Dispensaries
Get every store found.
The stores that show up in search and in AI answers are the ones people visit.
What it means
Two places people look before they visit.
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Google Search and Maps.
Someone near a store types a search on a phone, and Google shows a map with a short list of businesses under it. The stores in that list are the ones a person sees first. Working on which of your stores make that list is what people mean by local SEO.
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AI answers.
Some people now ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or the AI answer at the top of Google where to go instead of scrolling. Getting a store named there is what the newer terms GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization) describe.
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Why a dispensary leans on both.
Google does not allow ads for products that alter mental state for recreation (Google Ads policy), so for a cannabis retailer the unpaid results and the map carry the weight that ads carry for other shops.
How Google decides
Google names three things, and we work on each one.
Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and prominence, and that nobody can request or pay for a better local spot (Google Business Profile Help). So the work goes into the three things Google names, store by store.
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Relevance.
How well a store's listing matches what someone searched for. We fill in the categories, hours, services, and details Google asks for, and make your own site say the same thing.
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Distance.
How far the store is from the person searching. A store cannot move, so we check where it shows up across the neighborhoods your customers come from, not only at its own front door.
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Prominence.
How well known the store is. Google says this includes how many sites link to the business and how many reviews it has, so we work on both at a steady pace, inside Google's rules: the same review ask to every customer, and links from real sites.
Each month
What we do for every store, every month.
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The Google listing.
Hours, holiday hours, categories, photos, and store details are checked and corrected. Google can edit a listing from outside data, so we look for changes nobody on your team made and put the right facts back.
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Reviews.
Every customer is asked the same way, with your review link, because Google's rules do not let a business pick only the customers it expects to be pleased (Maps content policy). Replies to reviews are drafted for your approval.
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The same facts everywhere else.
Each store's name, address, phone, and hours are matched on the directories and map apps people and search engines read, including Apple Maps, Bing, Yelp, and the cannabis marketplaces.
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A page for each store.
Every location gets its own page on your site with its address, hours, and directions, written from facts about that store so no two pages read alike. We also check that the age check does not hide the whole site from search and AI crawlers.
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Mentions on real sites.
Links and mentions from local and industry sites that people actually read, added at a steady pace. No link farms, and nothing that breaks Google's spam rules.
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The monthly check.
The same searches, run from points around each store, and the same questions asked of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google's AI answer. We write down where each store appeared and where it did not.
How it starts
Four steps, in this order.
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Step 1
Write down where you stand.
Before anything changes, we record where each store shows up today: on a grid of points around it, in Google Search, and in the AI answers. Later months are compared with that record, not with a feeling.
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Step 2
Fix the basics first.
Listings, hours, categories, and store pages come first. They cost little to fix, and the rest of the work depends on them being right.
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Step 3
Build month by month.
Review asks, matching listings on other sites, mentions, and store pages are added steadily. Some changes show up within days and others take months, so we judge the work over a full quarter against your own starting point.
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Step 4
Report one page per store.
Each month you see what we did, where each store showed up, and the calls, direction requests, and website clicks Google reports for it. A tap on the call button is counted as a tap, not as a conversation.
A monthly line
What one store's month can look like on paper.
Store 2, September. Listing: holiday hours added, one wrong category removed. Reviews: 4 replies drafted and approved. Map check: in the short list at 9 of 25 points around the store, up from 6. AI answers: named in 2 of 12 questions. Google calls: 41 taps on the call button.
Limits
What nobody can promise.
Nobody can promise the top spot. Google says there is no way to pay for a better local position, and AI answers change from one day to the next. What you can count on is the work itself, written down each month, and a plain read on whether it moved anything.
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No rank or mention guarantee.
We will not promise a place in the map list or a mention in ChatGPT. Anyone who does is selling something other than search.
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Every figure has a source.
Each number in the report sits next to where it came from: Google's own reporting, your point of sale, or our map check, which is our measurement and is labelled that way.
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Store facts, not product claims.
