Digital PR and link building
Cannabis Digital PR and Link Building
Step 01
Identify
Find the journalists already covering cannabis. News alerts, the reporters themselves on social, the journalism community, whoever is covering your competitors, and the industry publication mastheads. Build a list of fifty or more.
Month 1 to 2
Step 02
Engage
Engage with their work without pitching it. Read and share articles with thoughtful comments, answer the questions they put out, tag them in relevant industry news. Do not pitch yet. Build awareness.
Month 2 to 4
Step 03
Introduce
Send an introduction, not a pitch. A specific observation about something they recently wrote, a line on who you are, and an ask for a call. The goal of this email is a conversation, not coverage.
Month 4
Step 04
Pitch
Once the relationship exists, pitch only stories that match their beat, built as newsworthiness plus source value plus ease. Cold pitching lands at 2 to 5 percent. The relationship is the variable that moves that number.
Month 6 onward
The channels
Where the links actually come from
Digital PR campaigns
Newsworthy announcements, expert positioning and thought leadership, run across three to five journalists and publications rather than blasted at fifty.
40 to 60 backlinks per quarter
Original research
Proprietary survey and market data, published as a report. Journalists cite it because they need the numbers, and every citation carries a link back to the report.
20 to 50 backlinks per study
24 to 48
Expert source responses
backlinks annually
DR 50 to 70
Guest posting bylines
typical link authority
15 to 20%
Broken link replacement
acceptance rate
Anchor text
The distribution a natural link profile actually holds
- Branded anchors
- 35%
- Naked URLs
- 20%
- Generic anchors
- 20%
- Partial match
- 15%
- Exact match
- 10%
The brand name, the bare domain, the team name
The raw address, pasted as written
Click here, learn more, this guide, read the full report
Cannabis marketing strategies, dispensary SEO tips
Used sparingly. Exact match at scale triggers algorithmic penalties
Why it compounds
The first ten links are the hard ones
Original research
Become the data source and you become the permanent citation target
- MJBizDaily
- Leafly
- Cannabis Business Times
- High Times
- Weedmaps
- Cannabis Dispensary Magazine
- Cannabis and Tech Today
- mg Magazine
- Green Entrepreneur
- Ganjapreneur
PR and links
The questions operators ask before funding a link program
6 answered
- 01Why does PR matter for cannabis authority?
- Cannabis authority requires third party validation. Your own content says you are great, third party coverage proves it. Backlinks from authoritative sources signal trust to search engines, and one link from a cannabis industry authority beats ten links from irrelevant sites.
- 02How do you start a journalist relationship?
- Research the journalists covering cannabis, read their articles, comment thoughtfully, share their work, and build rapport over months before you pitch anything. Relationship building is slow and it compounds. One relationship generates three to five pieces of coverage over twelve months.
- 03What makes a cannabis story newsworthy?
- A launch, an expansion, original data, a partnership, an advocacy position, or a real innovation. Generic company exists is not news. Company launches an education program is news. Work backward from what journalists already cover.
- 04What is broken link building?
- You find broken links on authority sites, identify or create content of your own covering the same topic, and pitch it as the replacement. Cannabis sites break links constantly as dispensaries close and resources go stale. Acceptance runs 15 to 20 percent, which is higher than most outreach.
- 05What is a competitor link gap?
- A site linking to two or more of your competitors but not to you. Those sites are pre qualified, because they have already demonstrated a willingness to link to cannabis content. Export competitor referring domains, cross reference against your own, then filter by domain authority.
- 06Does expert source outreach work in cannabis?
- It connects journalists seeking sources with industry professionals, and cannabis queries appear across business, health, lifestyle and technology categories. Three daily emails carry the requests and the window is typically 24 to 48 hours, so speed decides it. Ten or more responses a month consistently lands two to four placements.
Link quality
One DR 70 industry link beats fifty DR 10 directory links
| Criteria | Worth the outreach | Not worth the outreach |
|---|---|---|
| Domain Rating | DR 30 plus as the floor, DR 50 plus for priority targeting | Below DR 20, unless the topical fit is perfect |
| Topical relevance | Covers cannabis, health, wellness, retail or local business | Topically irrelevant, so the value carried is diminished |
| Traffic value | Real organic traffic, so the link delivers referrals as well as ranking value | Zero traffic, which provides minimal SEO benefit |
| Link placement | Editorial, inside body content, where placement signals a genuine endorsement | Sidebar, footer or author bio |
| Anchor text | A natural mix of branded, naked, generic and occasional keyword rich | Exact match at scale, which triggers algorithmic penalties |
| Link neighborhood | Links out to topically adjacent sites | Also links to gambling, pharma or adult content |
The full discipline
Every piece of this discipline, in 8 deep dives
- 01Cannabis Broken Link BuildingRead the breakdown
- 02Cannabis Guest Posting StrategyRead the breakdown
- 03Cannabis Industry PR ServicesRead the breakdown
- 04Cannabis Influencer PartnershipsRead the breakdown
- 05Cannabis Journalist Outreach StrategyRead the breakdown
- 06Cannabis PR Campaign StrategyRead the breakdown
- 07Cannabis Resource Page Link BuildingRead the breakdown
- 08Cannabis Unlinked Mention RecoveryRead the breakdown
Start the program