Age Verification Gates and SEO – We Answer All Your Questions

Although more governments are legalizing the use of cannabis, there are still many unknowns.

Laws and regulations are quite ambiguous to err on the side of caution, leaving business owners scratching their heads. In this blog post, we answer your questions about age verification gates and SEO. 

We’re no lawyers, so please don’t take this as legal advice.  We want to point out resources to help you legally promote your cannabis business.

Does my website need to have an age verification gate?

Age verification gates aren’t sexy. They kill the flow of your website’s user experience and it makes your website feel raunchy. You’re selling cannabis, not porn. 

So, do you really need it? In Canada, the law doesn’t explicitly call for it. In the USA, it depends. Regardless, it’s one of those better-safe-than-sorry situations.

Here’s what you need to know:

In Canada, The Cannabis Act prohibits any business in the cannabis industry from promoting their products and services to individuals that are 18 years old or younger. The age differs from province to province. For example, the legal age is 21 in Quebec but the youngest age country-wide is 18.

The act does not state that age verification gates are required but it explains that prohibited promotion includes communicating information about your brand, product or service. In the act, it’s referred to as “informational promotion” or “brand-preference promotion”. Websites, social media and email newsletters all fit the description to a tee. 

Age verification gates are a way of avoiding minors from accessing your content, or “informational promotion” as the government would call it. 

In the USA, the laws and regulations regarding the promotion of cannabis vary from state to state.

One of the key differences you’ll find is that the minors are 21 years old or younger in the USA. In any case, always consult a legal professional for their advice.

What if minors lie about their age?

That’s very much possible. And this is the number one flaw of age gates. They are not the most effective way of avoiding minors on your website, but it’s the best and most affordable option we have as of today.

We have to do our due diligence. Set up an age verification gate that logs each user response so that in the rare case that you’re accused of promoting to a minor, you have proof that she or he lied their way into your website. More on this later.

We understand that age gates are a dent in your website user experience but what would you rather protect? Your website experience or your business from a lawsuit. 

Will an age verification gate hurt my SEO?

Setting up the wrong kind of age verification gate, or doing it incorrectly, can hurt your SEO.

A common mistake is using an age-gate that blocks search engine crawlers from accessing, reading and ultimately indexing your website’s content on desktop, mobile or both.

How do I set up SEO-friendly age verification gate?

Here are our tips for setting up an age verification gate that will protect your business legally without compromising your search engine rankings.

1. Use a pop-up, not a web page

A common mistake is using a homepage as a verification gate. 

Your homepage is usually the most visited page on your website, and in terms of hierarchy, it’s the most important. Ideally, you want the on-page content to reflect that. The page should summarize what your business is all about and link to other pages on your website.

If you make your age gate your homepage, you’re not encouraging search engine crawlers to explore your entire website or rank it for a variety of keywords.

Instead, use a pop-up. 

2. Choose the right type of pop-up

If poorly designed, pop-ups can do more harm than good. (That goes for all kinds of pop-ups). They can be irritating, intrusive and spammy. Most plug-ins and apps nowadays are cautious of this. 

Just in case, here’s a checklist of what to look for when choosing a pop-up as your age verification gate.

• Unblockable.
  This will send a signal to ad-blockers that users must read the pop-up.

• Coded with Javascript. 
  Google has a hard time reading JavaScript which means your age verification gate will be just for your users, not search engines. As it should be.

• Not intrusive interstitials. 
  In Google’s books, the best kinds of pop-ups are overlay or modal pop-ups.

• Keep a log of IP addresses. 
  For your legal protection, keep a log of user responses and IP addresses. This might mean you will also have to request for permission to track cookies. 

If you’re looking for pop-up plug-ins, here are some resources:

• WordPress.
  Here’s a list of plug-ins.

• Squarespace. 
  Age verification gates aren’t supported by Squarespace. You’ll need custom coding by a third-party developer.

• Shopify.
  Age verification gates aren’t supported by Shopify. You’ll need custom coding by a third-party developer. If you want to try to DIY it, here’s a tutorial.
  

3. Make sure it’s mobile-friendly

Google uses a mobile-first index. In other words, it judges our website’s mobile version before the desktop version. Which means what’s mobile goes. Make sure your age verification gate pop-up is mobile-friendly. 

For SEO and UX, it’s best practice to design the pop-up to make up a maximum of 30% of the mobile screen’s height. Here are Google’s complete guidelines on mobile-friendly pop-ups.

Should repeat visitors verify their age?

If you don’t want to ask repeat visitors to verify their age, ask a developer to add a sitewide code that can check for the presence of an age verification cookie value for each visit. 

If it can’t find the age verification cookie value, it will trigger the pop-up.

Keep in mind, that different individuals can visit your website from the same IP address if they’re sharing a space or computer. This may not give you the legal protection you need. 

Proceed at your own peril.

Does my email newsletter and social media need age verification?

If you’ve already gone through the trouble of setting up an age verification gate for your website, maybe you’re thinking “why don’t I just go all the way and add my social media and email newsletters to the mix?” Go for it. If you’re going to do your due diligence, do it across the board.

For email newsletters, simply add an additional term or condition for subscribers to check when opting in. As for social media, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter allow accounts to enable their age gate from their settings.

Heads up, this will affect your reach. Social media platforms don’t ask users if they are of age or not. They will rely solely on user settings and cookies to decide if you’ll be allowed to see an account.

Written by Daniela Furtado.

Daniela is Cannabis Marketing School's founder and lead instructor. She is also the managing director and founder of our parent agency, Findable Digital Marketing. 

When she's not at work, you can find her learning a new language, salsa dancing, or cooking up a storm!

About Daniela | Email