SEO for Regulated Industries: Lessons from Vape SEO

Intro

How does SEO change when paid ads aren’t an option? If you have an SEO project for a company in a regulated industry, you’ll need to find the answer to that question quickly because the stakes are much higher when organic search is the only revenue source that can scale reliably.

In traditional niches, you can lean on paid traffic while you wait for an SEO campaign to ramp up. In regulated niches like the alternative nicotine and hemp industries, though, that safety net isn’t there. Keyword bidding and social media promotions are risky and could even result in account bans. That makes SEO even more crucial.

Operating in a regulated industry doesn’t just mean that SEO is the only reliable way to bring customers to your site – it actually changes the SEO picture completely.

Here’s how.

Products Don’t Sell Themselves in Regulated Niches

If you want to get strong and sustained results from an SEO project in a regulated niche, understanding the shift in customers’ intent and expectations is the key. You can’t throw a product up and expect people to buy it as soon as they land on it because potential customers are going to look for signals of safety and legitimacy before they even begin to think about buying.

To illustrate this point, try searching for the name of your business on a large forum like Reddit along with the word “legit.” If you’re doing SEO for a new business, try looking for some of your competitors. You’ll probably find some very interesting discussions. People want to know who they’re dealing with before they buy.

Whether you’re selling products or services in a regulated industry, your first goal should always be to build trust and show ample proof that you’re a legitimate and trustworthy business. Once you’ve done that, sales will happen naturally. For an example of how this is implemented on a service page in a restricted niche, see eCig One’s vape SEO services.

Content Strategies Change When You Can’t Buy Demand

In every niche, Google’s algorithm attempts to identify and promote websites that display E-E-A-T. That acronym stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness – the four qualities that are the hallmarks of any good website.

E-E-A-T is crucial for any website that exists to earn revenue, but it’s doubly important for businesses in regulated niches because people are especially wary of sellers. In the vaping industry, people have seen reports of fake and exploding vapes. In the hemp industry, some “THC-free” CBD products have been tested and found to contain undisclosed cannabinoids.

Google knows that customers in regulated industries are looking for E-E-A-T because they’re afraid of scams – so in these niches, the standards are much stricter.

Here are a few practical examples to ensure that your site has the correct E-E-A-T signals.

• Don’t just describe products on your product pages – illustrate their safety and authenticity.
• On service-related pages, build credibility by showing research, supporting evidence and results. Don’t focus on the hard sell because pure sales pitches tend to get filtered more aggressively by Google in regulated niches.
• On blog posts, show the author’s name and explain why readers should trust that person.
• Make sure that your site displays clear contact information. Customers want to know that they won’t have to jump through hoops to talk to someone in the event of a problem.
• Ensure that your site adheres to all compliance requirements for your industry. For instance, the requirements for your niche may include having an age gate and avoiding claims of health benefits.

Link Relevance Matters in Regulated Niches

In most niches, link building is essentially a matter of chasing domain authority. If you can get a link from a site with higher DR and higher organic traffic, that’s more valuable than a link from a smaller website. In regulated niches, however, this model is flipped on its head to a certain extent because there are times when a link from a smaller site with laser-targeted relevance can actually be more valuable.

Link building in a regulated niche requires a two-pronged model.

• Domain Authority: Just like in any other niche, you need to get links from high-authority domains when you operate in a regulated industry. If you only do this, though, your rankings will eventually plateau.
• Niche Relevance: In regulated niches, you don’t just need your site to demonstrate broad authority – you also need it to demonstrate authority and legitimacy within its niche. If you can manage to get links from websites that receive organic traffic and are topically related to your business, those links should be your top priorities.

Algorithm Updates Can Cause More Dramatic Ranking Fluctuations

Google’s algorithm updates tend to focus more on E-E-A-T than anything else. After core updates, rankings fluctuate depending on how Google’s interpretations of those signals have changed. Since E-E-A-T signals are more important in regulated niches, the swings in rankings can sometimes be dramatic. You need to remain vigilant for core updates and respond accordingly.

When Google releases a new core update, it’s the perfect time to reinforce a key page with:

• One link from a high-authority publisher.
• One link from a niche-specific publisher.
• An internal link from a high-effort piece of new content.
• Any additional on-page proof that you can add, such as a new data point or case study.

SEO Mistakes Can Cripple Websites in Regulated Industries

Because of the extra algorithmic scrutiny that Google applies to companies in regulated industries, common SEO mistakes can sometimes be crippling when they would ordinarily have only caused minor hiccups. Avoid these mistakes at all costs if you’re doing SEO in a regulated niche.

• Keyword Cannibalization: You never want to have a website with two pages competing to rank for the same keyword. In regulated niches, though, this can be an especially damaging situation because you might be trying to rank for keywords that are potentially very lucrative but have lower search volumes. If the supporting page happens to generate a bit of user engagement, it could end up outranking the main page rather than supporting it because Google has a low number of user sessions with which to judge behavior metrics. This can be a very difficult problem to fix.
• Anchor Text Over-Optimization: Scammy sellers are common in regulated niches, and that’s why Google pulls the E-E-A-T lever so firmly. If your site ever shows even the slightest hint of black-hat behavior, you can expect your rankings to stall at best and plummet at worst. Be very careful when building links and ensure that your anchor text distribution always looks natural. If your growth has stalled even though you’re actively acquiring new links, take it as a sign that you need to change your strategy.
• Thin Service Pages: If you’re selling a service in a regulated industry, it’s critical that you show evidence of your expertise. Details like case studies, independent research and testimonials from satisfied clients can go a long way toward earning trust, and that’s exactly what Google wants to see. “Show, don’t tell” definitely applies here.

Wrapping Up: SEO in Regulated Industries Requires a Different Mindset

When Google says that E-E-A-T matters for your site’s rankings, they really mean it if you’re in a regulated niche. There are good reasons why some industries are heavily regulated, and most of those reasons revolve around how untrustworthy businesses in certain niches can sometimes be. Therefore, building trust should always be at the top of your mind.

• Potential customers will look for trust signals before they even start to think about spending money. Without trust, you’ll have no chance to make sales. Building trust with customers will also benefit your traffic because good user experience signals correlate with higher rankings.
• You also need to signal your trustworthiness in ways that Google’s algorithm can understand. Things like expert credentials, clear contact information, original data, case studies and client endorsements can go a long way toward doing that.