Have you noticed that traffic to your website has been down? Have your ads not been performing as well as they have in the past? 

Well, if you operate in California, you're not alone. 

According to a report from Google, several key self storage search metrics have declined in 2023, compared to the year before. 

Keep reading below to learn more about California self storage trends, and to see what yo can do to help your storage company. 

(Spoiler Alert: We have services that have helped customers like A-1 Self Storage significantly increase their ad conversions and traffic to their website)

Info at a Glance: 

• Overall search volume for self storage industry keywords is down 20% compared to last year
• Overall ad impressions are down 19% year-over-year
• Overall ad clicks are down 10% year-over-year
• Overall ad depth is down 3% year-over-year

A Down Year in a More Competitive Environment

Ad depth is one metric that offers a lot of insight into the state of the industry (or in this case, in California specifically).

Essentially, ad depth is how Google tracks how many ads a person sees whenever they type something like “self storage near me.” If ad depth is up, it means that people are seeing more ads when they search for self storage, and if ad depth is down, it means people are seeing fewer ads when they make their search. 

Similar to the other metrics we’ve seen, ad depth is down this year across the board, but only by a nominal amount. 

Mobile ad depth is down 1%, computer ad depth is down 8%, and tablet ad depth is down 8% as well. 

Bottom Line: The fact that ad depth is barely down, especially on mobile (only 1%), means that there are still a lot of operators buying ads for their businesses. But because search, impressions, and clicks are down by double digits, it means that operators are having to fight even harder for a smaller share of potential customers, as fewer people are searching for these keywords. This typically means that operators need to raise budgets to ensure their ads are seen above others. 

By How Much Is Self Storage Search Volume Down This Year?

Google searches related to self storage rental units in California have been steadily declining throughout 2023. The self storage industry in the Golden State has been on a decline since its peak during the COVID lockdown era, and data from Google shows double-digit declines in search volume, impressions, and ad clicks. 

Mobile search continues to be the preferred device for people searching for storage units, as mobile accounts for 64% of all self storage searches. Desktop computer search accounts for 35%, and tablets account for only 1%. 

Mobile search is down 15% year-over-year, computer search is down 28%, and tablet search is down 18%. 

Bottom Line: Search volume for the self-storage industry is down across the board in California. This means there are fewer potential customers in the market looking for storage, and price is becoming an even bigger factor than it has been in the past. 

A Less Impressive Year

Mobile devices continue to reign supreme when it comes to ad impressions. 

So far this year, 71% of ad impressions (how often your ads are seen when people search for relevant key search terms) have come from mobile devices, 27% from computers, and 1% from tablets. 

Mobile ad impressions are down 15%, computer ad impressions are down 29%, and tablet ad impressions are down 29% as well. 

Bottom Line: Operators get ad impressions when people are searching for self storage units, as long as their budgets are on par with others bidding on the same keywords. When impressions are down, this typically means that there are fewer people searching and competition among operators is even tighter. 

Things Aren’t Clicking This Year

As you might expect, most ad clicks have come from mobile this year.

Mobile devices have accounted for 76% of ad clicks, computers have accounted for 22% of ad clicks, and tablets have accounted for 2% of ad clicks. 

Mobile ad clicks are down 9% year-over-year, computer ad clicks are down 13%, and tablet ad clicks are down 18%. 

Bottom Line: Like the other sections we’ve discussed, ad clicks were down across the board. Because ad impressions and clicks are lower in the industry, you need to be more strategic with your ads and be fluid with price adjustments. The best way to ensure your ads can compete in this difficult market is to have prices that are competitive with the REITs in your area. 

But Why?

No one knows exactly why storage industry search volume had a recent decline, but we can speculate that the steep rise in interest rates meant that fewer people were moving.

Also, the rapid rise in inflation and gas prices more than likely led people to cut monthly costs by pulling their belongings out of storage.

As consumers across the U.S. saw their weekly grocery bills nearly double in price for the same necessary items, self storage may have been one of the first extras to cut from their budgets.

Check out our digital marketing services to see how we can help your company navigate this down market. 

If you want to see how we helped A-1 Self Storage grow ad impressions to over 100,000 and improve conversions by more than 1,000%, check out their case study.