Healthcare Products SEO Case Study
How Cann Tripled Organic Traffic in Six Months of SEO
Cann partnered with Direction for a cannabis beverage SEO campaign built to grow organic search in a product category most people don’t search for yet. In six months the work tripled organic traffic and more than quadrupled keyword rankings.
- Published By: Chris Kirksey
- Last Updated: June 16, 2026
Services:
SEO On-page SEO, service-page content, Blog posts, Technical SEO.
Industry:
Cannabis-Infused Beverages
Location:
USA
Campaign Start:
June 2024
Before: 1,372
After: 6,100
Page 1 Rankings
Before: 7,225
After: 22,233
Web Traffic
Before: $9,074
After: $21,084
Traffic Value
Organic traffic
+15,008 increase
Organic keywords
+4,728 increase
About Cann
Cann is a cannabis beverage company making low-dose, infused seltzers for people who want a social drink without the alcohol. Each can balances small amounts of THC and CBD with natural ingredients for a light, sociable experience.
Their customers are health-minded and lifestyle-driven, the kind of people cutting back on drinking who still want something to hold at a party. Cann sits between the cannabis world and the beverage world, a category that mostly didn’t exist a few years ago.
- Low-dose THC and CBD seltzers
- Sold nationally, direct to consumer and in retail
- Positioned for the sober-curious and mindful-drinking market
The product nobody was searching for yet
Most people weren’t yet searching for the tastly solution Cann sells.
So, knowing how little value there is to ranking for keywords such as “cannabis seltzer brand” when monthly search volume is near-0, we had to build the market through education, then capture it.
Over six months, Cann’s organic traffic went from 7,225 to 22,233 visitors a month. Keyword rankings more than quadrupled. Here’s how we did it.
The challenge: building the market from scratch
Cann came to us with a new product in a category search engines barely understood. There were two big issues here. Cannabis brands can’t run typical paid ads for healthcare products, since Google and Meta restrict THC promotion, so the usual paid shortcut to traffic was closed. And the few existing “cannabis drink” searches weren’t enough to fill a growth plan.
That left organic search as one of the few channels that could scale. It had to do double duty, teach people the category existed and rank Cann at the top of it.
Challenges
- A product category most buyers didn't know to search for
- Paid advertising mostly off-limits for THC products
- Thin existing search volume for cannabis beverages
- A new site with little ranking history or authority
Goals
- Rank for the questions buyers ask before they know the category
- Grow organic traffic without leaning on paid ads
- Position Cann as the name people trust in alcohol alternatives
- Turn educational readers into product buyers
The cannabis drink SEO approach we took
We built an education library around the questions buyers ask before deciding to buy. Cannabis seltzer is a young category, so we had to:
- Run heavy keyword research around audience questions
- Pick topics that could rank for keywords which actually had volume
- Write content in a tone that “vibed” with the target audience
The point is this: know your audience.
For people to understand Cann exists as a fun, modern alternative to alcohol, you gotta start with your psychology hat on.
The Cannsplaining content engine
Fighting for the handful of “cannabis drink” searches that already existed wouldn’t generate the traffic Cann needed. So we built the market itself.
The Cannsplaining blog answered questions people in the curiosity stage had, before they knew Cann was the cool new solution.
Posts like “The Benefits of Micro-Dosing THC” and “Low-Dose Cannabis Drinks, What Are They and Why You’ll Love Them” captured and engaged the exact readers who would soon become Cann’s brand ambassadors.
Then boom. Keyword rankings climbed from 1,372 to 6,100, and traffic tripled as content ranked for dozens of questions the product pages never could.
The strategy? Educate, build trust, create fans, let the fans promote and create new product hype. The blog reader today is the customer next month.
Optimizing Cann's Digital Presence Through Technical and On-Page SEO
We started with sitewide fixes that set a foundation for the long haul. The site had to load fast, work well on mobile, and be easy to move through. We cleaned up the navigation, reworked page layouts, and tidied the visual details so the site felt easy to use on every device.
Then we worked the funnel itself, from first visit to repeat order. We reworked the product pages so they read well and ranked well at the same time. We added product-rating schema so each Cann product could rank in search on its own, with star ratings showing right in the results. Shoppers saw the proof before they clicked. A simpler checkout did the rest, turning first-time buyers into repeat customers.
Generating Awareness Through a Strategic Digital PR Campaign
We earned links by placing Cann in the lifestyle and wellness publications their buyers already read. Cannabis-trade sites reach other cannabis companies. Lifestyle outlets reach drinkers looking for an alternative, so that’s where we went. Those publications were the right rooms to talk about what Cann is, how it tastes, and why the low dose works in social settings.
The links were only half of it. We led with story. The features talked about what Cann stands for and the community that’s grown up around the brand. These are the people who’d rather pass around a Cann than a bottle of wine, and that pull made readers act. The placements helped search rankings and put the brand in front of lifestyle readers who’d then go tell a friend.
The SEO Results
From the start of the campaign through month six, Cann’s search presence looked like a SpaceX rocket launch:
- Organic traffic up 208%, from 7,225 to 22,233 visitors a month
- Keyword rankings up 345%, from 1,372 to 6,100
- Monthly traffic value up 132%, from $9,074 to $21,084
The readers who found THC micro-dosing guides became the buyers walking into parties with Cann in hand.
Today, Cann can be found in nearly every smoke shop nationwide.
Work with our SEO experts
Working with Cann was a genuine pleasure, a talented team building a product people love. If you run a brand in a hard-to-advertise category and you want organic search doing the heavy lifting, we should talk. Book a discovery call or request a free audit, and we’ll create a bulletproof organic search strategy.
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Cannabis Industry SEO FAQs
How long does SEO take for a brand-new product category?
Faster than people expect when the content targets the questions buyers ask. Cann tripled organic traffic in six months. Category education ranks quicker than head terms because there’s less competition for the questions nobody else is answering yet.
Can you do SEO for a THC or cannabis brand?
Yes, and it matters more for cannabis than almost any other category. Google and Meta restrict paid ads for THC products, so organic search is one of the few channels that scales. That makes ranking the difference between growth and a stalled launch.
Why pour budget into blog content for a beverage brand?
Because buyers research before they buy a product they’ve never tried. The Cannsplaining blog answered the curiosity-stage questions, then handed those readers to the product pages. Content brought 345% more keyword rankings, most of which product pages alone could never reach.
How do you measure SEO success for a CPG brand?
Organic traffic, keyword rankings, and the dollar value of that visibility, all reported against where the brand started. For Cann that meant 22,233 monthly visitors and $21,084 in monthly traffic value by month six, numbers that connect to revenue.
Is SEO better than paid ads for cannabis brands?
For most THC brands, organic search is the only channel that scales. The big ad platforms won’t run cannabis campaigns, so ranking carries the growth. Organic compounds too. The content keeps working months after it’s published, while paid traffic stops the day the budget does.
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