The Performance report already holds your best keyword list: real queries, real impressions, your real positions. Set the window to 16 months, filter for queries sitting at positions 8-20, and improve the pages behind them — that is the fastest work in cannabis SEO.
Set the window to 16 months first
Search Console defaults to the last three months. Change it before you read anything else. Cannabis demand swings hard through the year (4/20, the fall harvest queries, the spring grow rush) and a three-month view will hide entire seasons of demand your site already earns. The report goes back 16 months. Use all of it, and export to a sheet if you want to keep history beyond that.
Filter for positions 8 to 20
Add a position filter, or export and sort, and pull every query where you sit between roughly 8 and 20. These are queries where Google already considers your page relevant — it just trusts somebody else's page more. Improving an existing page that ranks 12th is a fraction of the work of ranking a new page from zero. Add a missing section, answer the question the title promises, earn an internal link or two from related guides. This list is where the next ninety days of traffic comes from.
Slice the report with regex
The query filter has a Custom (regex) option most people never touch. Two patterns cover most of what you need. A question-word pattern, ^(how|what|why|can|is|does), pulls out FAQ material. A theme pattern like gummies|edibles|cartridge|clone shows how each product category performs as a group. When a theme earns impressions across dozens of scattered queries but has no dedicated page, that is a content gap with proof of demand attached.
Read impressions against clicks
A query with thousands of impressions and almost no clicks is not a ranking problem, it is a packaging problem. People see the listing and choose a different one. Rewrite the title so it answers what the query asks, tighten the meta description to a specific claim, and check whether a competitor owns a rich result you could compete with. This work raises traffic without moving position at all.
Worked example
A dispensary site I audited had the query "live resin vs distillate" at position 11 with about 2,000 impressions over the window and a handful of clicks. No page targeted it — the impressions landed on a general concentrates category page. One dedicated comparison guide later, internally linked from the category page and two related posts, the query moved into the top five and the clicks followed. Total effort: one afternoon. That query came straight out of the position 8-20 filter, not a keyword tool.
Key takeaways
- Switch the date range to the full 16 months before reading anything.
- Queries at positions 8-20 are proven demand where you nearly compete — fix those pages first.
- Regex filters split the report into questions and product themes in seconds.
- High impressions with low clicks means rewrite the title, not chase the ranking.
Frequently asked questions
What date range should I use in Search Console?
Switch off the 3-month default and use the full 16 months. Cannabis demand is seasonal, and a short window hides the 4/20 spike, the fall harvest queries, and everything else that ramps once a year.
Why are positions 8 to 20 the best queries to work on?
Google has already decided your page is relevant, it just trusts other pages more. Closing that gap on an existing page is far less work than ranking a new page from nothing, which makes these queries the fastest wins available.
What regex filter should I start with?
Start with a question-word pattern like ^(how|what|why|can|is|does) to pull out FAQ material, then filter by product themes such as gummies, cartridges, or clones to see which categories earn impressions without a dedicated page.
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