There is a brand-new local ranking factor for Google, and we’ve got the details for you.
What’s the ranking factor?
The hours listed on your Google Business Profile.
Keeping your eye on new developments in SEO and Google Business Profile can be challenging. Especially because not all SEO advice is good, and not all good SEO advice applies to self storage.
Don’t worry; We’ve done the research for you, and we’re ready to discuss what this new ranking factor means.
Sterling Sky revealed the discovery in a webinar on December 7th, so this is brand-new insight you can use to get an advantage in your market!
Their discovery? Your ranking will lower significantly when your GBP shows you’re closed.
We don't yet know if this ranking factor will be permanent, or if Google is simply testing the waters.
What Does This Mean for Storage Operators?
To put it as simply as possible, you can go from ranking #1 locally to ranking much worse—even as bad as 20th and beyond. It all depends on whether your business is currently open or closed.
This may not seem like a big deal. You’re closed, so why do you need to rank?
Before you think that way, make sure to investigate when most of your online rentals and phone calls that originate from Google come in. They may well be outside of your office hours.
StoragePug performed tests over the days following Sterling Sky’s announcement in order to independently verify the discovery. We’re now confident in announcing that it is consistently true as of the publishing of this article.
As always, Google could revert this change or further modify the impact results of these results.
In our tests, we even witnessed scenarios where the top 3 local results at 9 AM were dropped down to the third page of results just an hour later.
With the increasingly competitive landscape of self storage, every ranking advantage you gain can make a huge difference.
If you’ve historically had significant visits to your website or calls originating from your GBP during hours when your office is closed, you now may be missing out on those valuable leads.
You could be rank #1 in the local pack at 11 am, but if most people in your market are searching for storage after your office closes at 6 pm? Well, your 11 am rank doesn’t matter anymore.
Let’s touch on a few ways you can use the knowledge of this new ranking factor.
Your response should consider your self storage facility’s unique situation.
The easiest way to not be bothered by this is to open your facility 24/7.
We already know that the convenience of 24/7 access is a top priority for many customers. And while there is no evidence that 24/7 access makes a facility less secure, you can also check out some of these tips on enhancing security if you do shift to 24-hour access.
Now, 24-hour access may not make sense for every facility. And it may be a change you’re not willing to make, especially because this change is very new and may not stick with future Google updates.
Consider your business’s needs and other variables before making a choice this big!
After-Hours Call Services
If you’re worried about not having anyone to answer the phones while your GBP says you’re open, consider pairing an after-hours call service with your 24/7 access.
If you know that a significant portion of leads that reach you via Google Business Profile come outside of your current office hours, consider shifting your office hours to accommodate that instead of worrying about ranking at ALL hours.
For example, if you close at 5 pm but you receive many phone calls or online rentals between 5 and 6 pm? Maybe it’s better to extend your hours, even if that means opening an hour later to make up for it.
This is actually a good practice in general. Just make sure that the hour you lose isn’t also an important time!
There’s always the option of not acting at all or waiting until you see how things change further before acting.
The benefit of waiting is that you don’t need to make any changes or invest any resources.
The risk is that you may lose leads and lose ground to competitors.
How you weigh the risk and reward of this choice comes down to how comfortable you currently are with your average rentals and how that changes over the next few months.
There’s one clear-cut thing you shouldn’t do:
Don’t just change your GBP hours to say 24 hours without actually being open 24 hours.
If you don’t offer 24/7 access, listing it on your profile could get your profile suspended.
And that’s not even considering the bad reviews you’ll receive, which will then impact both ranking and conversions.
Here are some of my other favorites 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.
