How to get to the top of Google search results
Homeowners don’t move very often. In fact, only 10% of Americans are moving each year, according to a study performed by Moving.com, a trend that has steadily declined since 1998. Fewer people moving, combined with the fact that the majority of Google users don’t scroll past the 5th result, presents an inherent marketing challenge for moving companies: How do you keep your lead pipeline full?
Without leads and booked moves on the schedule, your trucks and teammates won’t be moving—they’ll be stagnant. More importantly, you won’t be collecting revenue from completed jobs.
So, how do you fill your pipeline with qualified prospects?
Get your moving company on the first page of Google.
How do you get your moving company to the top of Google search results?
Our moving company digital marketing experts explore the answer to this question below.
Let’s get started.
Local Services Ads Put Your Moving Company At the Top of Google Search Results
Imagine a world where you connect with a customer at the precise moment they’re looking for the moving services you offer. Pretty appealing, right?
Luckily, you don’t need to imagine this mythical universe because it already exists—enter Google Local Services.
Local Services ads occupy the most prized real estate on Google search results…the very top of the page!
Google users rely on local services ads to contact local businesses
Over the years, Google has evolved its search results to connect its users directly with local businesses. No other Google updates have impacted local service businesses to the extent Local Services has.
Local Services ads by Google receive 13.8% of local search result clicks. Meaning, if you’re not investing in Local Services ads for movers, you’re missing out on nearly 14% of all potential customers. That’s real revenue left on the table.
The presence of Local Services ads also affects the number of clicks driven by your moving company’s pay per click strategy (PPC) and search engine optimization strategy (SEO). Meaning, by choosing to not invest in Local Services ads for movers, you’re not only neglecting those 14% of homeowners who use Local Services ads to book a moving consultation, but you will also see a decrease in overall lead click and lead volume from your other digital marketing campaigns.
How Does Google Local Services Work?
Local Services is a pay per lead platform, not pay per click (PPC). You only pay Google when someone calls your business and is a verified lead, not whenever someone clicks your ad. Utilizing Local Services is the surest available way to connect with guaranteed, qualified leads who want what you offer at the exact time they’re looking for it.
How Much Do Leads from Local Services Ads Cost?
For as little $15 per verified lead in some markets (and up to $50 in other markets), your moving company can own a piece of Google’s most valuable real estate. And for that relatively small investment, you only hear from leads who are likely to hire your moving company services.
Other Benefits of Local Services Ads for Movers
Not convinced Local Services is worth your time and money? Here’s some further incentives to hopefully change your mind:
- You get a
- – Homeowners have added trust knowing your company is backed by Google. This also comes with a $2,000 lifetime cap of coverage to reimburse customers with should they not be satisfied with your services.
- You pay nothing to sign up and can pause your ad at any time – Control your advertising budget with ease and pause ads when your schedule is fully booked to conserve money.
- You can get your money back from Google for unqualified leads – Did a homeowner call you that is outside of your service area? Was the homeowner looking for services your moving company does offer (like packing services or piano moving)? When unqualified leads call you from Local Services ads, you can refute the lead with Google and they will give you your money back.
- 97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else – Your customers are using Google as their primary method to find moving companies. Meet your customers where they are.
Local Services ads are also used to power search results from voice search queries like “moving company near me” or “moving company in [City, State].”
Including Local Services ads as part of your overall moving company digital marketing strategy is a fantastic way to instantly connect with people in your area who want and need your services, and get your moving company on page one of Google.
Supplement Local Services with Pay Per Click Ads to Get Your Moving Company On the First Page of Google
Similar to Local Services, Google Ads is a paid advertising platform owned by Google that will help get your moving company to the top of search results.
Google Ads operates on a pay per click (PPC) model where your company bids on keywords and pays Google each time someone clicks on your ad. PPC marketing is simply purchasing ads on search engines to gain more website traffic.
Paid search ads appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) on both desktop and mobile and feature the word “Ad” in them. Google says that, on average, paid ads that appear on the first page of Google get far more clicks than ones that appear on other results pages.
For moving companies who often face strong local and national competition, it literally pays to pay to be where customers are looking for your services.
For good measure, here are three more good reasons for investing in PPC ads:
- For every $1 they spend on PPC ads, businesses make an average of $2 in income.
- The average organic (SEO) click-through rate is around two percent. Paid Google ads have an astounding 11.38% click-through rate.
- High intent search ads get 65% of all clicks (aka those where the searcher is highly motivated – like homeowners who need a moving company).
