For many moving companies, getting noticed online is really hard. Even if you provide super good service, potential customers might struggle to find you when they search for a local mover.
Traditionally, a lot of people used to rely on word-of-mouth referrals or even the Yellow Pages to find services like yours.
But nowadays, over 88% of people rely on Google to find local services, and search engine optimization (SEO) ensures your business stands out online.
When you optimize your website and content, you get better online visibility, attract more local traffic, and turn online searches into booked jobs. Sounds great, right?
In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about SEO for moving companies so that you can achieve ultimate online success.
What Is SEO for Moving Companies?
SEO for moving companies is all about making changes to your website and online presence so that your business appears higher in search engine results.
The higher you rank, the more likely people are to click on your website instead of a competitor’s.
Let’s say someone types “movers near me” or “best moving company in [your city] into Google. If your website is optimized for those kinds of searches, also known as keywords, you have a much better chance of showing up on the first page of results, where most people click.
Not showing up in search results is a major problem for your moving company. You’re missing out on booking moving jobs, and your competitors are getting all the work.
6 Essential SEO Strategies for Moving Companies to Get Right
Now that you know more about SEO, let’s discuss six key strategies to boost your rankings, drive more organic traffic to your website, and book more moves:
1. Local SEO
Nearly half of all Google searches have a local intent, which means it’s crucial to show up in local search results. You can do this through local SEO.
Unlike general SEO, which can target a wider audience, local SEO focuses on showing up in search results for people who are physically near your business.
For movers, this is super important because most of your customers are looking for local moving companies.
Here are three ways you can boost your local SEO:
📍 Optimize your Google Business Profile (GBP)
Your Google Business Profile (GBP) appears in the Google Maps listings and Google’s Local Pack, which is made up of the top three listings and an interactive map.
Showing in the Local Pack is important because 44% of local searchers click on it compared to the 29% who click on organic search results.
Here is an example of what Google’s Local Pack looks like when we search for “moving company near me”:
To optimize your Google Business Profile, follow these steps:
1. Claim and verify your listing at google.com/business.
2. Make sure your business name, address, and phone number are included.
3. Add categories like “Moving Company” or “Mover”.
4. Upload photos of your team, trucks, and past jobs.
5. Regularly collect and respond to customer reviews.
6. List your services and service areas.
Below is an example of a detailed GBP for a moving company. They’ve included great photos, all their business information, and they’re responding promptly to customer reviews:
📍 Get listed in moving-related directories
A lot of online directories focus on home services or moving. Getting listed on these sites gets backlinks and helps people find your business when they’re searching through comparison websites.
Some directories to try out include Moving.com, Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, Yelp, and Better Business Bureau (BBB).
This moving company has a complete listing on the Better Business Bureau that not only earns them a backlink but is potentially helping them rank well in local search results:
📍 Ensure NAP consistency
NAP stands for name, address, and phone number. This information must be exactly the same everywhere it appears online, including your website, GBP, and all directory listings.
If Google sees different addresses or phone numbers for your business on various websites, it can hurt your local rankings and confuse customers who are thinking about reaching out to you.
We also suggest you update everything if your business moves to another address or your phone number changes.
2. Getting backlinks
If you’re trying to get your moving company to show up higher on Google, getting backlinks is one of the most effective ways to do this.
➡️ What are backlinks?
A backlink is a link from another website that points to yours. You can think of it as a vote of confidence. When a website that Google trusts links to yours, the search engine sees it as a sign that your business is reputable and good for displaying search results.
For example, if your local chamber of commerce website links to your moving company site, Google sees this as a positive signal. The more of these high-quality backlinks you have, the better your chances of ranking higher in search results!
➡️ Why do backlinks matter for moving companies?
Here’s why backlinks are especially important for moving companies:
You’re in a competitive market, with over 9,000 moving businesses in the U.S. Backlinks help you stand out among competitors.
Moving is an expensive thing to do, and people care a ton about their belongings. They want to choose a moving company that is highly recommended or has loads of trust signals, like ranking well. Backlinks help you build this trust.
Google uses backlinks as a major ranking factor. More quality links mean more visibility and leads.
Over 58% of SEO professionals believe that backlinks significantly impact rankings, and we agree!
➡️ How moving companies can earn backlinks
Link building is all about earning links that point to your website. Here are some practical ways to get started with link building:
Get listed in local directories: Local directories like Yelp, Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, and even your local chamber of commerce often allow you to create a free profile with a link back to your site.
