SEO for Moving Companies: How to Get to the TOP in Google?

Moving may seem to be a daunting task for most people, so they are more enthusiastic about seeking help from professionals than doing it themselves.

When the need arises to move to another place or move things, people use Google to find a moving company they like. Therefore, if your company’s website is not represented at least in the top 10 search results, the chances that a potential client will find and choose you are very low.

In this article, we will tell you how to start SEO for movers, what you should pay attention to in the first place, and what mistakes you should avoid if you plan to take high positions in the search results.

What is Special About SEO for Moving Companies?

Unlike IT companies, online stores, or any other business that is not tied to a specific location, promoting a moving company requires special attention to local SEO.

No matter what services your company provides — short- or long-distance transportation, corporate or private transportation, warehouse storage, etc. — the focus of SEO strategies for moving companies should be on local promotion because when a potential client searches for a mover in Boston, they will have no interest in your company providing services in Chicago. And it is still true even if your service is the best in the country.

Another feature of local SEO marketing for moving companies is placing your company on review sites, such as Yelp, Angi, Hire a Helper, etc.

Yelp, for example, consistently ranks 3rd or 4th in the search results for “moving company + city”. Therefore, your presence on such sites not only increases the chances of getting a lead but also improves your brand reputation.

Steps to Start SEO Promotion for Moving Companies

SEO for moving companies has its peculiarities, just like any other local business. However, you should keep in mind the basics of SEO optimization that are common to all types of business, such as technical optimization or website structure. Let’s see what points to consider when promoting a moving company website and why they are important:

Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis is among the first tasks you should do when you start promoting your website. It can be done both before and during promotion:

• When done before, it will help you understand what channels they use to get traffic, what marketing strategies they use, and what advantages they have;
• When done after, by analyzing competitors, you can find new ideas even when it seems that all the work has already been done and there is no room for growth.

During the SEO analysis of competitors, you should pay attention to:

• website structure;
• service page structures, CTA blocks, and overall design;
• blog content, publication frequency, and content plan;
• keywords;
• link profile.

Technical Optimization

Even if your website has the best and most expert content in the world, written by the most expensive copywriter with extensive experience, it will never take the top positions in Google search results until you eliminate all critical technical issues.

At Livepage, we divide all technical optimization tasks into several groups depending on their priority:

1. Tasks that will increase traffic in 1–2 weeks if implemented.
2. Tasks that will increase traffic in 1–2 months if implemented.
3. Tasks that affect traffic only in combination with other tasks.
4. Tasks that affect conversions.

From our experience as a successful local SEO marketing company, one SEO tip for a moving company is to prioritize tasks that can be completed quickly and will give you clear results in a short period. One example can be writing unique meta tags if the site has none.

Essential problems that require technical website optimization also include:

1. Website loading speed;
2. Pages with insecure HTTP protocol;
3. Duplicate pages;
4. Long redirect chains;
5. A great number of 404 pages, etc.

In most cases, technical issues remain invisible to the user, but directly impact the site ranking and indexing. Therefore, if you want your website to rank high in search results, be sure to prepare it technically for this.

Structure Optimization

Website structure is an important factor of local SEO services for moving companies because it affects indexing, ranking, and usability. Work on the website structure is carried out in two cases:

1. The site is under development, and the structure is being developed from scratch.
2. The site is already working, but the structure needs to be further optimized.

As a rule, we optimize the website structure for almost every project we have for promotion. An analysis of competitors and niche-specific keywords helps us understand which landing pages have been missed and need to be created, which need to be emphasized, and which can be pushed to the background.  All this helps us build an effective SEO for a moving company or any other type of business.

The following sections in the structure are typical for moving companies’ websites:

• Types of services. It can be local transportation, long-distance transportation, corporate transportation, house transportation, etc.
• Locations. As a rule, even if a company provides services in only one state or city, it makes sense to create pages for services specific to a particular city or district.
• Blog. This is not the main channel for attracting traffic for this type of business, but it can bring in leads if you prepare a high-quality content plan that considers the target audience’s needs.
• Additional pages. Such pages as “About Us,” “Contacts,” “Jobs,” etc., do not bring traffic but should be there for convenience and information completeness for users.

Content Creation

As we have already mentioned above, a blog is not the main source of traffic for moving companies because most users visit the site through the pages of locations and services. However, if properly prepared, blog articles can help convert users into leads and increase the time spent on your website, positively impacting the BRF (behavioral ranking factors).

In the screenshot above, you can see what topics should NOT be added to the blog of a moving company. Topics like “examples of Halloween costumes” are not interesting for users who want to move from one city to another.

For this type of business, it would be much more logical to choose topics that relate to the cost of moving (“How much does it cost to move to Chicago”) or give tips for people who are going to move (“How to move safely during pregnancy”). When choosing topics for your blog, always think about how your target audience can benefit from them and how you can convert your readers into leads from the article page.

