Frequently Asked Questions

Our website is accessed by buyers looking to use marijuana and/or CBD products for medicinal or recreational purposes.

We also serve growers/vendors looking for products or services to help them grow their business.

Both buyers and sellers of marijuana and CBD-related products can greatly benefit from the information on our site as we identify and rank the best marijuana and CBD products, dispensaries and companies on the market based on third-party research and customer reviews.

Our recommendations save buyers time by guiding them to the top-performing products in their category of choice. We single out the best products and services in order to make the decision easy for the customer and to reward exceptional companies.

Due to the nature of our service, there may be a number of newer vendors who offer great products who are not featured on our site.

Our rankings consist of the vendors which we have found to achieve high customer satisfaction on a long-term, consistent basis. This is why certain newer companies may not be featured.

Our listings can only contain a limited number of vendors and we have opted to display the best based on our internal processes for research and analysis. These companies simply meet their objectives, in our opinion, consistently and thus warrant the best reviews as well as the highest rankings on our platform.

We certainly urge buyers of marijuana and CBD-related products to perform their own research in order to determine which vendor is the best fit for their needs and to also utilize bestmarijuanaguide.com as a resource.

In some cases there may be vendors which we have not been introduced to which may provide admirable marijuana and CBD-related products and services.

We currently rank products and services based on the information made available to us by the vendors themselves as well as general research done on the marijuana and CBD industry. While we certainly take time to research new companies, the industry is constantly in flux with new legislation being passed and unique innovations entering the cannabis industry on a constant basis. Any vendors that believe they offer exceptional value and are worthy of being featured alongside on bestmarijuanaguide.com are welcome to introduce themselves to us.

We use a special, patented SmartRank algorithm in order to create ranked lists of the CBD and marijuana products and services.

Learn more about how our SmartRank algorithm works by clicking here.

We allow buyers looking for marijuana and CBD-related products, dispensaries, and companies to use our website free of charge.

Our transparent SmartRank technology enables us to use an algorithm to determine which marijuana and CBD-related products, dispensaries, and companies are considered to be the best.

The SmartRank algorithm uses multiple data sources and points of comparison to propose which products or services fare best in the marketplace.

Our unique algorithm bases the ranking of each product or service on a combination of different facts including how they are reviewed online by customers, sentiment analysis based on how they are referred to online, information gathered through third-party information brokers, and our own research.

The SmartRank algorithm uses a wide array of factors to determine placement within the rankings.

Review Factors

Number of Reviews: The total number of both text and video reviews. Products or services with a greater number of total reviews with fare better.

Average Rating: The average rating of the reviews a vendor receives. Products or services with a greater average will fare better.

Reviewer Quality: An analysis is conducted on who the reviewer is. Reviews by employees or executives at well known companies are given more weight by the algorithm.

Insight: Products or services with reviews that elaborate more on the experience will fare better.

Relevance: The relevance of the review to the topic of sharing their experience with the vendor will get more weight.

Type of Review: The type of review and the balance of text versus video reviews is taken into consideration. Buyers should be able to read reviews while also having the option to watch video reviews.

Age of Reviews: Newer reviews are given more weight as the value of an opinion decreases over time. Products or services often change processes and can improve or deteriorate over time. Products or services with more recent reviews will fare better.

Time-Related / Numerical Information: Reviews are given more weight when they provide information about time or statistics.

Category-Relevant Language: Reviews are given more weight when they provide information about time or statistics.

Organic Reviews: Reviews that have not been incentivized are given more weight in the algorithm.

Reviewer Contributions: More weight is placed on reviews written by recurring reviewers that have made additional contributions to the website.

Emotional Language: Less weight is placed on reviews that were emotionally influenced as reviews that use less emotion are looking at the service from a logical perspective.

Duplicate / Similar Reviews: The algorithm takes into consideration whether the review is unique or seems to be a copy of another review.

Sentimental Factors

Website Metrics: Third-party tools are used to determine the quality and quantity of links to the vendor's website. Products or services with a more established presence online will fare better.

Brand Metrics: The algorithm looks to how the brand is represented and referred to online. Products or services with a stronger and more positive brand reception will fare better.

Engagement Factors

Profile Engagement: Vendors which answer questions on their profile will fare better.

Review Engagement: Vendors which respond to and interact with reviewers will fare better.

Contributor Program: Vendors which have contributed to the bestmarijuanaguide.com blog will fare better.

Self-Prescribed FAQs: Vendors which have created their self-prescribed questions based on what they are commonly asked will fare better.

Quarterly Profile Updates: Vendors which login and update their profile on at least a quarterly basis will fare better.

Negative Reviews Resolved: Vendors which work with negative reviews to resolve the issues they have with the product or service will fare better.

Profile Factors

Key Facts: Vendors which have submitted all of the necessary key facts for their profile will fare better.

