Is It SEO Friendly? Shopping Software for Cannabis Retailers

Today, let’s talk about how to shop for retail softwares. I'm talking about website systems, e-commerce platforms, loyalty softwares and POS systems.

People often wonder, “Is it SEO-friendly?”. Instead, I encourage you to ask, “How friendly is it?” 

Google’s algorithm has 200 ranking factors. That means SEO isn’t about doing 2 or 3 things; it’s about doing 200. This also means something can be 50% or 80% friendly. It can be friendly in some ways but not others. 

Since your business needs are unique and digital products quickly change, I can’t confidently give you an answer. What I can do is teach you how to go about finding the right fit on your own.

The best answer for you comes down to this: balance Google's ranking factors with your business needs.

Google's Ranking Factors

We can put those 200 ranking factors into these 5 groups.

• Local

  Google matches users with businesses based on location. Do you make your location clear throughout your website? Is your Google Maps listing active? With the most reviews around?
  

• Content

  If you want to get on Google for “cannabis store Edmonton,” use those keywords on your website. The more content and pages you have – like blog posts or e-commerce product pages – the more opportunities you have to use and rank for keywords. 

• Technical

  Is your website and e-commerce easy for Google’s bots to crawl and index? Or is it coded with iFrames, JavaScript, heavy files and images? How do you manage internal linking and 404 pages?

• Backlinks

  You can say you’re the “best cannabis store” all over your website, but if no one is saying that about you, your words only have so much weight. Do digital PR and get backlinks.

• Design & UX

  Is your website intuitive to navigate for humans? Is the e-commerce experience seamless?

Your Business Needs

Are all 200 ranking factors equally important? No. It depends on your business needs.

• Website Size

  The larger your website, the more important technical SEO is, and the less important content SEO is. Websites of more than 500 pages are considered large.

  With e-commerce, each product has a unique page and URL. How many pages will you have in 1 to 5 years? If you anticipate a large website, look for platforms that make it easy to create and manage mass product pages – even when they are no longer in stock.
  

• Business Goals and Model

  As a brick-and-mortar, since your goal is to increase sales through foot traffic, local SEO is most important to you. Look for tools that make it easy to get Google Maps reviews.

  An edible brand, however, aims to increase brand awareness, so content and design are most important to them. Their best SEO tools make it easy to show the features and benefits of their products on their website while still ranking for branded keywords.
  

• Balance Needs Unrelated to SEO 

  Say you’re eyeing a POS system that has a compliance or order management feature that you love ... but their e-commerce SEO is subpar. These are factors that you'll have to weigh. Ask about their product development plans or consider multiple products instead of an all-in-one.

The next time you shop softwares, measure the product against ranking factors and what’s relevant to you.

Happy shopping!