Link Building

Nowadays, links are one of the most important ranking factors in search engine results. At a time when many websites have high-quality content and a good “tech basis,” search engines somehow need to decide who will take the top positions in the SERP. This is where your backlink profile comes into play.

Search engines evaluate how trustworthy your website is based on the link number and quality. That is why we always emphasize building a high-quality link profile.

For moving companies, we recommend getting links through classic outreach linkbuilding and paying attention to the crowd — placing links in directories and catalogs. This allows you not only to improve your search engine rankings but also to get new leads if you place them on high-quality resources, such as Yelp.

When working with directories, it’s important to remember that the information you post there should match the information on your website and GMB profile.

Google My Business

One of the local SEO tips for movers we always recommend is that our clients create a Google My Business profile. There are two main reasons for this. First, the local pack (local results in the form of a map and three profiles that you see at the bottom) takes up a large part of the results and is usually displayed either in the first position or immediately after the advertisement. Your GMB profile increases your chances of showing up in search results and getting relevant leads.

Second, users like to check reviews before using the company’s services, and moving companies are no exception. Even bad reviews can be beneficial for you if you respond to them quickly and correctly, as it will show that you care about your clients.

When working with GMB, it’s important to remember that your profile should be filled out correctly and contain all the necessary information:

1. General information about the company (address, phone number, business hours, activity description, etc.);
2. List of services;
3. Company logo, facade, and premises photos;
4. Links to profiles in other networks (Instagram, Facebook, Clutch, etc.);
5. Additional information (for example, Google allows you to add a note “Owned by a woman” or write about the possibility of buying online or in the store only).

Google My Business provides ample opportunities to interact with the audience. For example, you can add events and offers for customers, respond to reviews and questions, and communicate directly with clients (or set up automatic responses).

Links here also affect the way your profile will be displayed in the local pack, as well as the position of your site in local search results in general. Placing anchor and nofollow links in directories is vital for promotion on Google — it collects analytics about mentions of your site and takes these links into account in your GMB profile.

The above points are common to almost any type of local business, but this does not mean that you should pay no attention to them. Nevertheless, SEO marketing for moving companies has its own “tricks”.

Moving from State to State Pages

Such pages are the main channel for potential leads for moving companies. For example, the “moving from Texas to California” keyword has a frequency of 250 (i.e., the number of searches with this keyword) and a complexity of 11 (how difficult it will be for you to rank for this keyword). These are pretty good indicators. Your site can get an excellent traffic boost if you make a whole section with pages optimized for such keywords.

The peculiarity of such pages is that they can be created using templates at the beginning, and after they take certain SERPs, you can work on those pages that show the best performance (number of impressions, clicks, and positions for relevant keywords).

Moving from City to City Pages

This type of page is also a good channel for attracting traffic for moving companies. As a rule, pages focused on location-specific searches contain low-frequency keywords. For example, the “moving from Seattle to New York” keyword has a frequency of 20 and zero complexity. You should not expect a big increase in visits from them, but they, like the previous page type, have a high conversion rate.

Moving Cost Calculator

Here is another type of conversion page that is unique to moving companies. This page is not only very high-traffic but also extremely converting. It will be a little more difficult to move to the top for this keyword, but the results you get from it are worth it — the first page in the search results for this query brings the site about 50 thousand views per month.

There are many other nuances to consider when promoting your moving company, but here, we have described the main ones that will lay the foundation for successful online business growth. To make sure your efforts are not in vain, let’s talk about the most common mistakes made when optimizing SEO for movers and moving companies and why you should avoid them.

4 Mistakes to Avoid While Promoting Your Moving Company

Now that you know what you need to do to get your website to the top SERPs, let’s talk about what mistakes you should avoid so that your work is not in vain:

1. Only one service page or only the main page with keywords for all services and locations. Your website will not receive about 90% of the traffic it could get if you develop the proper structure and optimize your pages.
2. Ignoring reviews on maps. Most users check reviews about a company on third-party resources. Of course, reviews on your website can convince a customer to choose you, but first, they are likely to check reviews on GMB, Yelp, Facebook, and other resources several times. Keep track of your brand’s reputation and respond to all comments about your work, both negative and positive, as this is the only way to gain the trust of your clients.
3. Lack of useful information about related services. For example, you can add information about the price of cardboard packaging, the option to order a transportation container, available temporary storage, cargo insurance, etc.
4. No “About Us” page. This page is necessary for search engine users, as it allows you to post information about your company and reasons to trust you.

Wrapping Up

Search engine optimization for moving companies has its peculiarities, just like any other local business. By analyzing your competitors, solving all technical issues, optimizing the structure, purchasing quality links, creating a GMB profile, and developing a content plan, you can bring your website to the top of search results.

If you want to be sure that the optimization work will be done efficiently and correctly, contact Livepage. We will help you create a detailed work plan for several months and perform all the necessary SEO promotion tasks to make your local business grow every day!