How to Get Your Business Found Online in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a unique place to run a business. You’ve got the pier, the Promenade, and a mix of tourists, locals, and office workers from tech companies and creative agencies. With a population just over 90,000—plus thousands of visitors every day—there’s no shortage of potential customers. But here’s the problem: most small businesses in Santa Monica are invisible on Google.
Walk down Main Street or Montana Avenue, and you’ll pass dozens of shops, restaurants, and service providers. But when someone searches “best coffee near me” or “plumber in Santa Monica,” Google shows only three or four results at the top. If your business isn’t one of them, you’re losing customers to the competition.
Why do most local businesses struggle to show up? It’s not because they’re bad at what they do. It’s because Google ranks businesses based on signals most owners don’t know about. You don’t need to be a tech expert to fix this. Here are four things you can do yourself.
1. Set up and fill out your Google Business Profile This is the single most important step. Go to Google Business Profile (it’s free) and claim your listing. Add your exact address, phone number, hours, and a short description of what you do. Upload real photos of your storefront, your team, and your products. Google uses this information to decide when to show your business in local search results.
2. Ask for reviews—and respond to them Reviews tell Google that people actually use your business. Ask happy customers to leave a review on your Google profile. Don’t offer discounts or freebies in exchange—that’s against the rules. Just ask. And when you get a review, reply to it. A simple “Thanks for coming in, Sarah!” works. This shows Google you’re active and trustworthy.
3. Make sure your website works on a phone More than half of searches in Santa Monica happen on a phone. If your site takes more than three seconds to load, or if text is too small to read, people leave. Google notices this and drops your ranking. Use a tool like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check. If your site fails, ask your web developer to fix it.
4. Use local words on your website Don’t just say “we sell surfboards.” Say “surfboards for rent in Santa Monica” or “buy surfboards near the pier.” These are called local keywords. Sprinkle them naturally into your page titles, headings, and product descriptions. It helps Google understand exactly where you are and what you offer.
What about backlinks? You may have heard this term. A backlink is simply a link from another website to yours. Think of it like a recommendation. If the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce links to your business, Google sees that as a vote of trust. The more quality recommendations you get from local news sites, blogs, or business directories, the higher you can rank.
That’s where we come in. At BacklinkUSA.com, we help local businesses like yours get featured in articles on high-authority websites. These articles include a link back to your site, which tells Google you’re a trusted part of the Santa Monica business community. If you’d like to learn more, visit BacklinkUSA.com and see how we can help your business get found.