Elizabeth Nettles
Many people use Google to find local moving companies. After selecting a few results, they'll check out their websites and then decide which ones to choose.
You will miss out on sales opportunities if your site is not among these. First-page search results get the most clicks, with a click-through rate of 35%. After that, the CTR drops dramatically, and for the sixth position and below, it is less than 5%.
So how are you supposed to move up the rankings?
The most effective way to get your website ranked higher is through moving company SEO.
What is SEO for moving companies? SEO stands for “search engine optimization” and refers to the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your moving website through search results.
The basic idea of SEO is that it directs traffic to your site using keywords such as movers, moving company, local moving company, and long-distance moving.
When it comes to marketing your moving company, SEO does not have to be scary. It is not a matter of becoming an expert. Simple SEO tricks can help to drive more potential customers to you on the web.
Here are 11 SEO tips for moving companies to get you started:
11 SEO Tips for Moving COMPANIES
1. Embrace keywords and match phrases
SEO is dysfunctional without keywords and match phrases. When a person is looking for a specific service or product in a particular area, website pages that are relevant to the search will appear on the search engine result page.
Websites and pages optimized for keywords will appear higher up on the SERP (search engine results page) and get the bulk of the traffic. It is important to rank higher on the SERP because it could mean the difference between a few page visits and thousands of page visits.
2. Set up your Google Business Profile
The Google Business Profile helps local businesses list and promote their business on Google Search and Maps.
It is one of the most powerful tools available for moving companies, as it allows them to stand out from the competition and showcase their experience and expertise.
Providing this information on Google's platform will make it easier for people looking for your services to find you.
Local movers should consider it the first thing to do because it is your lowest-hanging fruit.
The Google Business Profile is free, easy to optimize, and appears above the first search result on Google.
You don't even have to touch your website to create and optimize your Google listing.
Make sure you provide all the information in your Google Business Profile and get as many reviews as you can.
It only takes a few minutes to enter your business address, location, contact information, opening hours, images, and links.
3. Provide easy navigation
Ensure your site's navigation is simple and intuitive. Your website must allow users to navigate easily between pages. The right pages should be easy to find for them. Make sure your headings are categorized so people can easily find information.
“About Us,” “Pricing,” and “Types of Audio Visual Rentals” are examples of headings that provide detailed information about the company. Call-to-action buttons make it easy for your customers to take action. Additionally, they make navigation simple and intuitive.
4. Get your reviews up
Local movers should pay attention to reviews. They will enhance your organic visibility as well as increase your conversion rates (the rate at which people come to your website and contact you). Having better reviews than your competitor (even if they rank above you) may lead to you generating more online business than them.
5. Boost local awareness
Get involved in your community by volunteering and sponsoring events. This will allow the press to promote your website for you. It is also possible to write your own press releases, which will help your local moving SEO.
6. Conduct competitor research
Follow the best-performing websites in your area and copy them. Although I'm not suggesting you copy them completely, if they're ranking, then they're doing something right.
7. Put your user first
Instead of spamming, create awesome content with a great user experience. Search engines use engagement metrics as ranking signals. Thus, if people like your site, so will search engines.
Optimize your website for conversions
Without sales, what good are rankings and traffic? Making it easy for those who are ready to contact you (convert into a lead) is important. You can do this by putting a contact form above the fold (at the top of the page) and by pinning a "contact" or "book now" link to your header.
8. Backlinks
Quality content is a big aspect of search engines and though you may know that your website is filled with relevant and useful content, a search engine like google needs help to identify that. One way to determine content quality is through the number of backlinks on your website.
A backlink is the number of links pointing to your website from other sites. Google tracks backlinks from other websites to determine if your content is trustworthy. How do you gain backlinks?
- Posting articles on other websites e.g. you can write articles on moving since you are already an expert
- Link building
Backlinks make your website stand out and Google rewards you for it.
9. Link out to credible pages
This is similar to backlinks in that Google is interested in how well you are providing quality content to those frequenting your site.
They are on the lookout to see that you are linking out to credible sites with high domain authority. A website with a higher DA is more authoritative. Find sites with high DAs that you can link. Google will recognize your efforts to provide quality content for your visitors and reward you for it.
10. Pay attention to your page speed
The amount of time that it takes for your page to load information for a user is very important. If you visit a page that takes forever to load images and text to appear, you will most likely leave.
It is therefore not surprising that Google uses site speed to rank a website. Search engines are interested in user experience. If a page loads slowly, it is definitely giving a user a bad experience. The speed of your page will be used to determine whether your website will be bumped up or down in the SERP.
How can you increase your website speed?
- Optimize your images
- Load background images through external CSS style sheets
- Minimize white space, line returns, and comment tags
- Remove unnecessary META tags and META content
- Minimize unnecessary JavaScript
You can determine the speed of your page by running a website speed test on browsers like www.webpagetest.org
11. Optimize for mobile
Sometimes websites load differently on phones or tablets. They may even not load at all. The issue here is that the website has not been optimized for mobile in that they are neither designed specifically for mobile or are not mobile responsive.
Since search engines are big on user experience, you must ensure that your website has a responsive design. It will save you both time and money.
Do you want to take your SEO marketing to another level? These 11 SEO tips will help you move your moving company website from a lower rank to a higher one. Higher rankings make it easier for you to market your company.
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