Listings and store pages say where the store is, when it opens, and how to reach it. They carry no product, health, or promo claims, and anything new about the company waits for the person you named.
Your order
Your AI conversion system.
Getting found comes first, because nobody writes in or calls a store they never saw. After that, the conversion system for stores that share one menu continues with speed to lead when a shopper writes in, missed-call rescue when the floor misses a ring, review requests after a visit, and the weekly owner report, which gives each store its own Monday page. When chat on the current site is the only job, that is Botender.
Tonight
Two checks you can run before you call anyone.
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Does each store show up?
Stand outside each store, run the search a nearby customer would run, and ask ChatGPT the same question. The stores that do not appear are where the work starts.
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Do the hours match?
Pick one store and compare its hours on Google, on Maps, and on your own site. If they differ, the Google listing gets fixed first, because Search and Maps both read it.
After the search
The store they find has to answer the same way.
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The menu on the site.
Each store's page leads to what that store can actually sell, with the age check in front of it, and a clear way to reach a person.
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The question in the chat.
We built Botender to answer from a live Jane menu and hand the thread to staff when someone asks for a person.
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The promo that waits.
A deal or a note to a past customer is a promo, so it waits for the person who knows your state's limits. Google posts carry store news, never an offer.
Approval
Store facts can be fixed. A promo cannot leave alone.
A correction to hours, an address, or a category, in facts the company already approved, can go out after the checks. A deal, a new sentence about what a product does, a change to the age check, any Google post, or any medical claim waits until the person who may approve it for the company releases it.
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Goes out after the checks.
Hours, holiday hours, store details on listings and pages, menu facts pulled from the live menu, and the handoff to staff, in wording the company already accepts.
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Waits for the company.
Promos, discounts, review replies that say anything new, a claim about sleep or pain or anxiety, and any change to who may see the menu.
The retailer
More than one store, and one standard for all of them.
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Who it is for.
You run more than one licensed cannabis store, or you are opening the next one, and each store needs its own listing, its own page, and the same rules as the others.
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Who it is not for.
A grower or distributor without retail stores, a business without a license, and any brief that wants ads, bought reviews, or a sentence saying a product treats a condition.
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One store?
The work is written for several stores. If you run one, start with the Free Systems Plan and say so, and we will tell you whether this is the right start.
Questions
Questions from a multi-store retailer.
What do SEO, GEO, and AEO mean for a dispensary?
SEO is the work that helps a store show up when someone searches on Google, and local SEO is the part about Google Maps and the short list under the map. GEO and AEO are newer names for getting a store named when someone asks an AI tool such as ChatGPT or Google's AI answer. For a store, most of the work is the same: an accurate listing, real reviews, and clear pages on your own site.
Can you get our stores into the top three on Maps?
Nobody can promise the top spot. Google says there is no way to pay for a better local position. We work on what Google says it looks at, measure where each store shows up across its area, and report it every month, including the stores that did not move.
How long before we see anything?
Fixing a wrong listing or wrong hours can show up within days. Reviews, matching listings, and mentions build over months. We compare each month with the record we made before we started, and we look at a full quarter before calling it.
What do you need from us?
Manager access to each store's Google Business Profile, plus Google Search Console and Google Analytics, so the report uses your real data. We agree on the access before we start, and nothing about the business changes on a listing without the approval rule above.
Do you work on Weedmaps and Leafly listings?
We keep each store's name, address, phone, and hours the same there as on Google, because Google can update a listing from outside sources. We do not buy featured spots or ads on those sites.
Do we need an llms.txt file or special markup to show up in AI answers?
Not for Google. Google says its AI features need no special files and no special schema. For Google, the things that matter are the same ones above: a complete listing, real reviews, and store pages that AI tools are allowed to read.
Can the site or a listing say a product helps with sleep, pain, or anxiety?
No. Those are medical claims. Listings, pages, and the chat refuse them, and a shopper who wants that conversation is handed to staff.
Your stores
Tell us which stores are hard to find.
List your stores, the town each one serves, and the job that eats the most hours each week. Your free Systems Plan names the first system to build.