SEO

What is national SEO and why is it important?

by Zach

National SEO

If local SEO is trying to get customers near you to purchase your cannabis products, National SEO is about spreading brand awareness and positioning your canna-brand as an expert in the cannabis field. National SEO relies heavily on a strategic content plan. What does this look like?

If your dispensary is located in Boston, but a California resident stumbles onto your website from searching “how much is an eighth of weed,” that would be a great example of a well-executed national SEO strategy. You may think – why do I care about spreading brand awareness to people who will never purchase a product from me? For SEO value! Generating traffic to your website tells Google that your content is engaging and worth showing off.

Earn Backlinks Naturally

Another huge benefit of publishing blog posts that rank nationally is the fact that you will begin to automatically earn backlinks to your site. Have you ever written a blog post or even a social media post and needed a reference to back up your statement? Chances are you googled the topic and chose one of the first links that appeared in search results to link to, giving you a bit of extra creditability.

This happens ALL THE TIME! And the more resources you have ranking in search with authoritative and educational information, the greater the chances of your site earning high quality backlinks! This is the best way to build your websites domain authority, as we all know paying for spammy backlinks is not a worthwhile practice.

Competition is More Intense at a National Scale

When someone searches “dispensary near me”, the competition is local. But when someone searches “full-spectrum CBD oil for sale”, the competition can come from anywhere in the country. This is why developing a TON of content on your own website and really “owning the space” for the specific topic your business is centered in is pivotal. Your goal should be to appear in search results whenever someone searches ANYTHING even slightly relative to your niche/sector.

Craft Content Targeting the Full Funnel

Another way to think about national SEO is to consider the funnel. “Full-spectrum CBD oil for sale”, for example, is considered a low-funnel keyword because:

  1. The person searching that keyword knows exactly what they are looking for
  2. The intent behind this keyword is purchase-driven (they included “for sale”)

While “full-spectrum vs broad-spectrum CBD oil” is considered a mid-funnel or high-funnel keyword. The person searching this query is still in the research phase and they might not be ready to buy. So your goal should be to craft content that speaks to that person and convinces them to buy your full-spectrum CBD oil over the competition.

Consistency is Key

At the end of the day, if you want to be successful with a national SEO campaign, develop a long-term strategy and stick to it. It may take 6 months or 2 years to see the results you want, but along this journey, you will be building amazing content that your audience will love and that you will be able to use in other marketing channels such as social, email, and more.

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