CBD SEO: Easiest Strategy To Grow Organic Website Revenue

There's no getting around the fact that if you sell CBD products online, Search Engine traffic is going to be one of your highest organic revenue channels. Without SEO for CBD, scaling your business will be slow.

So, how do we quickly improve your CBD website SEO to grow website traffic and outrank your competitors?

CBD SEO is the key to growing your online presence and attracting more potential customers.

Due to advertising regulations, most CBD businesses have limited marketing channels available to them. Search Engines, like Google, remain open to CBD SEO strategies to drive more organic traffic, and increase sales by improving your search engine rankings.

In this article, we'll dive into the fundamentals of effective SEO for e-commerce CBD brands and provide you with actionable tips to optimize your website traffic.

" I’ve spent $2 million running various marketing campaigns for HØJ, and if I could go back and do one thing differently, it would have been to invest more in SEO. ”

Simon F. - CEO of HØJ

Importance of SEO to CBD Companies

Here are some key reasons why CBD SEO marketing is essential:

1. By optimizing their website for relevant CBD SEO keywords, companies can attract potential customers who are actively searching for their products online.
2. SEO allows CBD companies to understand the voice of the consumer by revealing what customers want and need at different stages of the buying cycle.
3. SEO impacts the buying cycle by helping CBD companies' money pages (collection and product URLs) be visible on search engines when customers are ready to make a purchase.
4. Compared to paid advertising, SEO is a relatively inexpensive and very cost-effective marketing strategy for CBD companies that can bring long-term benefits and a considerable return on investment.
5. CBD Local SEO is particularly important for CBD companies with physical dispensary locations, as it helps to increase visibility in location-based searches and drive foot traffic to their stores

Effective CBD SEO Keyword Research

Keyword research is the cornerstone of a successful CBD SEO strategy. By identifying the most relevant and high-value keywords, you can optimize your website's content to attract targeted traffic and improve your search engine rankings.

When choosing targeted CBD SEO keywords it's essential to consider the search intent of the user at different stages of the purchasing funnel.

Informational intent keywords are great for blog content at the top of the funnel. For example 'types of CBD for pain relief' can be answered with a blog post.

Commercial and transactional intent keywords like 'buy CBD oil online' or 'CBD gummies' are further down the funnel. This traffic is ready to buy so you want to make sure either your collection or product page is ranking on the 1st page of Google.

Choosing the Right Keywords

Popular keywords are usually accompanied by higher monthly search volume, but they are usually very difficult to rank for because there's a lot of competition from other CBD websites.

You need to consider more than that when it comes to gaining visibility in the search engine results pages, particularly if you're a webmaster who's just starting. You may want to consult with a CBD SEO company for this next part.

When choosing the best keyword for your website you need to consider the following:

Keyword Difficulty (KD)

This score determines how difficult it is to rank for the keyword. Aim for keywords with a lower difficulty score, as these will be easier to rank for.

Search Volume (SV)

Number of searches for this keyword in a particular time period. Strike a balance by targeting a mix of high-volume and long-tail keywords.

Cost-Per-Click (CPC)

The amount you would have to pay per click to target this keyword in a PPC campaign.

Relevance

Ensure that the keywords you target align with your specific CBD products and customers.

Benefits of Targeting Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords, typically consisting of three or more words, offer several advantages to your CBD SEO strategy and ecommerce SEO optimization for CBD websites:

1. Lower Competition: Long-tail keywords are more specific and less frequently searched, making them less competitive and easier to rank for.
2. Higher Conversion Rates: Users searching for long-tail keywords are often further along in the buying process, know what they want to buy, and are more likely to make a purchase.
3. Improved Relevance: Long-tail keywords allow you to target specific niches and user intents, ensuring that your content resonates with your target audience.

Using Keyword Research Tools

These tools can help you uncover valuable keyword opportunities, analyze competitor strategies, and refine your approach.

When conducting keyword research, focus on keywords that align with your target audience's search intent, have a good balance of search volume and competition, and are highly relevant to your CBD products.

By incorporating these keywords strategically throughout your website's content, meta tags, and product descriptions, you can improve your search engine visibility and attract qualified traffic to your CBD website.

