When most people think of SEO, they think of changes they can make to their website to improve rank visibility. While that’s important, it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Offsite SEO, or SEO techniques on other websites, are just as crucial to a successful SEO strategy as onsite techniques. Backlinks — a type of offsite SEO — are one of the most essential parts of any successful SEO strategy. Keep reading for an overview of improving backlink SEO for your cannabis website.
What is Backlink SEO?
SEO Backlinks are links to your site from other websites. For example, if you got to this blog by clicking a link on another website — that was a backlink.
What Are Cannabis Backlinks?
Cannabis backlinks are simply backlinks that relate to cannabis. They are often, but not always, hosted on a cannabis-related site.
Why is Backlink SEO Important for Cannabis Companies?
Right off the bat, backlinks are important because they improve your site’s SEO value. Search algorithms that decide where pages rank will consider the amount and quality of the backlinks to your site when determining your rank.
Backlinks are also a powerful way to increase your brand reach. The more sites that mention your website, either by name or through backlinks, the larger your virtual footprint; The larger your virtual footprint, the more likely consumers are to have heard of your brand — and getting your brand in front of consumers is the first step to making sales.
High-value backlinks, or backlinks hosted on widely trusted websites, can also improve your credibility. This is especially important for companies in the cannabis industry vying for legitimacy: Backlinks on other trustworthy websites can go a long way toward building credibility for your brand and the cannabis industry as a whole.
What Makes a Good Backlink?
As you might have guessed, not all backlinks are created equal. Good backlinks will improve your SEO value, while bad backlinks can actually harm your ranking.
High-quality backlinks should be naturally worked into optimized content and attached to concise, descriptive anchor text. The backlinks should direct browsers to a relevant, helpful, deep-level page on your site. Most importantly, the backlinks should be on a trustworthy site with good SEO value.
The Dangers of Low-Quality Backlinks
Bad backlinks can be separated into two general categories: ineffective backlinks and toxic backlinks.
Ineffective backlinks are those that are on sites with low SEO value, those that are placed poorly, or those that are linked incorrectly. These will likely have a minimal impact on your site’s SEO value and overall impact, so they are essentially a waste of time and effort.
Toxic backlinks, on the other hand, can actively harm your SEO value. Toxic backlinks are primarily those on untrustworthy or spammy websites. Your ranking will suffer if a search algorithm learns to associate your site with sites like these through backlinking.
To avoid the negative SEO ramifications of toxic backlinks, you will need to regularly monitor the backlinks to your website and disavow toxic ones since you can’t always control who links to you in what context. Again, this is especially important for cannabis companies looking to build legitimacy for themselves and the industry; just a few toxic backlinks can severely harm your brand’s reputation.
Backlink SEO is crucial for your cannabis brand’s online visibility. Click the above image to connect with our team of experienced cannabis backlink SEO service consultants today.
How to Get Good SEO Backlinks for Cannabis Companies
Landing high-quality backlinks takes effort, but the results are worth it.
One of the best ways to get good backlinks is to partner with other cannabis companies you have a good relationship with. If your products or services are complementary rather than competitive, you can form mutually beneficial partnerships and swap backlinks on each other’s sites.
Guest blogs are another excellent way to land high-quality backlinks. In these situations, your company will post content to another company’s blog or website. They will almost always allow you to insert a link or two back to your own site.
You can also try to land coverage in product or gift guides for some guaranteed backlinks. These backlinks will link directly to products on your site, so they are an excellent opportunity to convert customers.
Finally, striving for good SEO value overall can help organically land high-quality backlinks. The higher your search rank, the more likely people are to find your website, reference it, and link to it on their own site.
Combining SEO and Marketing for Effective Backlinks
An effective media marketing plan can also help support your backlinking strategy. High-quality press coverage, thoughtful content, and impactful marketing efforts all contribute to a rich online presence for your cannabis company, which makes it easier to land quality backlinks.
A Cannabis SEO Marketing Firm Can Improve Your Backlinks
Consistently checking backlinks, disavowing toxic ones, landing new backlinks, and keeping your site updated is a big job, especially on top of everyday operations. Hiring a cannabis SEO company for link building services will take the work off your plate and make your strategy more effective.
NisonCo has over ten years of experience in the cannabis industry, a rich SEO knowledge base, and a strong network of cannabis industry contacts. Our media marketing, internet marketing, and content marketing teams will work together to help your cannabis company succeed with the help of backlinks.
We’re also proud to offer a number of flexible cannabis SEO package options, whether you just need help securing backlinks or want a complete site overhaul. Contact us today for a free SEO audit to learn how we can help you improve your cannabis SEO backlink strategy.
