There’s a lot of info out there on the internet about self storage SEO and marketing for storage facilities.
We have a lot of posts on these topics, too, with plenty of great information on best practices, the best ideas, and so on. But what do customers actually do? How do they decide what to click? Why do we suggest certain marketing practices and not others?
In this article, we'll take a look at consumer behavior as far as online studies and experts have been able to establish.
Digging into these behavioral patterns will help us put some of that SEO and marketing advice into perspective.
Sometimes, seeing why something matters helps us understand it better than how to do it.
The most important thing to understand about user behavior is what search results get clicks.
And no, I’m not talking about the obvious “the higher you are, the more clicks you get” concept. Everyone knows that getting rank 1 is the best position to be in for organic search.
In this case, we’re looking at the Google search results page as a whole. Ads, local pack, and organic.
It may surprise you to know that not every industry is the same. You can find all kinds of statistics about what percentage of users click on Google Ads, for example. Go ahead and do a search now—if you do, I bet you can find lots of different answers. The ones with the same answers probably all reference the same study.
This is because it changes dramatically for different industries and even sometimes different markets within an industry.
So, with that in mind, let’s look at this in the context of self storage.
When it comes to certain markets, such as healthcare, users will pay less attention to paid ads.
When it comes to commodities like self storage?
Well, turns out people are more likely to click ads when it comes to storage and similar industries. In fact, storage is much more similar to the hotel industry when it comes to search trends. So, to draw on some hotel search data, a recent webinar from Sterling Sky revealed that, in one study, as many as 53% of searchers looking for a hotel decided to click on an ad.
Compare this to studies looking at generic search data, which suggest that as few as 1% of clicks go to ads. When it comes to storage, you’ll want to lean on the side of the 53%.
What to do
Alright, so what does this mean for you?
Keep an eye on search in your local market. If you’re struggling and you see competitors running Google ads—and you’re not—then it may be time to invest in them to stay competitive. Because people click on them a lot.
In this case, we’re actually talking about both the headline for a Google Ad AND the title Google displays for an organic search result.
To recap, title tags are those big blue links that you click on to visit a page from Google. They carry a lot of weight when it comes to converting impressions into clicks.
According to Near Media, a recent study revealed that storage customers are more likely to click on a result—ad or organic—if it mentions pricing or discounts.
After price, customers prefer a recognizable brand, followed by amenities.
What to do
Simple: include prices or discounts in your title tags. If you’re working with a website vendor (and you probably are), ask them to add the pricing to your most important title tags.
Most importantly, keep them up-to-date. Your website vendor doesn’t know when you’re adjusting your pricing.
Use tags like “Self Storage Units in Knoxville TN | Starting at $30”. When you no longer have a unit as low as $30? Time to update the title tag.
When it comes to your local pack ranking, should you aim to be A: in the top 3 or B: in the 4-6 range?
A, obviously. Everyone knows that.
But did you know that there is more to how users browse local pack results than just looking at whatever is ranked at the top?
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that being in the top 3 local pack rankings should be your goal.
But it may surprise you to know that there is a bit of an equalizer when it comes to storage searches: the map.
You know how if you do a search for storage, the three local results are shown next to a little map? Well, it turns out that it’s not uncommon for storage customers to gravitate towards the map instead of the listings.
We believe this is because of how important proximity is in our industry.
In an attempt to find the facility nearest them, many users will forgo the ranked profile listings and interact with the map to ensure they’re getting a facility near where they need it. This behavior is actually seen more strongly in hotel searches (with as many as 53% of users opting to use the map instead).
If you’re not in the top 3, you could still get clicks! So long as you’re located where people are looking, you have decent reviews, and they like the photos they see when they hover your pin on the map, you still have a decent chance.
What to do
There’s not a good way to manipulate this other than building in a good location.
To give yourself the best chance of being chosen by people who do hover over your pin, make sure your photos and reviews are on-point.
Uploading photos to your Google Business Profile is important. But there are two quick ways to turn away customers looking at your Google Business Profile:
While it’s not a bad idea to post updated photos each year, the volume of photos attached to your GBP doesn’t matter nearly as much as the quality of the photos.
It’s OK to use the camera on your phone to take photos of your facility, but make sure that they have decent quality before you go posting them to your profile. Toss any grainy, blurry, or poorly-framed photos.
Also, steer away from stock photography. If a customer recognizes that you’re using stock photography, they will lose faith in your business and turn to a competitor. And no one wants that to happen (well, other than Big Stock Photo).
While we’re at it, what should you include in your GBP’s photos?
Make sure you choose a good one for your cover photo, especially!
What to do
Keep your photos updated yearly. Use high-quality photos, and NEVER upload stock photos or low-quality photos. Include photos of your facility’s exterior, the insides of units, and the inside of your office.
Does that look like a contradiction?
Well, you’re not alone. It was weird to type it, too. But it’s true.
The fact is that many people will make decisions on which product—or storage facility—to choose based on reviews. But that doesn’t mean they’re reading the text of the reviews.
Rather, customers usually take a look at the volume of reviews and the overall review score to decide whether or not the facility looks trustworthy.
In fact, if customers do read reviews, it’s usually when they’re looking at negative reviews to see why they were posted.
This actually makes responding properly to negative reviews even more important.
What to do
Have a good strategy in place to get reviews. Don’t worry about what the reviews say as much so long as they’re positive. Respond to every single negative review at a minimum.
And don’t worry—not having a perfect 5.0 actually makes your facility look more trustworthy.
Branding is tricky.
Customers don’t tend to care much about your branding once they’ve landed on your site. The logo, for example, isn’t the reason they click rent.
But before they get there, the brand can actually have a big impact on their decision—IF you've done the leg work first.
If you were paying attention earlier, you might remember that “brand” was the second most common reason people clicked on a search result (after pricing and discounts in the title tag).
But mentioning your brand alone isn’t enough. You need to build a brand. And you need to build it in your local market. You want your local customers recognizing your brand and have some kind of good will associated with it.
If people don’t recognize your brand or have no thoughts about it, then it’s not going to generate clicks.
On the other hand, if they recognize it from all of the banners at the arena for the local sports team you support, from the callouts you get for sponsoring the local high school’s robotics team, and from the food drives you organize for the community, then suddenly your name is a draw when they see it online.
Make it a name they recognize and trust, and that will benefit you in the long run.
What to do
Build your brand in your local community. Run some grassroots community marketing campaigns. Support your local community. And once you’re confident your community recognizes you (and likes you), use that to your advantage online.
That was a lot of information. Let’s recap it!
Here are some of my other favorite posts to check out!
At StoragePug, we build self storage websites that make it easy for new customers to find you and easy for them to rent from you.
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