How does one go about ranking high for SEO search terms including “near me” with geographic relevance? For this example, “dispensaries near me.”
(This post assumes you have built out your Google My Business listing, the single most important piece in getting on Google Maps. If not, go here: https://google.com/business)
Near me means that anytime you do a search, like plumbers near me, dog trainers near me, whatever it may be, they’re including that term, “near me,” in the Google search. So, how can you rank your dispensary when people are typing in “dispensary” plus “near me”? By using Local SEO, of course!
Local SEO Tip #1
The first thing you need to do is Google it. It’s different, geographically, wherever you are–even in different parts of your city. Type in “dispensary near me” and you’ll see all the localized sites that Google’s pulling from for those “near me” listings. Make sure you’re listed. By getting listed there it helps tremendously because if they’re pulling from those sites and you’re there, there’s a higher chance that you’re gonna get listed on Google Maps.
Local SEO Tip #2
The next tip we have is you wanna make sure you’re listing the local landmarks, town lines, as well as old-school like driving directions to wherever that you’re servicing. On your website and Google My Business listing, you wanna list all the little subsections of Denver, or whatever city you’re servicing, all the landmarks, all the town lines, because they could be all close to each other. You even wanna go as far as putting the localized directions from how people are gonna get to wherever they are to you. Sure, no one is going to follow them (they’re just going to hit the “directions” button. But, by doing that you’re gonna be much better off in getting more traffic.
Local SEO Tip #3
You also want to make sure you have a localized phone number. You don’t need an 800 number to make you look bigger. Hell, we don’t even have long distance anymore. You want a localized number so people know that you’re there, you’re in person, you’re local.
Local SEO Tip #4
Reviews are IMPORTANT! When people go look for a dispensary near them, they also check out your overall company and how you’re doing overall. So they may go to Yelp, Facebook, and those other national services to type in your name to see how many reviews you have and how you rank against other dispensaries near them. Make sure you ask people who have a good experience to leave a review on whatever site, whether it’s Google, or Yelp or whatever it may be because it helps create legitimacy. Even if you’re not ranking at the top yet, by having more reviews, people will compare you to others. Also, if you have, like, 500 5-star reviews, Google is more likely to list you. (Learn more about Reputation Management.)
When you do that search, Google has a local path, and let’s say they pick three listings, and the number one spot has 12 reviews, the number two spot has 10 reviews, and you’re the third spot. If you get a ton of reviews and now you have 100 or more reviews, what you’ll find is a lot of people will click on the listing with more reviews. And if they click on you more than the other two, eventually Google will push the other two down and push you above them. What many people don’t know, is Google is not just tracking your search. They are also tracking what happens after the search–who you click on, how long you stay on the site, what pages you’re visiting, and especially if you click on the “directions” button or “call” button.
Final Thoughts
So, follow these tips. You’ll get way more traffic for people looking for your business or your service near you. And I should say that the very fact that you’re reading this sets you so far apart than all the other local dispensaries. When I talk to most localized businesses, dispensaries or otherwise, so many of them say the same thing, “We get our business from word-of-mouth, or we hand out flyers, or we sponsor local events. Well, that’s because you’re not doing local SEO. There’s the Internet, ya know–you should still do those offline tactics, but you should also use digital tactics as well.
If you’re still not sure what to do after reading this post, the dispensary marketing experts here at Team Maryjane help our cannabis clients all over the country develop strong, effective content marketing strategies and optimize all aspects of their marketing, including fine-tuning content, providing input on social media campaigns, designing websites, and even helping you build your brand from the ground up. As one of the top dispensary marketing firms in Denver, we know we’ve got the tools to help you achieve all of your objectives. Get in touch with us today for a FREE no-risk consultation, or check out our Dispensary in a Box program, which is our most affordable (and most valuable!) full-service marketing package that includes a custom website, online ordering, a custom marketing plan tailored to your dispensary, your very own marketing coach, SEO, Content, social media assistance and more.