You might ask, what is E-A-T? Does it mean eating cannabis? The answer is NO. E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness used in SEO. These are the signals that Google looks at considerably as a part of their Quality Rater Guidelines.
These signals have been put in place to assist Google in understanding why you should rank for more delicate queries, frequently those that are concerned with your money (such as finance, banking, or currency) or your life (such as healthcare, consumer products like booze or CBD, and even legal assistance).
This guideline is also recognized as Your Money, Your Life, or YMYL industries. It is why if you are trying to rank your cannabis dispensary on Google, you must follow and qualify for this guideline.
SEO on Cannabis Dispensaries
On-page search engine optimization (SEO) pertains to those actions you must take to promote specific web pages on your website to increase the likelihood that those web pages will rank highly in pertinent search results, especially on Google – the most widely used search engine.
Similar to firms in many other sectors, on-page SEO for cannabis businesses concentrates on two key zones: quality of your web page content and on-page technical SEO.
The most crucial thing to keep in mind as you work to increase organic traffic to your site through SEO is that Google wants to determine the purpose of each page it indexes rapidly. The more straightforward you can design it for Google to understand the content of each webpage, the better.
The main objective is to be straightforward and precise as possible and ensure that you follow SEO best practices based on Google’s 200 search ranking factors.
SEO on cannabis dispensaries is not new or rare. It is one of the most effective ways to market businesses nowadays, including cannabis dispensaries. Therefore, it is vital that you understand the importance of SEO on the cannabis industry.
You will find it more helpful for your cannabis business if you get to rank your dispensary online by following the Google guidelines. So, you might want to check out some tips below on how to increase your chance of ranking on various search engines.
Tips to Boost Your Cannabis Dispensary Online Presence
Although cannabis is a sensitive topic, there are still ways you can do to help improve your ranking on Google search engine as well as other search engines today.
Research the Competition
Since you are already considering using digital marketing, specifically SEO, to market your cannabis products, your competitors might already have thought of it already and doing it as you are reading this article.
While searching for your business online, your customers might also have found your competitors. It is why competition research is very crucial. If you do this, you will be able to see some perception of what aspect your competitors are succeeding.
In addition, it will also give you an edge by determining the areas that your competitors are yet to cover. There are tools that can help you in conducting competition research like Ahrefs and SEMRush, the two leading SEO tools today.
If you choose to use these SEO tools, you can acquire your competitor’s information, such as the following:
- Backlinks
- Annual Traffic
- Types of Keywords Your Competitors are using
By knowing this information, you will be able to design a Cannabis SEO strategy that is unique from other cannabis businesses.
Optimize Your Website For Speed And Mobile
Having a fast reload rate of your website as well as making it accessible for mobile devices is a huge factor in your website’s user interface. It is also two of the factors that determine page ranking on Google.
This indicates that you should make your website responsive to mobile devices. The majority of visitors to cannabis websites use mobile devices, and if you operate a cannabis shop, your mobile traffic will be significantly greater.
You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Tool to determine whether your website is mobile-friendly. You’ll get suggestions on how to improve your website’s mobile-friendliness from this site.
Regarding loading speed, the greater the bounce rate, the longer it will take for your page to load. Additionally, it may have a detrimental effect on your page rankings. Fortunately, there are techniques for improving site speed. For instance, Google Page Speed Insights might suggest ways to make your page load faster.
Find Reputable Links
Another aspect of cannabis SEO to take into account are external links. It’s best to provide evidence to support any assertions you make. Prioritize acquiring links that are reliable and pertinent to your cannabis business.
You might want to look for links to studies conducted that will put credibility to your claims about cannabis. When utilizing outbound connections, there are three things to consider.
- Don’t use spammy or irrelevant websites because they can lower your page rating.
- Verify the site’s high level of authority. You can use the MOZ tool for this one.
- Utilize information within the last 12 months.
You may establish credibility with both your viewers and the search engines by using these strategies.
Do Your Keyword Research
In order to develop your internet presence in Google algorithms, keyword research is very helpful. Google uses sophisticated algorithms that take keywords into account in relation to the content of your page.
You must use a variety of keywords over time if you want your page to rise to the top of the ranking. Here are some pointers for choosing the appropriate keywords.
- List all of your primary pages.
- Check out which keywords are bringing you the most visitors.
- To monitor the progress of your search terms over time, use keyword tools like Moz.
If your company is young, stay away from competitive keywords at first. These competitive terms won’t enable you to connect with your target market. Instead, focus on terms with a high density and low difficulty. You’ll be able to get the correct kind of visitors to your website with the use of these keywords.
Ensure the Quality of Your Content
The most crucial take-home message is probably to produce valuable material for your viewers. It would be best if you employed the EAT technique, which stands for experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, to make it happen.
Expertise
Expertise is the level of knowledge a content provider has in a certain topic. Content producers need to have formal education in order to write on Your Money, Your Life issues like cannabis medical advice. A good place to upload fresh, pertinent stuff to develop your knowledge is an on-site blog or newsfeed.
Authoritativeness
Authoritativeness discusses a content writer’s standing in the community. Authority is demonstrated when people regard a person or website as a reliable source. The majority of other sites that connect to you establish your authority.
These are referred to as backlinks, and they are particularly beneficial if they are included in the text of a different website that is relevant to your sector. Google also considers references, reviews, and expert opinions for determining authority.
Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness speaks about the validity and openness of content creators. Three factors are used by raters when assessing trust.
- The accuracy of the content
- Correct citation of reliable sources
- The information on the content
The EAT approach keeps you ahead of Google algorithm improvements and helps ensure that your material is of the highest caliber.
Takeaway
E-A-T is vital if you want to be placed on top of search engine rankings, specifically on Google. You have to note that although various search engines have different guidelines, they are all following Google’s footsteps in protecting the audiences by implementing the YMYL rule.
Therefore, you should follow the tips provided to help you boost your ranking online regardless of the search engine that you are aiming for.