriminate against content produced by recreational marijuana businesses. This means that websites devoted to recreational marijuana businesses will still appear organically in the search results of prospective customers. And for this reason, producing engaging, high-quality and highly searchable online content stands out as one of the best ways owners and employees of cannabis and marijuana businesses can get their brand and products in front of online audiences.

Publishing high-quality content is one of the most reliable methods for reaching a high position in any search engine’s organic search results; if you’re producing content that’s interesting and informative to your prospective audience, and if it’s optimized for search engines—it’s engaging and informational, contains the keywords your customers are using to search, and your website is structured in the best possible way—the likelihood that your brand and products are discovered by your future customers increases dramatically.

Benefits of recreational marijuana content marketing, beyond SEO

Your online content needs to accomplish multiple goals: attracting customers, telling them your story, and driving their engagement and action. By ensuring your content is search engine optimized, inspired by specific, high-value keywords; answers questions your prospective clients have about your products or services; and tells the story of your brand or business, you’ll generate high-quality traffic and draw interested customers to your website. And by creating engaging content that’s optimized to drive action—via online marketing and online retail best practices around calls to action, word choice, website design, etc.—you’ll earn their business.

Learn more about cannabis marketing with Growhouse.

Article collaborated with content writer Sean @ Cascade Cadence.