Search is all about staying relevant for the moment while keeping one eye on what’s to come. The changes expected to come to SEO and search engines in 2025 promise to be significant. And as one of the safest channels for cannabis companies to advertise, it’s crucial that all businesses in our industry pay attention to and prepare for what’s to come.
Where is search headed in 2025, and what should cannabis companies do to stay ahead of the competition? CannaContent’s Director of Search Strategy Moeima Dukuly and Founder & Content Strategist Stella Morrison hosted a LinkedIn Live to dive into the good, the bad, and the ugly. A high-level recap of the conversation is below, and we encourage you to watch the whole video for the details!
1. Prepare for zero-click searches
As AI Overviews (Google), Bing Generative Search, SearchGPT, and others deliver information quickly as a summary, searches will be less inclined to click. This phenomenon is called “zero click search.” In an industry where success is often measured by clicks, SEOs and their clients should be prepared to incorporate other indicators that a campaign is working in addition to clicks.
CannaContent’s advice: Don’t panic. Whenever a major change comes to search like the one we’re experiencing now, there’s always a wave of worry that search marketing is “dead.” It’s not dead; it’s simply shifting. It’s somewhat similar to when featured snippets rolled out a decade ago. At the time, marketers worried that searchers would read the summary at the top and not click the accompanying link. While AI searches are much different in the way they work and the real estate they take up on a search results page, the concerns about the feature “taking away clicks” are similar.
2. Get serious about hyper-local results
This tip is for the dispensaries. As search engines get smarter about how they sort and present search results, local results will get more specific, down to the block. It’s been the case for quite some time that search engines will adjust results to your location, but it’s expected to get even more fine-tuned this year.
CannaContent’s advice: We think that the block-by-block drill-down is most likely to come to cities (like NYC) and similarly populated areas first. If you see searches shift to pulling more people close by and fewer farther away, that’s to be expected. The question is how to build relevance in still reasonably commutable places.
3. Google is not the only search engine
When we say “Google,” we mean all search engines. Google has become a verb in the way we use Band-Aid for bandage and Kleenex for tissue. But that does not mean that you should only focus on Google performance when working on your site’s online presence.
Google makes up the vast majority of the searches conducted in the United States — by most estimates, around 91%. Although that percentage used to be higher, holding the market share for more than 9 out of 10 searches is still massive. Ignoring Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines is a missed opportunity.
CannaContent’s advice: Start caring about your presence on other search engines. We don’t yet know how Google’s market share will shift in 2025. Penalties in the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google have yet to be handed down. If the DOJ forces Google to give up or reevaluate its partnerships, this could have a significant effect on people’s access to the platform.
The question becomes: will people still turn to Google because of brand recognition, or will they try a different search engine if Google is not readily available on products like iPhones? Time will tell.
4. Social and search go hand-in-hand
How people find information is critical to SEO. And in 2025, we’ll find more people turning to places outside of search engines to find it.
Younger people are not using Google as much as older folks, millennials and older, turn to the platform. Highly-coveted Gen Z is likelier to utilize TikTok and other social media platforms before they turn to Google to get information. On the flipside, boomers use Google way more than most people think. They’re also asking younger people in their life for recommendations and suggestions. (The offline discussions are just as key as those that happen online — another reason your brand is so important.)
Of course, social media restrictions for cannabis make it difficult for both plant-touching and ancillary companies to leverage these platforms to their full potential. TikTok and Meta products are particularly difficult to navigate, even though they’re among the most popular. LinkedIn has taken off in the cannabis industry in part because discussions about the plant are allowed on there (within reasonable limitations).
CannaContent’s advice: Dismissing the role of social in your SEO strategy is a huge mistake because search engines are not the be-all, end-all of information gathering. It’s important to remember that platforms that aren’t formal search engines are being used for the same ends. Reddit, Quora, TikTok — these are search engines in the sense that they’re used to learn new things, conduct research, and discover things to do and places to go. Take that seriously.
Cannabis-specific observations going into 2025
- AI Overviews haven’t touched much — yet. From our observations, AI Overviews on Google haven’t rolled out for specific dispensaries or brands. They have rolled out for more broad queries about cannabis. That doesn’t mean it’s not coming for retail, though. Just as we were prepared for AI overviews in 2024, we assume they will arrive sometime in 2025.
- Google Business Profile (GBP) summaries haven’t rolled out yet. Google is testing review summaries in other industries. These summaries pull from GBP reviews and create a highlight of the most-mentioned things. They will often highlight a positive and a negative. An example might be: “Most reviewers said this store is clean and well-lit. However, some say that checkout is slow.” Use the time now to continue collecting 5-star reviews on GBP to highlight your store’s best features.
- Thought leadership continues to reign supreme. Search engines judge content on a framework abbreviated as “EEAT,” short for “experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness.” This looks different for B2B companies like financial service providers and software companies than for B2C companies like dispensaries and brands. In either case, a positive reputation and authority will continue to be relevant in the cannabis space (and all industries) into 2025.
Prioritize cannabis SEO in 2025
Traffic to your website from online search is extremely valuable, and it takes quite a lot of work to get there. You don’t want to find yourself falling behind as changes come up the pike rapid-fire. With an award-winning firm like CannaContent in your corner, you’ll be able to prepare for these challenges and changes as effectively as possible, for a great 2025 filled with growth and continued success.
Cannabis-specific observations going into 2025
- AI Overviews haven’t touched much — yet. From our observations, AI Overviews on Google haven’t rolled out for specific dispensaries or brands. They have rolled out for more broad queries about cannabis. That doesn’t mean it’s not coming for retail, though. Just as we were prepared for AI overviews in 2024, we assume they will arrive sometime in 2025.
- Google Business Profile (GBP) summaries haven’t rolled out yet. Google is testing review summaries in other industries. These summaries pull from GBP reviews and create a highlight of the most-mentioned things. They will often highlight a positive and a negative. An example might be: “Most reviewers said this store is clean and well-lit. However, some say that checkout is slow.” Use the time now to continue collecting 5-star reviews on GBP to highlight your store’s best features.
- Thought leadership continues to reign supreme. Search engines judge content on a framework abbreviated as “EEAT,” short for “experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness.” This looks different for B2B companies like financial service providers and software companies than for B2C companies like dispensaries and brands. In either case, a positive reputation and authority will continue to be relevant in the cannabis space (and all industries) into 2025.
Prioritize cannabis SEO in 2025
Traffic to your website from online search is extremely valuable, and it takes quite a lot of work to get there. You don’t want to find yourself falling behind as changes come up the pike rapid-fire. With an award-winning firm like CannaContent in your corner, you’ll be able to prepare for these challenges and changes as effectively as possible, for a great 2025 filled with growth and continued success.