Important: If your domain authority is not high enough, you will not rank for keywords with a lot of competition. You're better off targeting transactional longtail keywords.

Creating High-Quality, Trustworthy Content

Creating high-quality, informative, and engaging content that provides value to your target audience and search engines is essential to increasing website traffic.

Use your targeted keywords strategically throughout the content, but avoid overusing them, as it can be considered keyword stuffing, which can harm your website's ranking.

Write content that positions your products as the solution to your readers' problems. Use embedded and popup lead magnets to capture the email addresses of readers so you can send them email marketing campaigns.

Content Best Practices

1. Research the SERPs and see what pages are ranking for the keyword you want to create content for. Write an SEO content brief following a similar headline and content structure as the top 3 results.
2. Focus on creating original, informative, and valuable content that addresses your target audience's needs and interests. Follow Google's E.E.A.T best practices. This can include blog posts, product descriptions, FAQs, and educational resources about CBD and its benefits.
3. Ensure that your content is well-researched, accurate, and up-to-date. Cite reputable sources and studies to back up any claims about CBD's effects or benefits.
4. Use a clear, concise, and engaging writing style that is easy to read and understand. Break up long paragraphs into shorter ones, use subheadings to organize your content, and incorporate visuals like images or videos to enhance the user experience.
5. Optimize your content for relevant CBD keywords, but avoid keyword stuffing. Use keywords naturally throughout your content, including in the title, headings, and meta description.

Importance of Original and Educational Content

AI Content Writers

With the need to create more content that educates consumers, builds brand authority, and drives sales one innovative solution you can use is AI writers to make SEO-optimized blog posts.

Let's explore how and why CBD companies can leverage AI writers to create content more efficiently.

Speed and Efficiency

AI writers can generate content at an impressive speed compared to human writers. This rapid production is particularly beneficial for CBD companies that need to keep up with a fast-paced market and frequently update blogs.

Consistency in Quality

Maintaining a consistent tone and quality across all content is crucial for brand identity. AI writers can be programmed to adhere to specific guidelines and styles, ensuring uniformity across various platforms and types of content.

Cost-Effective Solution

Hiring multiple content creators can be costly. AI writers provide a cost-effective alternative by reducing the need for a large team of writers while still producing a high volume of quality content.

SEO Optimization

AI writers are equipped with algorithms that can optimize content for search engines. They can seamlessly integrate keywords, meta descriptions, and other SEO elements, helping CBD companies improve their online visibility and attract more traffic.

Personalization at Scale

AI can analyze customer data to create personalized content that resonates with different segments of the audience. This level of customization can enhance user engagement and improve conversion rates.

Optimizing On-Page Elements

Optimizing your CBD website's on-page elements is crucial for improving your search engine rankings and attracting more organic traffic.

‍By focusing on key areas such as H1 header tags, meta tags, descriptions, and schema markup, you can provide search engines with valuable information about your website's content and structure.

Optimizing Meta Tags and Descriptions

Meta tags and descriptions play a vital role in SEO for CBD as they help search engines understand and display your website in search results.

Here are some best practices for optimizing your meta tags and descriptions:

1. Meta Titles: Craft compelling and engaging meta titles that encourage clicks and accurately describe your page's content. Keep them within the 50-60 character limit and make sure they include your primary keyword towards the beginning.
2. Meta Descriptions: Write a meta description that summarizes your page's content and entices users to click through by using intrigue and mystery. Stay within the 150-160 character limit and integrate your target keyword naturally^.
3. Header Tags: Use header tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure your content and provide context to search engines. Include your primary keyword in your H1 tag and use relevant keywords in subheadings.
4. Image Alt Tags: Optimize your image alt tags by describing the image's content and incorporating relevant keywords. This helps search engines understand your images and improves accessibility.

Utilizing Schema Markup

Some SEO experts believe schema is no longer relevant in 2024 as Google rolls out Search Generative Experience (SGE), however, we've found they have improved click-through rates when used.

Schema markup is a powerful tool that allows you to provide search engines with structured data about your website's content.‍

By implementing schema markup, you can enhance your search engine listings and increase your chances of appearing in rich snippets.