Claimed Profile: Vendors which have claimed their profile will fare better.

Review Requirement: Vendors get an additional benefit in the algorithm if they have received at least three written and two video reviews.

Additionally there are factors that could negatively influence a vendor in our algorithm.

No Reviews: Vendors that have no reviews at all will be penalized in the algorithm.

Platform Abuse: Vendors that have been found to be exploiting the algorithm may be temporarily or permanently penalized in the algorithm.

Fake Reviews: Vendors that have been found leaving fake reviews either positively or negatively will be penalized.

Both buyers and sellers can easily see the factors that influence how products and services are weighted in our algorithm by clicking here.

Buyers can review any product or service they have personally used to help other buyers make a more informed decision.

You can search for the company you wish to review here.

When leaving a review, each reviewer is required to authenticate their identity through LinkedIn.

In addition to LinkedIns own authentication process, each review is filtered through an algorithm to identify the possibility of the review being written either by the company or a competitor.

Of course.

If your experience with a product or service is negative, you can absolutely leave a negative review. We recommend that you leave details on what was specifically negative about the product or experience so the vendor can improve. Vendors are also encouraged to respond to reviews or work out issues that their buyers have had with their products or services.

At this time, we do not provide reviewers with the opportunity to update their reviews directly.

You can request that your review be removed by clicking here. We do not remove reviews unless removing it would be of benefit to other buyers.

You can contact our support team to get help with leaving a review.

By default we display the most recent reviews posted as well as the most helpful and most critical.

Users can filter reviews by rating, year they were received and type of review. Additionally, users can change how the reviews are sorted by setting it to highest rated, lowest rated or most recent.

If you would like to share a specific review on your social feed, simply click on the title of the review to be directed to its unique page and URL.

Copy the URL from your address bar and paste it into the text box of your social media post.

From time to time we remove reviews that are written on false pretenses or are proven to be malicious in intent.

Its not uncommon for company owners to write reviews for their own company so they can obtain a competitive edge. We analyze different trends on how different vendors attempt to do this and may retroactively remove reviews if we find a pattern.

Of course.

Vendors are able to respond to each review they receive on their profile. They are also able to answer questions posed by customers directly on their profile as well as their own frequently asked questions.

To have a profile on bestmarijuanaguide.com you must first register for an account.

To begin the registration process, click on the link at the top right of the screen. You will be asked for information about your company during the process.

Having a profile on bestmarijuanaguide.com and being included in our directory is completely free.

To learn more about marketing opportunities including enhanced profiles with additional promotional benefits, click here.

We allow companies featured on bestmarijuanaguide.com to include key facts about their company, their logo, a description of the company and the URL to their website.

Companies are also able to add common questions and invite their customers to post reviews.

We recommend being as honest as possible.

When adding information to your profile, it should be completely factual and accurate as of the time you are writing the information. Also, its a good idea to add what makes your company different from every other cannabusiness out there.

Companies who have registered on bestmarijuanaguide.com can log in using the credentials they set when they registered.

These credentials can be reset at any time from the log-in page by requesting a new password. Once requested, It will be delivered to the email address that was used during the registration process.

Alternatively, companies can claim their profile using an email address with the same domain as their posted website.

In other cases where this cannot be achieved, a representative of the company can contact the support team for assistance. Additional verification may be required.

Most potential customers find products or services through our rankings page.

From our rankings page, users can access the vendors website directly if they wanted to contact them or look at their products.

Additionally, registered vendors are included in our directory by default. Users looking through the directory can access the company profile and can also be directed to the vendors website through this method.

Vendors with enhanced profiles have the ability to upload additional information about their company in the form of whitepapers, webinars, infographics, videos, case studies as well as their certifications & accreditations.

Those interested in upgrading to an enhanced profile can learn more here.

Our registration process outlines how to be involved in the rankings.

Additionally, you can review the process on how to be included in the rankings by logging in and selecting the upgrade option.

You can contact our support team using the same email you have listed on your profile page.

The winner seal is included in the members area and is available to you if your product or service is included in our rankings.

After logging in, you can access your badges by selecting Badges & Seals under Resources in the navigation menu.

We offer a variety of promotional tools to our vendors.

These tools include: the ability to include a retargeting code on their profile to help build their advertising audience, the ability to submit a professional article to the bestmarijuanaguide.com blog, and the option to have a press release submitted highlighting their achievements in the industry.

Sponsored companies have access to different promotional features than unsponsored companies do such as enhanced profiles.

Enhanced profiles include elements like case studies, webinars, and the ability to add a video to their profile.

To sign up, you can log into your profile and choose the upgrade option.

Alternatively, if you do not already have a company profile, you can register your company by clicking on Register at the top right of the page and then sign up for a paid sponsorship during the registration process.

You can fill out our contact formor send an email to [email protected].