Recently started a cannabis website and are struggling to grow it? We get your troubles! Cannabis is a rapidly evolving industry in terms of legalization and increasing market demand around the world.
While that creates ample opportunities for cannabis business growth, the silver lining comes when you enter into an ultra-competitive online cannabis space where standing out is tougher than ever. On top of that, mainstream advertising restrictions make cannabis website SEO far more challenging than other industries.
That’s where backlinks come to the rescue! High quality cannabis backlinks can skyrocket search engine rankings, build domain authority, and rope in consistent, relevant organic traffic from reputable cannabis niche sources.
In this blog, we will discuss how to build quality cannabis backlinks and dominate your niche in an unimaginably short span of time.
Why Backlinks Matter for Cannabis Websites?
Amidst the many SEO techniques that boost a cannabis website's rankings, quality cannabis backlinks deliver the maximum impact! Let’s understand how.
Raises Domain Authority
High-quality backlinks from reputable cannabis-related sites signal Google that your brand is genuine, reliable, and worth referring to. This enhances your domain authority over time, helping you gain better search visibility and an upper hand to compete against established players in the industry.
Enhances Site Credibility
In an industry still fighting stigma and misinformation, credibility is everything. Backlinks from respected cannabis blogs, medical journals, or well-known dispensaries serve as third-party endorsements, validating your expertise and building consumer trust regarding your content or products.
Increases Organic Traffic
Backlinks for cannabis websites also act as a gateway to increase organic traffic. The more contextually a backlink is placed on a relevant source, the higher the chances of it driving natural clicks from users. Moreover, unlike paid ads, which stop working the moment you stop paying, backlinks provide a steady influx of visitors for a long time, absolutely free of cost.
Boosts SERP Rankings
Google’s ranking algorithm considers backlinks to be a top ranking factor for a cannabis website, determining its SERP position on the platform. A diverse and quality backlink profile instantly boosts your site’s online rankings for competitive cannabis-related keywords with extremely high user search intent.
Maximizes Brand Exposure
Getting your cannabis backlinks featured on industry-specific websites, cannabis directories, and popular blogs introduces your brand to a wider audience. Whether it’s a mention in a dispensary review site or a guest post on a CBD health blog, every backlink expands your reach and cements your brand’s presence in the cannabis space.
Brings Relevant Traffic to Drive Conversions
Backlinks don’t just drive any traffic but attract targeted visitors genuinely interested in cannabis products and information. The visitors you receive are already primed to engage with your site, increasing the chances of new subscriptions, purchases, and inquiries. In short, better backlinks lead to better conversion rates.
What Makes a High-Quality Cannabis Backlink?
Not all backlinks deliver the same or equal impact! While some can boost your site’s SEO on multiple fronts, others may negatively affect its growth and do more harm than good. The key is to focus on building high-quality cannabis backlinks that can take you to the top of the game. Here are a few factors you can consider to ensure the same.
Relevancy of the Website
Backlinks work best when they come from industry-related sources. A link from a well-known cannabis blog, dispensary directory, or CBD-focused health website carries more weight than one from a random, unrelated niche.
Site Domain Authority
Not all websites hold the same SEO power. Backlinks from high Domain Authority (DA) sites pass more link juice than those from low-DA or spammy sources. You can use tools like Moz, Ahrefs, and SEMrush to check website DA before placing a backlink on it. Our experts recommend choosing sites with DA higher or equal to 60 for best results.
Content Quality
A backlink’s strength also depends on where and how it’s placed within the host content. A natural, contextual placement in a well-written cannabis article targeting a competitive cannabis keyword is far more valuable than a generic link buried in a low-quality, keyword-stuffed post.
Best Types of Cannabis Backlinks
While the quality of cannabis backlinks matters a lot, a diverse profile featuring different types of backlinks can further enhance its value. Let’s discuss the prominent cannabis backlink types that can help you acquire top spots on search engines.
Guest Posting on Cannabis Blogs
One of the most reliable ways to earn backlinks is through guest posting on reputable niche websites. It involves writing a high-value article for a trusted cannabis blog and placing your link naturally in the content and/ or the author bio, according to the host’s linking guidelines.
You can pitch the whole thing via a professionally crafted email. If approved, your article and backlink will feature on the blog in a few days.
Promote Your Content
Another way to generate backlinks is by actively promoting your cannabis content on multiple, highly visited platforms like media outlets, online forums, community sites, magazines, and social media platforms. This not only helps you acquire backlinks but also expand your reach to a wider audience.