Here are some ways to utilize schema markup for your CBD website:

1. Product Schema: Use product schema to provide detailed information about your CBD products, such as name, description, price, availability, and customer reviews. This improves CTR in the SERPs.
2. Local Business Schema: If you have a physical store, use local business schema to provide information about your business, such as name, address, phone number, and opening hours. Make sure your Google My Business is set too.
3. Article Schema: For blog posts and informational content, use article schema to specify the article's title, author, publication date, and main image.
4. FAQ Schema: If you have frequently asked questions (FAQ), use FAQ schema to mark up the questions and answers. This can help your FAQ page appear in Google's Q&A rich results.

Improving Website Speed

Google punishes CBD websites with a slow loading speed. Use the Google Page Speed test to find out how long your website takes to load and which page elements are slowing it down.

A slow website can hurt your website's ranking, as it can lead to a high bounce rate.

As per a report published by Google and Deloitte, a mere 0.1s loading time boost can:

• Increase sales conversions by 8.4%
• Improve order value by 9.2%
• And lower bounce rate by 8.3%

Why Website Speed Matters

Page speed is crucial for CBD SEO, ranking just below content quality and backlinks. If your competitor's site loads faster, they'll outrank you, and potential customers will see their site listed ahead of yours on Google.

When visitors land on your site, you have a few seconds to engage them. If elements don't load, they may leave and go elsewhere. Google tracks these engagement metrics, which affect your SEO score.

According to Google, 61% of mobile users are unlikely to return to a site they had trouble accessing, and 40% visit a competitor's site insteadFaster loading and better user experience increase the likelihood of orders from your online collections.

Higher rankings also mean more visibility in search results for your CBD products and cannabis dispensaries.

Steps to Increase Page Load Speeds

Besides Google PageSpeed Insights there are tools like GTmetrix, or Test My Site to check your website's loading speed. Check your desktop and mobile page speed score with priority placed on mobile.

Google PageSpeed Insights will give you four score metrics; Performance and, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO. Although it's very difficult to get a score above 80% for Performance you can achieve higher than 90% for the other metrics.

You can take the necessary steps based on the report to improve your SEO score:

Some other ways to improve your website speed and SEO for a CBD business:

1. Avoid pop-ups: Sure, some cannabis businesses need the pop-up confirming the user's age. Aside from that, you should have a popup to capture email addresses however many users find too many pop-ups annoying, and a pop-up is one more thing that your page needs to load.
2. Change the order of page components: Page content should come first in the source code, followed by CSS or JavaScript that may be required for display^.
3. Refrain from using animation: Video and animations are flashy but are often culprits for slow-loading websites. Use static imagery instead.

By implementing these strategies and staying up-to-date with the latest Google Search Core Update, you can improve your website's loading speed, attract more qualified traffic, and ultimately grow your business in an increasingly competitive online marketplace.

Building Backlinks and Internal Linking

Acquiring high-quality backlinks is crucial for improving your CBD website's search engine rankings and driving targeted traffic, especially after Google's March 2024 core update.‍

CBD link building should focus on obtaining links from authoritative websites within the cannabis and CBD industry, as these carry more relevance to your products and can significantly boost your online visibility.

One effective strategy for earning backlinks is guest posting on relevant CBD blogs and websites. By contributing valuable, informative content to these platforms, you can naturally include a link back to your website.

This exposes your brand to a new audience and helps establish your authority within the CBD niche.

We recommend to our clients that they create a YouTube video covering the topic and place it on the 3rd party website. We've found this achieves several objectives:

1. It exposes new audiences to a face from our clients' brand
2. Website traffic is more likely to watch a video than read a blog post
3. Videos keep viewers on a page longer, reducing bounce rates making webmasters happy
4. The same video can be used on multiple marketing channels
5. Google is prioritizing video content in the search results

Another approach is to leverage broken link building where you identify broken links on CBD-related websites and reach out to the webmaster, offering your content as a replacement.

Remember, the key to successful link-building for CBD brands is to focus on quality over quantity. Prioritize earning links from reputable, industry-relevant websites, as these will have the greatest impact on your search engine rankings and overall online visibility.

