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5 Steps to Driving More Local Traffic to Your Self-Storage Website
If you’re looking to draw more traffic to your self-storage website, local search engine optimization will do the trick. It can improve your rankings in search results, which means more people will find your business online. Following are five strategies that’ll help your operation leapfrog to the top of the ranks and get the attention it needs.
6 Min Read
Are you struggling to get your self-storage facility noticed online? You aren’t alone. Many operators face the challenge of standing out in search results. This is where local search engine optimization (SEO) can be extremely valuable.
SEO is the process of improving your website’s rankings on search engines like Bing and Google. Local SEO is primarily focused on boosting your business presence in local search results. This is crucial for self-storage facilities since most of your customers come from your immediate area.
Below are five essential strategies for improving your local SEO. By mastering them, you can outshine competitors and capture more of your self-storage market.
Step 1: Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Profile
The Google Business Profile (GBP) is a free tool that will help you manage your self-storage facility’s online presence across Google Search and Maps. To get started, go to google.com/business and click the “Manage now” button (or sign in, if you’ve started your listing previously). Complete the requested fields and verify your listing through the options provided. Strive to optimize your GBP for maximum visibility by doing the following:
Enter accurate and consistent information about your storage business including name, address, phone number, website and operating hours.
Make sure the map pin is placed correctly for accurate local ranking.
Confirm that your website link leads to the correct page.
Select “self-storage facility” as the primary category and add relevant secondary categories like “moving and storage service.”
Write a clear, keyword-rich description highlighting features such as climate-controlled units or 24/7 access.
Add high-quality photos and videos of your storage units, front office and amenities.
List all available products and services, including unit types and sizes and special features.
Engage with customers by answering their questions and posting updates with calls to action.
Step 2: Encourage and Respond to Customer Reviews
Once you’ve set up your GBP, the next step is to get reviews from self-storage tenants. These posts can make or break your business. In fact, studies show that 93% of shoppers base their purchasing decisions on online recommendations from fellow consumers. To harness this power and bolster your local SEO strategy, proactively ask for reviews from satisfied customers through various channels such as text, email and in-person interactions. In some cases, you can use your management software to automate these requests and manage feedback.
Make review submissions easy. To simplify the process for your self-storage customers, give them a link to your GBP review page. You can generate one in your listing dashboard. Simply locate the section for reviews and find the option to share or generate a review link. Once you have this, create a QR code and post it in prominent locations around your facility.
Respond to all reviews. Engage promptly, whether a post is positive or negative. Express gratitude and appreciation for good feedback. When addressing poor reviews, respond empathetically and invite the customer to discuss the issue offline. This approach demonstrates your commitment to tenant satisfaction and can help mitigate the impact of unfavorable comments on your online reputation.
Showcase positive reviews. Highlight glowing testimonials on your self-storage website, marketing materials and social media platforms. This not only builds trust with prospective customers, it encourages more positive reviews, creating a virtuous cycle that boosts your local SEO efforts and attracts more leads to your business.
Step 3: Build Quality Backlinks
Building high-quality backlinks is a crucial step in boosting your local SEO efforts. These are links on external websites that lead to your own self-storage website, acting as endorsements that can enhance your business credibility. They not only improve your visibility in local search results, they enhance your overall online presence and domain authority. To get more backlinks, follow these essential tips:
Create valuable content. Post quality blog posts and case studies on your self-storage website. People love to link to informative and valuable resources.
Partner with experts. Reach out to authorities in the self-storage industry with a thoughtful partnership request that highlights mutual benefits.
Engage with local media. Collaborate with newspapers, magazines, and radio and TV stations in your area to gain coverage and backlinks. This can significantly boost your local visibility.
Implementing these strategies can significantly improve your self-storage facility’s local SEO performance and attract more potential customers.
Step 4: Create Location-Optimized Content
People use the Internet to consume content. When they’re looking for self-storage content, you want to be the one supplying what they need. When creating material for your own website, it makes sense to prioritize topics that relate to the area in which your facility is located. By tailoring your blogs, articles, videos, etc., to your specific area, you can significantly boost your visibility in local search results.
If you have just one location, your website home page will be your primary landing page for customers seeking self-storage in the region. If you have more than one facility, create a dedicated landing for each, including its address, directions, a local phone number, features and amenities, plus nearby landmarks or points of interest.
Regularly publish blog posts that target location-specific keywords, too. For example, you could write about “Best self-storage facilities in [your city]” or “Climate-controlled storage options in [your area].” This approach not only helps with SEO, it provides customers with valuable information.
Don’t forget to optimize your on-page elements for local search. For example, include your target location and relevant keywords in your website page titles, meta descriptions and headings. This signals to search engines that your content is relevant to web searchers, potentially improving your rankings in local search results.
Implementing these strategies can help you create a strong foundation for your local SEO efforts, helping your self-storage business stand out in your specific market.
Step 5: Track and Monitor Rankings and Traffic
Tracking and monitoring your self-storage website’s performance is crucial for local SEO. By leveraging powerful analytics tools, you can gain valuable insight and make data-driven decisions to improve your marketing strategies.
To begin, use Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which tracks and analyzes the performance of your efforts. Set it up on your self-storage website to monitor demographic data on visitors plus key metrics such as tenant acquisition by marketing channel, number of booked units and revenue generated from local search. You’ll also want to track your keyword rankings to understand how well your SEO strategies boost your visibility in search results.
Next, use tools like SEOSpace, Screaming Frog or Woorank to conduct technical SEO audits. Technical SEO involves optimizing your website infrastructure to enhance search-engine rankings and user experience. These tools can help you identify issues such as broken links or slow page-load times that might impact site performance.
Finally, set up conversion goals in GA4 to track specific actions, such as online bookings or form submissions. This will help you evaluate the success of your SEO strategies and identify areas for improvement. Regularly review your website traffic and conversion rates to measure the effectiveness of your efforts.
After doing all of the above, be patient. It takes time to realize results. Local SEO typically starts showing traction in three to six months; however, substantial effects usually take six to 12 months to appear, depending on competition, content quality and algorithm changes. By consistently monitoring your metrics and staying current with industry trends, you can refine your local SEO strategy and improve your self-storage facility’s online visibility and performance.
Miles Davison is the CEO and cofounder of Storeganise, which offers self-storage management and automation software. With experience across the banking, logistics, venture-capital, manufacturing and self-storage industries, he drives the company forward to delight business owners across the globe. For more information, email [email protected].
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