Write helpful content: Create blog posts that answer common questions like “How to pack for a move” or “Best time to move in [your city]”. This is called developing linkable assets, and if your content is useful enough, other websites may link to it over time.
Get featured in local news articles: Offer tips to local news outlets around moving season, which is usually May to September in the U.S. You could also share a unique story about your company, like a big charity move or customer milestone. These types of stories can lead to valuable backlinks.
Sponsor local events or community organizations: Sponsoring a school event, charity run, or local sports team often comes with a link on their website.
Write guest posts on related blogs: Offer to write helpful content for home-related blogs that accept guest posts. You provide valuable information, and they give you a backlink in return.
This moving company sponsored a local motorsports event. It got picked up by an authoritative publication that mentioned them and included a high-quality backlink to their website at the end of the news article:
Below, you can see that this moving business has a complete and detailed listing on Yelp. As a result, they’ve earned a valuable backlink to their website:
3. On-page SEO
On-page SEO is the simple changes you can make to your website content to get better rankings in search results and help potential customers understand what you offer.
Here are four easy but effective ways to boost your visibility with on-page SEO:
💡 Title tags and meta descriptions
Did you know that every page on your website has a title tag and a meta description? These show up as the clickable heading in Google search results and the short sentences beneath. They are the first thing potential customers see when they search, so they must be compelling.
Title tags should be under 60 characters, and meta descriptions should be 160 characters or less to avoid being cut off in search results.
Your title tag and meta description should be keyword-rich, clear, and focused on what you offer. How else will you attract more customers?
As you can see in the example below, this moving company uses keywords in their title tag and meta description, and compelling language to get users to click on their search result:
💡 Dedicated location pages
If you offer services in more than one location, it’s a good idea to have a service page on your website for each area.
We recommend that each page talk specifically about the services you offer in that area, mention local neighbourhoods, and include a unique title tag and meta description for that location. This will help you show up in local search results in the exact areas you want to target.
This moving company has developed separate pages on its website for each of the locations it serves, with detailed information that discusses the area:
💡 Service pages for each offering
Instead of cramming all your services on one general services page, we recommend that you create individual pages for each offering.
In fact, according to marketers, dedicated pages for each service are one of the most significant organic ranking factors.
Dedicated service pages allow you to target keywords like “office movers in [city]” or “packing help near me”. Each page can go into detail about what the service includes, and Google is more likely to rank pages focusing on a single topic.
In the example below, you can see that this moving company has separate service pages for things like long-distance, international, and corporate moves:
💡 Image SEO
Images can help people understand your service, but if they're well-optimized, they also ensure your site shows up in search results. By optimizing your visuals, you’re helping Google understand what they’re about, so it knows if they are relevant.
Use descriptive file names for your images. Instead of IMG_1234.jpg, name your file something like “moving-truck-dallas.jpg”.
You can also use alt text, which is a short description that tells Google what the image shows. For example, your alt text could be: “Our team loading boxes into a moving truck in Fort Worth”.
4. Technical SEO
Technical SEO is about making sure your moving company website is easy for both people and search engines to understand and use.
This type of SEO can be tricky to get right, so you may want to hire an agency that offers professional SEO services.
Here are four key areas of technical SEO that every moving company should pay attention to:
⚙️ Mobile optimization
Over 60% of Google’s organic search traffic in the U.S. comes from mobile devices. If your website doesn’t work well on a mobile device, Google is less likely to want to show it in its search engine results pages (SERPs).
Google also uses mobile-first indexing, which means it looks at your site's mobile version first when deciding how to rank you. A site that’s hard to use on a phone probably won’t rank well.
⚙️ Page speed
Nobody likes a slow website, especially not your potential customers. In fact, 40% of online users will leave a site if it takes more than three seconds to load. Google also uses page speed as a ranking factor, so this is something to watch out for.
⚙️ Schema markup
Schema markup is a small piece of code added to your website that helps search engines better understand your content.
It can also help your site stand out in Google search results with things like star ratings, business hours, and customer reviews.
Adding schema markup doesn’t guarantee you’ll get higher rankings, but it can make your search results more informative, really encouraging more clicks to your website.
⚙️ Secure websites
If your website isn’t secure and doesn’t use HTTPS, Google may flag it as unsafe, which can make you look untrustworthy to potential customers.
