“Just go get some high-value backlinks and you’ll rank higher!”
Not all SEO advice is actually useful. Where do you get a backlink? Which ones are high value? And, once you know that, how do you get that site to link to you?
Getting backlinks is difficult and time-consuming, even if you’ve got a full-time marketing department. But there’s a way to get backlinks and brand mentions at high-value sites without hiring an expert.
Barnacle SEO.
This is my new favorite SEO tactic, and only partially because of the funny name. WhiteSpark (an SEO firm) has been sharing this tactic around, and it fits our industry well.
Pug Pro Tip: If you’re new to SEO and have no idea what I’m talking about, check out our Ultimate Guide to Self Storage SEO first, then come back to this piece!
The recent Google algorithm leaks have given us a lot of information about how the search engine operates. Google was telling people that backlinks aren’t that important - the leaks showed that backlinks are still a major factor.
We’ve also learned that brand mentions are important signals for Google too. Even if you don’t get a direct backlink, anywhere that people mention your brand will be counted towards your rank.
In this article, we’ll give you a few easy steps to target high-value backlinks and piggyback on their ranking.
This is something an independent operator can actually do, and it’s not too different from something you’re already doing: asking for reviews.
Barnacle SEO is attaching your site to a much bigger site - like a barnacle sticks onto a ship.
There are many different ways to achieve this, but for self storage, the best way is to get your website listed on high-value sites.
Sites like Yelp, Facebook, and Yellow Pages, as well as aggregators like RentCafe and Sparefoot, all have very strong SEO value (which you may have heard called DR or Domain Rating). The higher the site’s SEO strength, the more value a link will impart to your business.
This is also true for individual pages. For example, Yelp’s page 1 for “Self Storage Knoxville” is much higher value than page 25. Page 25 probably isn’t even indexed - so if you’re on page 5, your profile isn’t getting any value from the links and brand mentions.
The trick to getting value out of these listings is to get on prominent pages. If your listing gets to Page 1 of Yellow Pages, that’s going to pass on a lot of value to your website - and some people do use these sites!
If traffic comes from these pages, that’s another bump to your SEO strength. They won’t be a big source of traffic, but they can function as a signal to your main source of digital leads - Google.
If you’ve been ignoring secondary sites, I get you. They don’t often get you many rentals (and rentals are always the end goal). But they can boost your SEO if you can get them working for you.
Here’s the simple version–
The easy way to determine which websites have the best SEO for your area is to pretend you’re renting a storage unit. Open an incognito browser and throw out some search terms that you think people are likely to use.
Ignore the local results (unless your business is in them, in which case you should give yourself a solid thumbs up in the mirror). Look at what websites are ranking on the front page of the organic results - you’ll probably see some individual facilities, lots of REITs, and some aggregators.
If there are any review sites (like Yelp) on the front page, those are your targets! Whichever ones show up highest in your searches should be the highest priority.
“Storage units near me” might be the biggest single self storage keyword, but it’s not the best one for this purpose. Instead, try searches like these:
Potential search terms:
Then write down the review sites you find. Make sure you have a profile on each one, and that those profiles link to your website!
Next, we’ll work on getting as much SEO value as possible from those listings.
The front page of Yelp’s self storage results has a lot more SEO strength than the 30th page. You can increase the value passed on to your site by moving up in the rankings!
The good news is that this won’t be too hard (at first). If your site currently has no reviews on Yelp, Yellow Pages, or Facebook, that’s fine - you’re just like the majority of storage facilities.
Getting one glowing 5-star review will jump you up hundreds of places and hopefully dozens of pages.
You can get that review the same way you get all your other self storage reviews: asking!
If you have good relationships with certain tenants, you can reach out to them with a link and ask them to leave you a Yelp review. Do this three or four times and you’re suddenly on page 1 of the review site!
You can also add the links to your normal review-acquisition program. Don’t stop getting Google reviews; they’re too important to let slide. But you can start mixing in a few of these high-value sites to review requests and slowly climb to the top.
Make the most out of your self storage marketing with these:
StoragePug is a modern marketing company for self storage. We create intelligent marketing websites that allow you to rent units & take payments through your facilities' website.
