Cannabis SEO, AEO and GEO
Cannabis is the vertical we have measured most. We make cannabis businesses the name Google shows and the name AI gives.
SEO, AEO and GEO are one job here. Search engines and answer engines read the same pages. We run it as a single program, and we measure it across Google, the Map Pack, and ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.
Why cannabis is different
Most industries can buy their way back into the conversation. Cannabis cannot.
Google Ads prohibits advertising substances that induce highs. You cannot buy the Map Pack or the space beside it. You rank there, or you are not there. Organic search is not one channel among many in this category. It is the channel you are allowed to win.
The work is also more technical than standard local SEO. Menu platforms, state compliance rules and sites that render their content in JavaScript where crawlers cannot read it. All of that makes being findable harder here than almost anywhere else.
Two kinds of cannabis business, two different jobs
Your customer walks in the door.
Someone asks AI or Maps for a shop like yours, nearby, and gets a shortlist. You need to be on it.
This is the visibility program. We do not sell outreach to a store, because you cannot cold email someone walking down the street.
Your customer is another business.
A dispensary buyer asks who to order from. That answer decides the account. You need to be the name it gives, and you need to reach those buyers directly.
This is visibility plus the Lead Engine: researched outreach to named decision-makers, with replies handled and meetings booked.
What we actually do
Make the content readable where AI reads
AI engines do not run JavaScript. Anything that only renders client-side is invisible to them, however well it ranks in Google. We make your facts extractable in plain markup.
Own the Map Pack
For a dispensary, the three results Google shows on a local map are the best customers you will ever have, and you cannot pay for them. Profile work, local pages, service areas and review flow.
Build the pages engines quote from
Comparison pages are the format AI engines cite most, because the facts sit side by side in a form they can lift. We build those pages and give each one inbound authority.
Correct what the engines get wrong
When one engine states a wrong fact about you, the others repeat it. Wrong facts compound. We fix the source page and re-verify, and every engine corrects at once.
Reach B2B buyers directly
If you sell to dispensaries, brands or shops, the Lead Engine finds the buyers showing real signals, reaches the decision-maker with a reason specific to them, and handles the replies.
Proof: our own business, measured
GMI Custom Grinders is our own brand, an ancillary supplier to the cannabis industry. It ranked #1 on Google and was cited zero times by AI engines. After this work it is named by all four, and #1 on the highest-intent questions.
“GMI is the factory: they cut every grinder from raw aircraft-grade aluminium on their own CNC machines, whereas almost every other supplier buys finished grinders from overseas and prints a logo on top.”
Claude, head-to-head comparison
Read the full case study, including the six buyer questions, the four engines and the verbatim answers.
Questions
Is cannabis SEO different from normal SEO?
The fundamentals are the same. The constraints are not. Google Ads prohibits advertising substances that induce highs, so you cannot buy the Map Pack or the space beside it. You rank there, or you are not there. The work is also more technical than most local SEO: menu platforms, state compliance, and sites that render their content in JavaScript where crawlers cannot read it.
Do we need AEO and GEO separately from SEO?
No. They are names for the same work. AEO stands for answer engine optimization, GEO for generative engine optimization. Both mean making sure AI assistants name your business when someone asks. It runs inside the SEO program, not beside it. We report on it separately only because the measurement is different.
We are a dispensary. Do you sell us outreach?
No. Your customer walks in the door, and you cannot cold email a consumer. Shops get the visibility program. Outreach is for businesses that sell to other businesses, like cultivators, processors, brands and suppliers.
How long until we see results?
Technical fixes move first, often within weeks. AI answers and authority take longer. Anyone promising page one in 30 days is guessing, and in this category the guess is usually wrong.
Why is the price not on the site?
Because a single number would be wrong for a one-store shop and wrong again for a twelve-store group. We will quote yours in writing, scoped to your locations and state. Programs start at $997/mo. Typical cannabis programmes run $2,500-3,500/mo. Month to month, cancel anytime.
See what AI says about your business
We run your buyers' real questions across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, and show you whether you are named, and who is named instead.
Get my free report Prefer to talk it through? Get in touch. We reply within a day.Cannabis is one of several verticals we work in. See what YourCite does in general, or ask about yours.