Cannabis Dispensary SEO Success – Case Study

A newly established cannabis dispensary in New Jersey entered the market in 2023 with a goal to build brand recognition, drive organic traffic, and boost online sales. Through a structured, phased SEO strategy, the dispensary rapidly increased keyword rankings, organic visitors, and customer engagement, establishing itself as a competitive player in the local market.

Challenges

Entering a highly competitive cannabis market.
Increasing online visibility for high-intent keywords.
Driving traffic to key pages like “Order Online” and category pages.
Establishing local authority through SEO-focused content and backlinks.

GYBO’s Strategic Roadmap – Cannabis SEO

A two-phase SEO roadmap was developed to drive growth and improve search visibility. The first six months (June–December 2024) focused on foundational SEO, while Phase 2 (beginning November 2024) expanded efforts.

Phase 1: Foundational SEO and Initial Growth (June–November 2024)

The first roadmap document focused on foundational tasks, developing an SEO for cannabis strategy:

Keyword Research & Mapping: Identified high-intent local and product-specific keywords.
Google Business Profile Optimization: Enhanced GBP visibility with accurate and branded listings.
Content Development:
- Created vendor pages to highlight key product lines.
- Published blog posts to capture long-tail searches and build topical authority.
Technical SEO: Improved site speed, schema markup, and mobile performance.
Local SEO Listings: Maintained and updated citations across directories to improve local search rankings.

Phase 2: Expansion and Refinement (November 2024–April 2025)

Phase 2 built on the successes of Phase 1, focusing on scaling the strategy and refining site performance:

Category Page Development: Added optimized content and CTAs to key product categories like edibles and pre-rolls.
Mobile Optimization: Enhanced site usability and page speed for mobile visitors.
Competitor Analysis: Identified content gaps and backlink opportunities for further rankings improvement.
Backlink Outreach: Secured authoritative cannabis-related backlinks to strengthen rankings.

The Results (June–December 2024)

In the last year, this dispensary has made remarkable strides in the competitive cannabis retail space. Leveraging foundational and advanced SEO strategies, the dispensary experienced significant organic growth. Key accomplishments during this period include:

Organic Traffic Growth

Organic traffic increased by 51.5%, growing from 3,300 monthly visits in June to over 5,000 in December.
Organic sessions accounted for 44.5% of total traffic, underscoring the success of the SEO strategy.

Improved Keyword Rankings

Keyword Growth: The dispensary experienced a 366% increase in total ranking keywords, with substantial growth in highly competitive positions (from Jun 20

Top 3 Positions: Grew by 80% during this period, signaling significant authority in targeted search queries.
Top 10 Positions: The number of keywords in the Top 10 doubled, as new pages gained traction.
- Improved CTR: Click-through rates from search results increased by 15%, demonstrating more engaging meta descriptions and title tag optimizations.
- Rich Snippet Visibility: Featured snippets gained for “best cannabis edibles NJ” and “dispensary pre-roll deals.”

Graph illustrating overall organic keyword growth across positions 1–3, 4–10, 11–20, and 21–50 for a website between June 20 and December 19. Marked increase is visible in all keyword rankings, with a sharp upward trend in positions 1–3 and 4–10 starting in early October.
Graph showing the growth of organic keywords for a website, highlighting rankings from positions 1–3 and 4–10 between June 20 and December 19. Steady increase is observed, with a significant spike in keywords ranked 1–3 and 4–10 after early October.

Enhanced Engagement and Conversions

Site-Wide Organic Performance

The overall organic performance metrics for the dispensary’s website saw notable growth between June–December 2024 compared to the prior 6 months:

Organic Views: Increased by 30.96%, reaching 613,770 total views compared to the earlier period.
Active Users: Grew by 22.67%, with 30,727 users engaging with the site organically.
Event Count: A substantial 28.69% increase, reflecting a higher level of user interaction and engagement across the site.

Order Online Page Success
The “Order Online” page stood out as a top-performing page, driving significant organic traffic and engagement:

532,262 organic views between June–December 2024, reflecting a 32.48% increase compared to the prior period.
27,508 active users, with a 6.98% increase in views per active user.
Event Count: Grew by 31.98%, highlighting the page’s efficiency in converting visits into meaningful interactions.

These metrics underscore the impact of targeted SEO strategies and enhanced user experience on the “Order Online” page, aligning with the site-wide improvements in organic visibility and engagement over the past 6 months.

Table comparing organic traffic metrics for a website from January 25 to June 19, 2024, and June 20 to December 18, 2024. Metrics include page views, active users, views per active user, and event counts.

Visitors engaged deeply with the site:
- Average session duration: 1 minute 12 seconds.
- 10.46 events per session, reflecting high interactivity and interest.

Key Success Highlights

✅ Local SEO Dominance: Achieved and maintained #1 rankings for key branded and location-based search terms, significantly enhancing regional search visibility and foot traffic.

✅ Content-Driven Growth: Vendor and category pages attracted high-quality traffic with optimized content, increasing the likelihood of conversions and engagement.

✅ Backlink Expansion: Secured a diverse range of niche backlinks, strengthening domain authority and driving sustained organic visibility for high-priority pages.

✅ Mobile Optimization Success: Improved UX and mobile performance by optimizing for fast load times, intuitive navigation, and mobile-friendly layouts, leading to a 20% increase in mobile-driven conversions.

✅ Structured Data Implementation: Implemented advanced structured data markup, improving search result appearances with rich snippets, product reviews, and event-based schema for dispensary promotions.

✅ Improved Local Engagement: Integration of geo-specific content and local outreach initiatives contributed to increased community engagement and better visibility in hyper-local searches.

Integrating the Roadmap with Results

The roadmap phases provided a clear structure for achieving goals:

Phase 1 established the foundation, focusing on keyword targeting, technical SEO, and local optimization.
Phase 2 began scaling efforts with advanced content strategies, backlink outreach, and competitor analysis.

The overlap between roadmap tasks and results underscores the importance of strategic alignment. This allows GYBO to deliver tangible growth within the first six months and set the stage for continued success.

Conclusion

By following a structured SEO strategy, this dispensary successfully overcame early market challenges, established strong organic visibility, and positioned itself for continued growth. With Phase 2 strategies in motion, further expansion and increased customer acquisition are on track for 2025.

Words From Our Partner:

Rocco Levine – Aunt Mary’s Dispensary | Market President

SEO For Cannabis – Achieving Results in a Competitive Industy