Top 16 self-storage facilities in tampa by AI search visibility (2026)
Self-storage operators serving Tampa households and businesses with climate-controlled units, boat and RV storage, and accessible rental options across the metro. Ranked by a composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
Refreshed Jun 07, 2026At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
Extra Space Storage holds the clear lead in this category with a composite score of 65.0, nearly 23 points ahead of second-ranked Store Space at 42.5. The category average visibility sits at just 10.2%, making Extra Space's 50% visibility figure roughly five times the norm. This gap is not marginal — it reflects a structural dominance in how Google AI Mode surfaces and recommends self-storage options in Tampa, leaving the remaining 14 brands competing for a fraction of available AI exposure.
A notable divergence exists between visibility and citation across this category. Public Storage holds a 50% citation rate despite 0% visibility, meaning the AI references it as a source but does not actively surface it in responses — a 'trusted but not named' pattern. Conversely, Store Space achieves 50% visibility but only a 25% citation rate, and Devon Self Storage appears in 37.5% of responses yet is cited just 12.5% of the time. iStorage and StorQuest register 12.5% visibility each with zero citations, suggesting mentions without source validation.
Google AI Mode is the top engine for every brand in this dataset without exception. The top cited sources list reveals that google.com itself appears as a citation anchor alongside extraspace.com and publicstorage.com, suggesting the AI draws from Google's own local business data. Third-party review and aggregator sources — m.yelp.com and compassselfstorage.com — also appear in the citation set, indicating the AI blends direct brand content with local review platforms when constructing responses about Tampa self-storage.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
Extra Space Storage 0% → 50% · rank #0 → #1+50pp
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Store Space 0% → 50% · rank #0 → #2+50pp
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Devon Self Storage 0% → 38% · rank #0 → #3+38pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
extraspace.com
|
50% | 100% | Google AI Mode |
Extra Space Storage leads with a composite score of 65.0, a 100% citation rate, and 50% visibility — nearly five times the 10.2% category average. |
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| 2 |
storespace.com
|
50% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Store Space matches Extra Space's 50% visibility but its citation rate of 25% is 75 points lower, giving it a composite score of just 42.5. |
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| 3 |
devonselfstorage.com
|
38% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Devon Self Storage achieves 37.5% visibility — more than three times the category average — but a low 12.5% citation rate limits its composite score to 30.0. |
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| 4 |
publicstorage.com
|
0% | 50% | Google AI Mode |
Public Storage is cited 50% of the time despite zero visibility, placing it in a 'referenced but not surfaced' position with a composite score of only 15.0. |
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| 5 |
istorage.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
iStorage registers 12.5% visibility but a 0% citation rate, producing a composite score of 8.8 — on par with StorQuest and well below the next-ranked peer. |
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| 6 |
storquest.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
primestorage.com
|
0% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
securespace.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
cubesmart.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
uhaul.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
lifestorage.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
metroselfstorage.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
personalministorage.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
valuestoreit.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
aaselfstorage.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
morningstarstorage.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on self-storage facilities in tampa, these are the domains Google AI Mode cited most often. If you're not on this list — or if your competitors are — that's a concrete PR / linkbuilding target.
How to read this ranking
Four things worth knowing before you act on the numbers above. These are the same definitions across every industry page — for category-specific observations, see the What we observed section above (where available) and the per-brand insights inline in the ranking.
Visibility = being named
A brand's visibility % is the share of AI answers that mention it by name in the response prose. This is who AI engines actively recommend to the buyer.
Citation rate = being trusted
Citation rate is the share of AI answers that include the brand's domain as a clickable source link. This is what the AI treats as authoritative evidence — different from being named.
Top engine differs by brand
The "top engine" column shows which AI surface each brand performs best on. Big gaps between a brand's score across engines usually points to specific content or schema gaps.
Rankings move month to month
AI engines re-crawl and re-rank on shorter cycles than classical search. We re-audit every brand on this list at least every 30 days and refresh this page automatically.
Get your own self-storage facilities in tampa brand audited
The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same measurement against your own brand — including the queries you appear on, which competitors get named instead, and a prioritised fix list? Run a free preview.
Frequently asked about self-storage facilities in tampa AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in self-storage facilities in Tampa?
Extra Space Storage leads with a 50% visibility rate and a 100% citation rate, producing the highest composite score of 65.0 in the category.
What is the average AI visibility for Tampa self-storage brands?
The category average visibility is 10.2% and the average citation rate is 14.1%, meaning most brands have minimal presence in Google AI Mode responses.
Which brands are cited by AI but not actively surfaced in Tampa storage responses?
Public Storage has a 50% citation rate but 0% visibility, and Prime Storage has a 25% citation rate with 0% visibility — both are referenced without being named in AI-generated recommendations.
What sources does Google AI Mode anchor on for Tampa self-storage research?
The top cited sources include extraspace.com, google.com, publicstorage.com, compassselfstorage.com, and m.yelp.com, indicating the AI blends direct brand sites with Google local data and third-party review platforms.
Are any major national self-storage brands underperforming in Tampa AI visibility?
CubeSmart and U-Haul Self-Storage both score 0.0 composite — zero visibility and zero citations — despite being nationally recognised brands in the self-storage sector.
Is there a meaningful gap between being visible and being cited in this category?
Yes — Store Space and Devon Self Storage both have high visibility but low citation rates (25% and 12.5% respectively), showing that AI mentions do not reliably translate into source citations for most Tampa storage brands.