How To Structure Internal Links

In addition to external links, creating a strong internal linking structure is very important for SEO. Internal links help search engines understand the hierarchy and relevance of your website's pages, making it easier for them to crawl and index your content.

To develop an effective internal linking strategy, consider the following tips:

1. Use descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text when linking to other pages on your website. Try to avoid exact-match anchor texts.
2. Ensure that your most important pages, such as your homepage, collection pages, and key product pages, receive the most internal links.
3. Create a logical site structure that allows users and search engines to easily navigate your website.
4. Build a topical map with pillar pages and supporting cluster pages

Local SEO Strategies

If you have a physical store or CBD dispensary then local SEO is crucial to increasing your online visibility, reaching your target audience, and driving sales. With the CBD industry growing and local competition increasing, mastering local SEO becomes vital to ensure your CBD business stands out in your neighborhood.

Optimizing Local Listings

1. Claim and verify your Google My Business (GMB) profile to increase your visibility in local search results and attract the right audience.
2. Complete every section of your GMB profile, including business name, accurate address, working phone number, website, hours of operation, etc., to help Google match your business profile to relevant searches.
3. Select primary categories that closely align with the CBD and cannabis industry, such as 'CBD Store' 'Organic Shop' or 'Cannabis Store.' You can also add secondary categories that reflect other aspects of your business, like 'health and beauty' or 'CBD oil,' 'CBD gummies,' etc.
4. Besides uploading pictures of your store and staff, upload images of your CBD products on your GMB profile to highlight your business specialties. Make sure the pictures you add comply with local regulations regarding CBD marketing.
5. Encourage your customers to post positive reviews about your CBD products. Monitor and respond to each review, positive and negative, showcasing you value feedback and your customers.
6. In addition to GMB, consider listing your cannabis business on other local directories like Weedmaps, Leafly, and Herb.co.

Monitoring and Adapting SEO Efforts

Tracking your site's performance will help you gain insight into what's working and adapt strategies. Your SEO strategies might only work for a specific period of time. After that period, you need to adapt and optimize, especially if your website has been affected by a Google Search update.

To understand how your website is ranking, monitor key website traffic metrics with Maay Hubb. The key is to build a dashboard that focuses on metrics directly related to your SEO goals.

By monitoring your efforts to increase website traffic and adapting your strategies based on data-driven insights, you can continuously improve your performance, attract more qualified traffic, and ultimately grow your business.

Analyze Product Page Conversion Rates and Traffic Sources

Your collection and product pages serve as direct pathways for sales and conversions. That's why you should prioritize collection pages and product pages when doing SEO for your CBD company.

Follow this step-by-step approach to optimize your collection pages' SEO performance:

1. Add your keywords to H1, H3 and H3 heading tags. Using about 500 words to describe the items in your collection - make it include the benefits customers can expect.
2. After your products section include relevant customer reviews. If they're video format, that's better. Below that you can add an FAQ section that answers questions potential customers might have about the products in that collection.
3. Build internal and backlinks to your collection page using a variety of anchor texts that include your keywords.
4. Define the goals you need to analyze. These include add-to-cart rates, session duration, and scroll depth.
5. Use Hotjar to analyze heatmaps and session recordings. Fix poorly written product descriptions and rage clicks.
6. Use Google Analytics to segment traffic sources and data. Gain insights into traffic sources like organic search results.
7. Run A/B tests to see which variations can produce more conversions. Test different variations of product descriptions, CTAs, and image layouts.

The Conclusion To CBD SEO

Implementing an effective CBD SEO strategy, using the steps we've covered in this article, over 12 months, will be your most successful way of growing organic revenue.

As the CBD industry continues to evolve and competition intensifies, staying up-to-date with the latest SEO trends and best practices is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge.

By monitoring your SEO efforts, analyzing key metrics, and adapting your strategies based on data-driven insights, you can continuously optimize your website's performance and drive long-term success.

Let's work together to find the right marketing solutions for your business! You're in the right place if you're looking for the best CBD SEO agency.

As a CBD SEO company that provides CBD SEO services, Maaly we can help you create effective SEO marketing campaigns for your e-commerce website.