Ensure your website has an SSL certificate, which turns your website into HTTPS. You can see if a website has HTTPS by looking in the search bar ahead of the URL:
Most hosting companies offer this for a small fee. Once you’ve installed HTTPS, your whole website should ideally redirect to the secure version.
5. Keyword research
To get your moving company to rank, you need to know what potential customers are typing into the search bar. This is where keyword research comes in.
💬 What is keyword research, and why is it important?
Keyword research is the process of figuring out what words and phrases people use when they search for services like yours online. For example, someone might type:
“Local movers near me”.
“Moving companies in Tampa”.
“How much does a moving company cost?”
These search terms are called keywords, and if your website has the right ones, you’re much more likely to show up in search results.
Keyword research matters for your moving business because it:
Helps you attract real customers: people actively looking for moving services.
Makes your website more relevant in Google’s eyes.
Helps you get ahead of competitors who aren’t targeting the right keywords.
💬 The types of keywords you want to rank for
There are various types of keywords. As a moving company, you’ll want to focus on terms that reflect exactly what your potential customers need. Here are the main types to focus on:
Local keywords
Local keywords include the cities or areas you serve because most people search for movers in their specific location. Examples include:
“Movers in Chicago”.
“Moving companies Brooklyn NY”.
“Best local movers near me”.
Service-specific keywords
These describe the services you offer. As we’ve mentioned already, each keyword should be matched with a dedicated page on your website.
Some examples of service-specific keywords are:
“Long-distance moving company”.
“Commercial movers in Austin”.
“Packing and unpacking services”
Informational keywords
Informational keywords are questions or topics people search for when planning a move. They are usually long-tail keywords, which are made up of several words or a full question. You can create blog posts or FAQs on your website around these keywords.
Below are some informational keyword examples:
“How to prepare for a move”.
“Moving checklist for families”.
“How much to tip movers?”
This moving company is targeting the informational keyword “how much does it cost to hire professional movers?” in a blog post on their website:
High-intent keywords
High-intent keywords show that someone is ready to book a moving company soon. These are some of the most valuable searches to rank for. Examples include:
“Hire movers near me”.
“Get a moving quote in Denver”.
“Same day movers available now”.
💬 How to find relevant keywords for your moving company
You can use keyword research tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Keyword Planner to find and target moving company keywords.
Let’s say you’re a moving company in Charlotte that offers both long-distance and local moves. You could use Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer to find keywords to target for these services.
To understand how Ahrefs works, you need to know what these two terms mean:
Search volume: This is the average number of times a keyword is searched each month.
Keyword Difficulty (KD): This is a score that tells you how difficult it would be to rank on page one of Google for the keyword.
You could aim to target a broader keyword like “moving company near me”. This is a good keyword to target because it’s local and has good search volume. However, as you can see below, it could be super hard to rank for this term:
A better option would be to be more specific about your services and location. An example could be “long-distance movers Charlotte”. As you can see, it could be easy to rank for and still has decent search volume:
6. Content strategy
A great way to increase traffic and customers to your site is by creating helpful, search-optimized blog content.
In fact, 74% of marketers say content marketing helps generate both demand and leads.
When you publish useful articles that answer common questions, you appear in more Google searches, build trust with potential customers, and position your moving company as a local expert.
✍️ Write helpful blog posts
People who plan to move have a ton of questions. By answering them on your blog, you can attract these customers before they even start shopping around for a mover.
A few ideas for helpful and informative blog posts could be:
“How to Pack Fragile Items for a Move”.
“Moving Tips to Reduce Stress”.
“The Cost of Moving in [City]”
This moving company has written an informative, helpful guide on their blog about how soon people should start packing for a move. This blog post is potentially capturing customers before they’re looking for a mover:
✍️ Create location-specific guides
Publishing location-specific blog posts is a clever way to target people in your service area. These posts can rank for really specific keywords that bigger moving companies may not be using.
Examples include:
“Best Moving Companies in Phoenix, AZ”.
“Top 5 Neighborhoods to Move to in Charlotte”.
“What to Know Before Moving to Austin”.
In the example below, you can see that this moving company creates location-specific guides for each area that it serves:
Earn Powerful Backlinks That Get Your Moving Business Real Results
Getting your moving company to rank on Google doesn’t have to be complicated. By focusing on the basics, like optimizing your website, building local citations, earning backlinks, and creating helpful content, you can land more customers.
If you want expert help growing your online presence with proven, white-hat link-building strategies, Linkbuilder can help you earn the authority your site needs to rank.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your moving company succeed online with powerful backlinks!