Apotheca Cannabis Dispensary’s Local SEO Success Story with Web Rank Digital

Direction Requests

692%

Phone Calls

475%

Website Click

462%

Background

Apotheca Cannabis Dispensary partnered with Web Rank Digital to improve local search rankings, generate more customer actions, and compete more effectively in the Raleigh cannabis, CBD, THCA, hemp, and vape retail market.

With an estimated 45,000 people searching monthly for this type of business nearby, Local SEO was essential for turning Google Search and Maps visibility into phone calls, website clicks, and direction requests.

Client Name

Apotheca Cannabis Dispensary

Industry

Cannabis Dispensary / CBD, THCA, Hemp & Vape Retail

Program

Local SEO by WRD

Challenges

High competition from nearby cannabis and THCA-related businesses in the Raleigh market.

A need to capture more traffic from Google Search and Google Maps.

Several important keywords started with an average ranking of 20 and 0% Top-3 placement coverage.

Local customers were actively searching, but Apotheca needed stronger visibility to convert that demand into calls, clicks, and direction requests.

Solutions Implemented

Google Business Profile Optimization

Published consistent Google Business Profile posts to keep the profile active and improve local engagement.
Uploaded business images to strengthen the profile’s visual presence and improve customer trust.
Updated local directories, including batches of 48, 49, and 51 directory updates, to support local citation consistency.

Content & Engagement Strategy

Generated FAQs for Apotheca Cannabis Dispensary to improve profile relevance and help answer customer questions.
Drafted review replies to support reputation management and improve engagement with customers.
Maintained recurring post activity across the campaign period to keep the business visible and active in local search.

Heatmap & Keyword Rank Tracking

Tracked keyword rankings through heatmap audits to measure local ranking growth across the Raleigh search area.
Improved heatmap audit average ranking from 17.7 at baseline to 9.6 at the latest audit, a 45.7% change.
Monitored product and category keywords including “thca,” “cbd store,” “glass pipes,” “delta 8,” “vape shop,” “hemp products,” “smoke shop,” and “dispensary.”

Results After 6 Months

Engagement Metrics

Search Views: ⬆️ 809% increase
Maps Views: ⬆️ 562% increase
Phone Calls: ⬆️ 475% increase
Website Clicks: ⬆️ 462% increase
Direction Requests: ⬆️ 692% increase

Improved Keyword Rankings

THCA
⬆️ 17,668.64% improvement
Avg. rank 20 → 3.3
Top-3 coverage 0% → 71.01%

CBD Store
⬆️ 11,908.88% improvement
Avg. rank 20 → 4.51
Top-3 coverage 0% → 50.3%

Glass Pipes
⬆️ 10,671.6% improvement
Avg. rank 20 → 5.73
Top-3 coverage 0% → 36.09%

Share On

“Web Rank Digital helped us build stronger visibility in a very competitive cannabis and CBD market. We started seeing more people finding us through Google, clicking to our website, calling the store, and requesting directions. The growth in local searches and direction requests made a real difference for our location. Their team stayed consistent with posts, FAQs, review replies, images, and tracking, and the results speak for themselves.”

Apotheca Cannabis Dispensary

Ready to Grow Your Traffic?

Don’t wait until your competitors pull further ahead. Get your Free Audit today and see exactly how to win more rankings, traffic, and leads.