Lyphe Case Study: Achieving 49.8K Monthly Organic Traffic in Highly Regulated Medical Cannabis Industry

About Lyphe

Lyphe is the largest clinic offering medical cannabis treatment in the UK. The company provides an online service where patients can receive their medical cannabis prescriptions from the comfort of their own homes. The process works as follows:

1. Customers fill out an online eligibility form to check if medical cannabis is the right treatment for their condition.

2. If the patient is eligible, they book a video consultation with a specialist doctor who will assess the patient and prescribe a suitable treatment plan.

3. Once the prescription is written and approved, patients choose a nearby pharmacy to send the medical cannabis to.

4. Patients who are close to finishing their first treatment can then book a follow-up appointment with their specialist doctor, who will review their progress, check if the prescription is working, and adjust the dosage if necessary.

Although more scientific studies are needed to prove medical cannabis is an effective and safe treatment, most medical professionals are starting to accept that cannabis may offer a variety of therapeutic effects. From reducing inflammation and pain to preventing muscle spasms and seizures, many patients have reported a drastic quality of life improvement.

As the clinic is fulfilled online, Lyphe wanted to increase brand awareness, grow organic traffic and gain new patients. The team reached out to NUOPTIMA to help them achieve this due to our extensive experience working in regulated and cannabinoid industries.

Lyphe decided to go with our basic SEO package, which includes 16,000 words of content, three highly authoritative backlinks, and technical SEO support.

Team

Lyphes Team

The Results

Since Lyphe’s new website went live in November 2022, we have yielded some impressive results, significantly enhancing its online presence and visibility. Our SEO campaign has generated a remarkable 1.375 million impressions so far, indicating a substantial reach and exposure in the digital space. Furthermore, Lyphe achieved a notable milestone by ranking for 3,260 keywords on the first page of search engine results, a clear indicator of the effectiveness of the strategies we employed. Additionally, the acquisition of 439 high-quality backlinks from reputable sources not only bolstered Lyphe’s search engine rankings but also established itself as a reliable medical cannabis dispensary. Below, we go into more detail about the results in our key SEO areas.

Organic Traffic

• It took us only 12 months from the launch of the new site to achieve a monthly traffic average of 49,812.

Organic Keywords

• Keywords ranking in positions 1-3 on Google search results shot up to over 1k between August and November 2023 and continue to rise.

• As of November 2023, there were 2,248 unique organic keywords ranking 4-10 on the SERP results. This took the total keywords on the first page to an impressive 3,338.

• Not far behind the 1st page, Lyphe has a decent 2,780 keywords on the 2nd page of Google. The total number of keywords ranking on the result pages stands at 21,804 in just 12 months of the new site launch.

Medical Cannabis Backlink Results

• They now have a total of 1.8k links from other websites pointing to targeted URLs.

How We Achieved These Results

Our cannabis SEO action plan for Lyphe focused on establishing the brand as a top medical cannabis authority, focusing on high-impact keywords for patient decision-making. We enhanced Lyphe’s online presence with terms like ‘medical cannabis clinic’ and ‘cancard UK application,’ aiming to boost revenue by positioning it as a market leader.

Our approach included developing compliant, authoritative content aligned with Food Standards Authority and Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency guidelines, crucial for maintaining regulatory adherence. We rigorously vetted content for compliance to avoid penalties and content removal.

We also optimized Lyphe’s website for better user experience and Google rankings, improving navigation, speed, and mobile responsiveness. Additionally, our targeted backlinking strategy from reputable medical and cannabis sources aimed to increase Lyphe’s domain authority and search engine visibility.

Keyword Research

Our keyword research strategy was a critical component of the SEO action plan for Lyphe, focusing on maximizing visibility in the medical cannabis domain. We aimed to comprehensively cover a range of keyword categories relevant to Lyphe’s services and target audience. Here’s how we approached each type:

Keyword Category	Objective	Approach
Medical Cannabis Keywords	Rank high for all related keywords.	Research and identify a wide range of keywords, from general to specific, including long-tail keywords.
Medical Cannabis for Specific Conditions	Cover all ‘medical cannabis for [condition]’ keywords.	Identify conditions treatable by medical cannabis and pair them with ‘medical cannabis’ in keywords.
Medical Cannabis + Location Keywords	Cover all ‘medical cannabis + location’ keywords.	Target local search by combining ‘medical cannabis’ with specific geographic locations.
Natural Remedies for Specific Conditions	Cover all ‘natural remedies for [condition]’ keywords.	Include keywords for natural or alternative treatments for various conditions, aligning with medical cannabis interest.

In implementing this keyword research strategy, we ensured that the content created was not only optimized for these keywords but also provided genuine value and information to the users. This approach was designed to establish Lyphe as a knowledgeable and trustworthy source in the medical cannabis field, thereby attracting and retaining a relevant audience.

Writing Compliant Content

In our efforts to create content for Lyphe, we faced a significant challenge – wanting to celebrate cannabis as a potential alternative medicine but not being allowed to make claims about its therapeutic effects against certain medical conditions. To address this, we developed a set of client-specific guidelines focused on writing, editing, and referencing, ensuring compliance with FSA and MHRA regulations.

