*Terrayn, Co. doesn’t have any salespeople. Please enjoy the value of this article without the fear of being bombarded with sales pitches and offers. We love helping dispensaries and if you hit any snags implementing the strategies and tactics in this article don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
Does your dispensary's local SEO suck?
Let’s find out .
Is your dispensary suffering from the following symptoms:
- Not being found online or lack of local exposure?
- Competitors showing up before you in Google & Apple Maps?
- Not enough local foot traffic or online orders?
- Wasted marketing spend with no tangible ROI?
If any of these sound familiar, your local digital presence is probably not optimal. This article will give you actionable strategies and tactics you can execute on today to improve your dispensary’s local digital performance.
Table of Contents
Why SEO is the foundation of a successful dispensary marketing strategy
Without a strong organic presence, your customer acquisition will always be an uphill battle and the mercy of your ad spend.
1. The majority of cannabis customers start on Google
When people want cannabis, they search online first, even mature cannabis consumers.
They type in:
🔍 “best dispensary in [City]”
🔍 “buy edibles near me”
🔍 “[Hot brand] vapes for sale”
If your dispensary isn’t ranking at the top and clearly the best choice, those potential customers are going to your competitors.
📌 What this means for you:
- The dispensaries that own search rankings capture the most market share by far.
- Your website isn’t just an online representation of your brand, it’s a sales engine that can bring in real revenue and should be optimized for performance.
2. Dispensaries with strong SEO drive more foot traffic & online orders
Ranking higher isn’t just about visibility, it directly impacts sales. Think of it like a string of dominos, with the first domino being online visibility & rankings.
📊 Here’s how the dominos fall:
- Rankings = visibility → If you’re not present in the Google Local pack or organic search results, customers LITERALLY can not find you online.
- Visibility = clicks → If they easily find your dispensary and you are represented correctly, more people will click on your listing or search result.
- Clicks = engagement → Potential customers can click for directions to your store, go to your website, or place an online order.
- Engagement = customers → If more customers are now engaging with your dispensary, you’re going to convert more of them. The trick is to figure out how to convert as many as possible once they are there.
- Customers = revenue → The dispensaries that dominate search results are almost always the highest-grossing in their market.
Example:
One of our partners in Colorado saw a 40% increase in online orders after we helped them optimize their website. They didn’t change their pricing. They didn’t launch a big ad campaign. They simply went from not being found online, to being very easily found online by the right customers.
3. SEO builds long-term marketing momentum
While all can be very valuable, most dispensary marketing efforts are short-term plays:
- Programmatic? It can be very impactful, but it is like a faucet; the customers stop flowing when you stop paying.
- Google Ads? Expensive, grey area in cannabis. It takes expertise to deploy correctly.
- Billboards? Hard to measure results. Must be very strategic.
- Social media? A real nightmare: Platforms shadow-ban cannabis content constantly.
SEO is different. When done correctly, it creates a sustainable source of traffic & revenue that doesn’t disappear overnight and can sustain your position as a market leader.
📌 Why this matters:
- SEO compounds over time → The more authority your site builds, the harder it is for competitors to catch up.
- SEO reduces reliance on paid ads → Organic traffic doesn’t stop when your budget runs out.
- SEO helps all marketing efforts work better → The more people find your site, the more they engage with your brand, products, and promotions.
The foundations of dispensary SEO
Before jumping into advanced tactics we will share in a bit, your dispensary needs to get the SEO basics right.
Google’s algorithm looks at hundreds of ranking factors, but for dispensaries, success boils down to three key areas:
- On-page SEO – Optimizing your website’s structure, content, and metadata.
- Off-page SEO – Building credibility through backlinks and citations (Google Business Profile & Apple Maps included).
- Technical SEO – Making sure your site runs fast, is mobile-friendly, and is easy for search engines to crawl.
Let’s break each one down in detail:
1. On-page SEO: optimizing your website for rankings
This is what happens on your actual website. Google looks at your pages to determine what your dispensary sells and whether your content is valuable to searchers.
📌 What to focus on:
✅ Title tags & meta descriptions – Your first impression in Google search results. Make them clear, engaging, and keyword-rich.
✅ Headings (H1, H2, H3) – Structure content so Google (and users) can easily scan it.
