Google is Calling. Should You Answer?
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 22 hours ago
In self-storage, search marketing matters more than almost any other channel.
We don’t sell something people casually browse for or browse based on impulse. No one wakes up excited to shop for storage. Self-storage is a problem-driven purchase tied to moves, life events, deadlines, and urgency. When someone searches, intent is high and the decision window is short. Your branding, reviews, facility features, discounts and offers only matter if they’re seen during these moments of truth.
That’s exactly why search works so well for this industry and also why operators are often bombarded with advice, Google rep calls, consultants, and automated recommendations.
Most operators assume the biggest things to focus on with Google Ads are things like ad copy, branding, bid strategy, or cost per click. Those elements matter, but they’re rarely what makes or breaks performance.
It’s all about the targeting. Making sure you’re “fishing in the right pond”. The right keywords, the right geo-target, and the right bids and budget to ensure you’re showing up at the top.
But even with that perfect beginning set up, things can change quickly. Especially when you start adjusting certain settings, implementing automations, blindly accepting recommendations, and letting your Google rep make changes to your account.
Automations and Recommendations Lead to Keyword Creep
Keyword creep occurs when Google slowly expands what it thinks your business is about, showing your ads for searches that feel “related” to the algorithm but are wrong for your self storage facility.
It’s subtle. It happens over time. And it’s often encouraged by Google’s own recommendations and settings. After all, Google wants you to spend more!
Let’s say you add the key “RV storage” as a term you want to target. Right out of the gate, if you don’t choose the right “match type”, what you thought was a strict target, is treated more like a “suggestion” to Google. (Learn more about match types here).
Even once you get the match type right, you might start seeing suggestions to add other terms like:
“RV Store”
“RV park”
“RV parks near me”
“RV campground”
To a human, these are completely different businesses and intent.
To Google, they’re adjacent concepts it might try and see if users will click.
Once this expansion begins, everything at the surface level looks better:
Impressions increase
Clicks go up
CPC goes down
Optimization scores improve
But the business doesn’t feel it.
Phones ring less with qualified callers. Online reservations don’t increase. Occupancy doesn’t move. The vanity numbers look great, but downstream results stall because the traffic is wrong.
Google is very good at driving traffic. It is not responsible for making sure that traffic is qualified. That responsibility falls on the marketer.
Why This Matters More in Self-Storage Than Most Industries
In many industries, extra traffic can still be valuable. Ecommerce brands may have missed some keywords that are relevant. Software companies can learn about new ways people might be searching for their solutions. Content businesses can monetize attention.
Self-storage doesn’t work that way.
There is no long consideration cycle and no discovery phase. Searchers are already close to making a decision. That means:
Fewer searches matter more
Relevance matters more than volume
One bad keyword can displace multiple high-intent renters
In self-storage, restraint is often the best optimization.
What to Do When Google Calls You
If you run Google Ads long enough, Google will call. Usually more than once.
The calls are framed as helpful, and many suggestions sound reasonable in isolation. The issue isn’t intent, it’s context.
Google reps:
Don’t understand your occupancy goals
Don’t see move-ins or length of stay
Don’t know your margins or seasonality
Aren’t accountable for long-term performance
Aren’t seasoned marketing professionals, but incentivized sales reps running a playbook.
Interested in getting you to switch to the latest feature, even if what you have is working.
If you decide to take these calls, the safest mindset is simple: listen, don’t implement.
Use the conversation to gather information, but avoid letting your rep:
Making live changes on the call
Enabling new campaign types immediately
Approving keyword expansions without review
Implementing “auto accepting” of future recommendations
Before acting on any suggestion, ask one question:
Does this help me attract more qualified storage renters or does it just help Google show my ads more often to those not interested in storage?
If the answer isn’t clear, pause.
Check out this post and comments of other PPC professionals:
How to Handle Google’s In-Platform Recommendations
Inside the Google Ads platform, you’re constantly nudged to “apply recommendations,” expand keywords, raise budgets, or enable bidding automation.
These prompts are persuasive by design. They’re also generic.
What Google knows:
Clicks
Impressions
Spend
On-platform conversion signals
What Google doesn’t know:
Which searches became move-ins
Which renters stayed long-term
Whether increased traffic improved occupancy
Many recommendations push accounts toward:
Broader match types
Looser keyword controls
More aggressive expansion
Ads beyond traditional search
This accelerates keyword creep.
In self-storage, good optimization often looks like the opposite:
Tight keyword definitions
Frequent “grooming” of search terms to add negatives
Updating geo targeting to align with tenant maps
Automation used with guardrails, not blind trust
The goal isn’t more clicks. It’s the right clicks.
How Adverank Is Different
Google will always push toward expansion. It wants to deliver ads for every keyword search, not just the ones that are most commonly targeted. That’s how the platform grows. Adverank will often recommend you spend more on Google too, but that’s because it knows more!
For most marketers, a big part of the job is to filter through the advice! There is certainly no shortage of it. Adverank is built to be more like an assistant than a consultant.
Adverank uses powerful AI that’s constantly reviewing data relationships between spending, clicks, and occupancy. Reviewing not just Google data, but your FMS data. All to recommend changes that you as the marketer can accept or reject. This means you can feel confident that Adverank's recommendations are based on what's going to drive move ins, not just more clicks.
The worst outcome in search marketing isn’t high costs or ugly ads. It’s campaigns that show your ads for the wrong keywords, leading to clicks that might be low cost, but will likely never convert.
Protecting intent and preventing keyword creep is what separates activity from performance that leads to business impact. Adverank helps you with smart recommendations to maximize your return on ad spend!