Referencing

Our strategy involved citing empirical evidence from reputable scientific journals. While direct medical claims were off-limits, showcasing studies and research findings was permissible. We carefully presented this evidence without drawing definitive conclusions, maintaining a balanced perspective. This approach was in line with regulatory standards, as it neither misrepresented the evidence nor made unsubstantiated claims about cannabis’s efficacy.

To avoid misinterpretation by regulatory bodies, we used caution in our language and included disclaimers. These disclaimers emphasized the need for more peer-reviewed research before drawing conclusions about the safety and effectiveness of medical cannabis for specific conditions or therapeutic benefits. For instance, in our article on Fibromyalgia, we meticulously referenced scientific literature, providing hyperlinks in a bibliography section at the end. This not only validated our content’s accuracy but also allowed readers to access the studies directly.

Here is a screenshot of how we approached referencing for the Fibromyalgia article: 

The scientific literature we referenced was listed at the end of the articles in a bibliography section. This validated the accuracy of our content and gave readers the opportunity to examine the evidence directly from the source. Below is an example from our article on Fibromyalgia:

Writing Process

Our method involved detailed briefings for our writers on handling medical cannabis content. The lead editor provided comprehensive guidelines and examples of compliant content. These steps aimed to minimize errors, thereby reducing the editing workload.

Editing

Despite preventive measures, perfection in initial drafts is unrealistic. Therefore, we implemented a rigorous editing process:

1. Initial Review: Writers submitted their content to editors for the first round of editing, focusing on grammar and compliance.

2. Revisions: Editors returned the content with comments, and writers made necessary amendments.

3. Final Review: After amendments, the content underwent a last review. If further adjustments were needed, it was sent back to the writers.

4. Expert Check: Lyphe’s experts conducted a final check. Any flagged issues resulted in further edits.

5. Publication: Once fully compliant and approved, the content was published on Lyphe’s website.

Backlinks

There was a significant focus on acquiring high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites in the healthcare and cannabis sectors. This involved creating and sharing informative, relevant content that these sites would find valuable, thereby securing backlinks. Our approach was to target a diverse range of platforms, from industry blogs to healthcare news sites, ensuring a robust and varied link profile. This strategy was not only about gaining links but also about positioning Lyphe as a credible and authoritative voice in the medical cannabis field.

The impact of this backlink strategy was substantial. It led to improved search engine rankings for Lyphe, particularly for targeted keywords, by leveraging the authority of these external sites. Additionally, the articles containing these backlinks themselves ranked for relevant keywords, further increasing Lyphe’s online visibility.

Paid Ad Funnels vs SEO Funnel

The debate for many businesses is what growth channel they should prioritize: paid ads or SEO. But in regulated industries,  choosing SEO is a no-brainer for a few reasons:

• Unlike paid ads, where you can be banned in an instant, you have security in knowing your investment into SEO will stand the test of time.

• SEO is much simpler to implement than attempting to bypass ad restrictions from huge conglomerates like Meta and Google.

• The return on investment (ROI) will always be better in the long term, as it’s extremely difficult to run paid ads profitably in regulated industries.

If Lyphe Were To Run Paid Ads…

If Lyphe were to run paid ads in the medical cannabis niche, they would need to create cloaking landing pages. This is an intermediary page that is clean of any mentions of cannabis or health claims with the intention of circumventing the restrictions platforms like Meta and Google enforce on regulated industries. The customer would click on the clean ad, which then leads to the clean cloaking landing page. After that, the customer has to click on another link that redirects them to the real landing page where they can purchase the product/service.

The problem with this method is that ads are usually expensive, as it’s difficult to communicate the benefits of the product/service you are selling within the initial ad. Once they do proceed through the funnel, the potential customer is required to click multiple times to reach the end destination. In reality, most people will either ignore the ad, won’t have the patience for the journey, or will simply get confused about the offering once they reach the cloaking landing page. The end result is sky-high cost-per-click (CPC), low conversion rates (CVR) and poor return on ad spend (ROAS).

The other issue is an ethical one. Some consider cloaking landing pages to be a black hat tactic, as you are circumventing the algorithm to advertise a product that is clearly prohibited in the platforms’ terms of service (TOS). And besides the point – even if you were to do ads successfully, it is highly likely that, eventually, the platform will catch you and ban your account.

The conclusion here is to stick with SEO for the long run – it’s easier to implement, the outcomes will always be better, and you won’t have sleepless nights worrying if your ad account will be banned in the morning!

Conclusion

Our collaboration with Lyphe in the medical cannabis industry has been a resounding success, demonstrating the power of a well-executed SEO strategy in a regulated field. By carefully balancing compliance with engaging content, we’ve not only adhered to regulations but also sparked optimism among patients seeking alternative treatments. This approach, coupled with leveraging scientific research and clear disclaimers, has allowed us to safely explore the potential of medical cannabis without overstepping legal boundaries.

The results speak for themselves: since November 2022, Lyphe has seen a significant increase in organic traffic, with an average of 49,812 monthly visits. Our comprehensive SEO tactics have led to over 3,260 first-page keyword rankings, with more than 1,000 in the top three positions. The success extends to our backlink strategy, securing 439 high-quality links and enhancing Lyphe’s credibility and search engine rankings. This growth is a testament to our ability to navigate the complexities of SEO in a regulated industry.
For businesses seeking similar success, NUOPTIMA offers tailored SEO solutions to meet diverse needs. Book a call chat about how we can elevate your digital strategy and achieve remarkable results in your industry.