✅ Content quality – Google ranks sites that provide real value. Write in-depth, original content—don’t copy & paste from generic sources.
✅ Internal linking – Link related pages together (e.g., category pages, blog posts, FAQs) to keep visitors engaged and help search engines understand your site. Think of your site like a spider web. It should lead users through the site with helpful connections.
2. Off-page SEO: building authority through backlinks
Google ranks websites based on trust & authority. One of the biggest ranking factors is backlinks—other websites linking to yours.
The more high-quality backlinks your dispensary website has, the more Google trusts it.
📌 How to build backlinks:
✅ Cannabis directories – List your dispensary in niche directories like Weedmaps, Leafly, PotGuide, and dispensary business directories.
✅ Guest posting & PR – Get featured on cannabis blogs, industry news sites, and local publications.
✅ Local partnerships – Build relationships with local businesses & cannabis brands that link to your site.
🚨 What to avoid:
❌ Buying cheap backlinks – Google can penalize you for spammy, low-quality links.
❌ Links from irrelevant sites – A random real estate blog linking to your dispensary won’t help.
3. Technical SEO: making sure your site is fast & mobile-friendly
Even if your content is great, Google won’t rank your dispensary’s website if it loads slowly or has poor usability.
📌 What to check:
✅ Page speed – Google favors fast sites. Run your site through Google PageSpeed Insights to check load times.
✅ Mobile optimization – Most cannabis customers search on their phones—your site should be mobile-first, not just mobile-friendly.
✅ Schema markup – Use structured data to help Google understand your site (e.g., product availability, reviews, location info).
✅ Indexing & crawlability – Make sure search engines can actually find and index your pages.
How to build a dispensary keyword strategy
You can’t rank in Google without targeting the right keywords.
Dispensary SEO isn’t just about chasing high-volume terms like “dispensary” or “weed near me.” Those are important, but real success comes from targeting a mix of high-intent, local, and long-tail keywords that match how people search.
1. Understanding keyword intent
Not all searches are the same. Some people are looking for information, while others are ready to buy right now. Your keyword strategy should focus on high-intent searches that bring customers into your dispensary or onto your online menu.
Three main types of dispensary keywords:
- Transactional keywords (high intent, best for sales):
- “best dispensary in [city]”
- “buy edibles near me”
- “THC vapes for sale online”
- Informational keywords (good for content marketing & SEO authority):
- “how long do edibles last?”
- “difference between indica and sativa”
- “best strains for sleep”
- Branded keywords (important for reputation management):
- “[dispensary name] reviews”
- “[dispensary name] menu”
- “[dispensary name] location”
2. Finding high-value dispensary keywords
To find the right keywords, start with these tools:
✅ Google Search Console – Shows the searches your dispensary already ranks for.
✅ Google Autocomplete & People Also Ask – Helps find real customer search patterns.
✅ Keyword research tools (SEMRush, Ahrefs, Ubersuggest) – Identifies search volume & competition levels.
✅ Competitor research – Look at what top-ranking dispensaries are targeting on their sites.
💡 Tip: Many dispensaries overlook product-specific and strain-related searches. Targeting terms like “high CBD flower in [city]” or “best hybrid strains in [state]” can capture highly motivated customers.
3. How to use keywords for better rankings
Once you have the right keywords, it’s about placing them strategically across your site.
✅ Title tags & meta descriptions – This is your first impression in search results. Keep it concise, compelling, and keyword-rich.
✅ Headings (H1, H2, H3) – Use primary keywords in your H1 and supporting variations in H2s and H3s.
✅ URL structure – Clean URLs with target keywords help Google understand your page.
✅ Body content – Use natural language and avoid keyword stuffing. Google rewards helpful, easy-to-read content.
✅ Alt text on images – Helps search engines index your content and improves accessibility.
✅ Internal links – Link to related pages to help distribute SEO value across your site.
Ready to learn more proven dispensary marketing tactics, 100% free?
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Want to work together? See if your dispensary is a fit to partner with Terrayn
We’ve launched more local SEO campaigns than any other provider & would love to help your dispensary. Unfortunately, we can only with a select number of new partners every quarter. Click below to learn more about our fractional dispensary marketing offering and get the application process started.