Cannabis Keywords List by Search Intent and Page Type

Each step below removes keyword families the store cannot back up.

1. 1List what the license allows: adult-use, medical, delivery, pickup. Drop every family the license does not cover.
2. 2List what the store sells by category and brand, taken from the live menu.
3. 3Swap [city], [neighborhood] and [state] for the places the store serves, keeping only neighborhoods the store can say something true about.
4. 4Check each remaining pattern in Search Console and in a keyword tool set to the store's area and a stated date range. Keep a relevant local pattern that shows no data in either, and recheck it once a page targets it.
5. 5Assign each family that survives to one page type, using the tables below.

Three kinds of data get mixed up at this step. Search Console reports impressions, which Google's Search Console help defines as how many times your site appeared in Search results, so it covers only searches the site already shows up for. A keyword tool gives estimated search volume, which is a model rather than a count, so set it to the store's state or metro and note the date range. The third kind is data you do not have yet: a page that does not appear in results for a term records no impressions for it. Google's help also says the Performance report doesn't show all data, and that tables in the performance reports omit rare queries to protect user privacy. A blank row in Search Console is missing data, not proof of zero demand. Compare the sources by family rather than by single keyword.

Measure a mapping change on the page the family was assigned to, comparing matching date ranges before and after. Bud Authority's services FAQ states it reports monthly on map pack visibility, organic clicks, calls, direction requests and menu visits against a Search Console and GA4 baseline, and does not promise a ranking or a date.

Some searches pair a product or strain with a symptom or condition, in the form [product] for [condition]. A page built to rank for that pattern can imply a health claim, even where the copy never states one. Each state below restricts health claims in cannabis advertising, but scope and exceptions differ: Illinois, for example, exempts educational messages from its advertising content and placement restrictions. This is general information, not legal advice.

These seven are the only states this page has checked. Confirm any other state's rule with its regulator before writing a page that touches a condition search.

Do not build product or strain pages around condition keywords. Where the store holds a medical license, the page that can take a condition search is the medical program page, which explains eligibility and registration and links to the state program without saying what a product does for any condition.

Legality questions are a separate family: is recreational cannabis legal in [state], how much cannabis can you buy in [state], dispensary age requirement [state], medical card [state]. One guide or FAQ page per state holds that family and links the state regulator. Copying the same answer onto every location page splits it across URLs.

Google can render JavaScript. Its JavaScript SEO documentation says Googlebot queues all pages with a 200 HTTP status code for rendering, and that if the content isn't visible in the rendered HTML, Google won't be able to index it. A crawler that does not run JavaScript gets only the HTML the server sends, so for that crawler the menu, brand and product words have to be in that first response. In a Bud Authority crawl benchmark, 9 live reverse-proxied Dutchie storefronts fetched as GPTBot on 2026-10-12 returned a median of 2 readable body words and 0 H1 tags across all 9. Each storefront in that sample ships a JavaScript application mount with almost no readable text and builds the menu in the browser after load. GPTBot is an AI crawler, so the benchmark shows what that crawler received, not what Google indexes. For Google, the URL Inspection tool reports on Google's indexed version of a page, so check a menu, brand or product URL there. The rest of the Google side is covered in why a dispensary goes missing from Google.

Strain and terpene pages describe what a strain is, its terpene profile from the lab report, and what customers report about it. They promise no outcome, and a row that pairs a strain with a condition falls under the health-claim rules above.

Whether a deals page can exist depends on the state, and in Massachusetts on the license type. For adult-use licensees, 935 CMR 500.105(4) prohibits advertising discounts, coupons, points-based rewards and loyalty programs. The Cannabis Control Commission's September 25, 2026 bulletin says Chapter 65 of the Acts of 2026 did not extend discount allowances to licensee websites, and that until further notice a reduced or promotional price shown on an online menu is advertising. Licensees may still adjust listed prices and offer bundled pricing, as long as it is not communicated as free, discounted or promotional. The same bulletin says the medical regulations, 935 CMR 501.000, do not prohibit advertising discounts on medical products offered to patients, and that a colocated operation must clearly indicate that any such discount applies only to medical products for patients and is not offered to adult-use consumers. So an adult-use store in Massachusetts should not build day-of-week specials or first-time discount pages, while a medical deals page has to state that its offers are for patients only.

New York allows them for adult-use products, with conditions. Amended 129.3 permits advertising discounts, coupons, points-based rewards and loyalty programs, provided the product is not sold below market value, tax is charged on the pre-discount price, and off-premises ads run only through 21+ channels. For other states, check the state cannabis advertising laws first. Where deals are allowed, the page should pull its terms from the live menu rather than restate them in copy that goes stale.

For hours, Google says businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results. The hours on the location page and on the Business Profile should match, every holiday included.

The mapping check is the one described above: write the family next to each URL and compare what Google shows for its variants. The free Bud Authority audit is a separate, technical check. It runs an automated technical scan and shows its report card on screen, and it does not assign keywords to pages. For the mapping work itself, see cannabis SEO at Bud Authority, where engagements are quoted after an audit. Other page types are covered in the search guides for dispensaries.