Collaborate with Influencers
Collaboration with influencers, whether they’re product reviewers, social media personalities, or industry experts, can be a goldmine for backlinks in the cannabis space, especially considering its restrictive ad placement policies on search engines like Google. You can partner with them for review mentions, interviews, or social media mentions, requesting them to feature a link back to your website. Just be sure to choose influencers whose audience aligns with your brand.
Niche Specific Links
You can also generate backlinks by submitting your short content on niche edits. Unlike guest posts, these help drive niche relevant traffic back to your site, instantly boosting your conversions by huge numbers.
HARO (Help a Reporter Out)
Many media outlets often generate cannabis-related queries seeking expert insights. They appear as Help a Reporter Out (HARO) questions every now and then on their dailies and weeklies. Look for relevant HAROs and respond to them with valuable, well-crafted quotes and opinions. They can help you win backlinks on major news outlets, cannabis publications, and business blogs.
How to Build High-Authority Cannabis Backlinks?
Building high-authority cannabis backlinks requires devising a careful stepwise plan and implementing it consistently until you experience the first SEO results. Thankfully, we’ve done the hard part! Here are the detailed steps you need to take to build high-quality cannabis backlinks for your website.
Identify a High DA, Niche Cannabis Site
Start by manually searching and identifying cannabis-related websites with a strong Domain Authority (DA) and an audience relevant to your niche. You can consider dispensary directories, cannabis business blogs, industry news sites, or CBD wellness platforms for the purpose.
Evaluate Their Backlink Placement Guidelines
Next, study the platform’s guidelines and regulations regarding backlink placement. You can also review their previously published backlink posts to get a better context. This helps you make an informed pitch to the host site and increases your chances of getting published.
Get Started on The Content and Link Placement
Once you know their linking guidelines, start working on high-value, informative, and keyword-rich content to host your backlink. Make sure the topic is relevant to the host site and adds value to their reading community. Contextual placement of the link is important to drive natural clicks by relevant users.
Pitch Your Cannabis Content and Link
Craft a personalized pitch to the site owner, editor, or content manager. Explain why your content is relevant, how it benefits their audience, and in what manner your link adds value to their brand. Avoid generic outreach emails that are prone to ignorance by your target site.
Promote the Published Content
Once your pitch is approved and your backlink is live, maximize its impact by sharing it across your social media channels, email newsletters, and cannabis communities. Engaging with the post through comments, shares, and discussions is bound to increase traffic to both your and the host’s site.
Conclusion
Quality and diversified backlinks for a cannabis website serve multiple purposes. They help boost organic traffic, enhance your brand’s credibility among the target audience, improve your site’s authority viewed by search engines, and indirectly increase your SERP rankings over time.
All these benefits combine to lead your cannabis brand on the path of long-term financial success. Now that you have a roadmap on how to build cannabis backlinks, it’s time to get into action! Secure those links on reputable niche platforms and gain a competitive advantage among your peers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can backlinks from non-cannabis websites still help my SEO?
Yes, but to a limited extent. You won’t see much impact. It’s better to try and acquire links from cannabis-related platforms with high reputations and domain ratings, which are extremely influential among your niche audience. They’ll drive targeted organic traffic that you can convert to viable customers with negligible effort.
Is it possible to get free backlinks for my cannabis website?
Absolutely! You can earn free backlinks from guest posts, niche edits, media placements, directory and forum submissions, social media sharing, HARO, and more. In fact, Google places higher importance on free backlinks than sponsored, paid links that do little to solve user queries and mostly serve the brand’s interests.
Is buying backlinks safe?
Yes, buying backlinks is legal and safe if you purchase them from a trusted source. 747 Media House is the best link building agency for buying high-quality backlinks for your website. We have a longstanding track record of helping brands grow their digital footprint with a solid backlink profile.
Are PBNs a good option for cannabis websites?
No, building cannabis links on Private Blog Networks (PBNs) can do more harm than good. PBNs are sites solely built to host backlinks and are not relevant to industry users. Google considers PBN links manipulative and actively penalizes them.
What are spammy backlinks, and how do I remove them?
Spammy backlinks come from low-quality, irrelevant, or black-hat SEO sites and can hurt your rankings. In the worst cases, they can even lead to penalization by search engines. To remove them, use Google Search Console to identify toxic links and submit a disavow request through Google’s Disavow Tool.