Pay close attention to that last statistic because it’s highly relevant to moving companies. While people occasionally do informational searches for moving companies, say when they’re thinking about taking a job in another city, for the most part people are looking for a moving company because, well, they’re getting ready to move!
The quicker and easier it is for someone to find your moving company on at the top of Google, the more likely they are to do business with you.
Done right, PPC campaigns are affordable, scalable, and nicely complement your Local Services ads and search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Let’s talk about SEO for moving companies next.
Search Engine Optimization: First Page Google Results for Moving Companies
Paid ads (like Local Services and Google Ads) are like renting a home. Search engine optimization (SEO) is like owning your home. SEO services build equity on the first page of Google results for your business.
- Local Services ads come first
- PPC ads are below Local Services
- Organic (SEO) results come third
To get your moving company listed at the top of organic search results requires implementing an SEO strategy for your moving company’s website. The rewards for investing your time and money to become an SEO powerhouse can be significant.
Search engines can be picky about how they rank companies and for good reason. They want to know that their users are getting the best possible results for their search efforts. To do that, they rank web pages based on more than 200 unique ranking factors that all work together to determine how high you rank on Google.
200 ranking factors is a lot! Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Add content to your site that’s been optimized with moving related keywords and phrases that are relevant to what customers search for. Blog posts, articles, handy moving guides, and landing pages properly optimized will all help increase your website’s ranking. A nice bonus for doing so: when you offer great content, you’re more likely to have others link back to it (backlinks). Search engines see that as a plus for your business and reward you with a higher ranking.
- Link out to credible sites that have a high domain authority (DA). Search engines, including Google, like that you recognize quality content and will reward your site for it.
- Use available reporting and analytics tools to monitor your site and evaluate the sites of your competitors. Then use that data to create SEO campaigns that boost your ranking and drive relevant traffic to your moving company website.
SEO generally takes more time to show results, but once it does, you’re well on your way to regularly driving more traffic to your site and increasing your customer base.
Combine Local SEO Strategies with Your Greater SEO Campaign to Get On the First Page of Google
There’s SEO and then there’s local SEO. In both cases, the goal is to make it easy for people to find your moving company. Local SEO for moving companies is specifically designed to answer the needs of people who are in your geographic region.
Why should you do both? A handy statistic explains it all:
97 percent of people search for local businesses online. Better yet, 80 percent of those local searches result in conversions. You do not want your moving company to miss out on these opportunities.
Here’s how local SEO works:
- A potential customer Googles something like “moving company” or “local movers.” Google then uses their location data to display nearby businesses.
- The top three relevant results appear in what’s known as the “local pack.” You might call these the “maps listings” or “3-pack.”
- To decide if your moving company is “relevant,” Google considers the searcher’s location and your site’s content quality.
To win a coveted local pack ranking, you need to understand the local ranking signals Google uses. They’re consistently tweaked and changed, but tend to include:
- Google My Business (GMB) listings
- Behavioral signals, like click-through rates and check-ins
- Links and citations
- Review signals, including quantity and diversity
- Social signals such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google engagement
There are plenty of more signals that contribute to your local SEO results, but optimizing for these five factors above can help boost your moving company’s local ranking, increase your chances of landing in the local pack, and help more customers find you.
Some proven ways to implement local SEO for your moving company include:
- On-page optimization, like making sure your site is mobile-friendly, has accurate contact information, including a clickable phone number, and pages that load lightning fast.
- Google My Business optimization, including verifying your business, entering complete data for your listing, keeping your hours accurate, adding photos, managing and responding to customer reviews, and optimizing your primary and secondary business categories.
- A strategy for getting more local reviews, including other places around the web beyond Google My Business. We recommend a healthy balance of reviews across Google My Business, Facebook, Yelp, and the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
What should you do if you get some of those unpleasant negative reviews? Use them to your advantage by responding to them in a friendly, empathetic way. You may not salvage the relationship with the unhappy customer (or you just might!), but you will show the people reading the reviews that you treat everyone with the respect they deserve.
Your moving company needs multiple, reliable strategies to attract new customers and secure long-term growth. Investing in local SEO lets your business improve its ranking and move out in front of the competition on the first page of Google.
Maximize Your Online Visibility with Blue Corona
At Blue Corona, we help moving companies across the United States generate more leads and sales from the internet. If you need help getting your moving company on the first page of Google, give us a call or contact us online.
Our team of mover marketers will build a custom marketing strategy designed to maximize your online visibility—starting with Google.
