How to Get Your Business Found Online in South Portland, Maine
If you run a business in South Portland—whether it’s a seafood spot on Broadway, a boutique in Mill Creek, or a contractor serving the Willard Square area—you know the local economy is a mix of tourism, maritime, retail, and services. With about 19,000 residents and a steady flow of visitors from cruise ships and nearby Portland, there’s real opportunity. But here’s the problem: most small businesses in South Portland barely show up on Google at all.
Why? Because Google doesn’t just guess who’s best. It looks for signals. And most business owners don’t know what those signals are. You might have the best lobster roll in town, but if Google can’t find a clear, consistent trail of information about your business, it won’t show you to people searching “best lobster roll South Portland.” The good news? You can fix this yourself with a few straightforward steps.
#### 1. Claim and Fill Out Your Google Business Profile This is the single most important thing you can do. Go to Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) and claim your listing. Fill in every field: address, phone number, hours, website, and photos. Use categories that match what you do—not broad ones like “Restaurant,” but specific ones like “Seafood Restaurant.” Google uses this to decide when to show you in local search results.
#### 2. Ask for Reviews (and Respond to Them) Reviews are like word-of-mouth for Google. They tell the search engine that real people trust you. After a sale or service, ask customers to leave a review on your Google profile. Don’t offer discounts or freebies in exchange—that’s against the rules. And when you get a review, reply to it. Even a simple “Thanks, Sarah!” helps. Google sees you’re active and engaged.
#### 3. Make Sure Your Website Works on Phones Most people search for local businesses on their phones. If your website takes more than a few seconds to load, or if the text is too small to read, people leave—and Google notices. Use a tool like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test (free) to check. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, consider a simple redesign. You don’t need a fancy site; you need one that works.
#### 4. Use Local Keywords Naturally Think about what someone might type into Google when looking for you. “South Portland plumber,” “Thai food near Willard Beach,” “dog groomer Mill Creek.” Sprinkle those phrases into your website text—not stuffed in, but naturally. For example, “We’re a family-owned Thai restaurant in South Portland, just a block from Willard Beach.” That helps Google connect your business to local searches.
#### What About Backlinks? (In Plain English) Backlinks are just links from other websites to yours. Think of them like recommendations. If a local newspaper, a city blog, or a community site links to your business, Google sees that as a signal that you’re trustworthy and worth showing higher. The more quality recommendations you get, the better you rank. But you can’t just buy links from random sites. They need to be from real, relevant sources.
At BacklinkUSA.com, we help local businesses get those recommendations. We publish articles about your business on high-authority websites—think news sites, industry blogs, and local directories—so that Google sees you as a trusted part of the South Portland community. If you want to rank higher without learning code or hiring a full-time marketer, it’s worth a look.