Most Important Keywords For A Moving Company

At Rotate Digital, we understand that success in the moving industry comes down to ranking for the right money keywords. Our work with numerous moving companies across the U.S. and Canada has allowed us to build a robust database of high-performing, proven keywords.

Keywords are the words and phrases people type into search engines when they’re looking for a service—like a moving company. When you use the right keywords, your website appears in front of the people who need your services the most—along with a few other key ingredients that make up a strong SEO strategy.

You can find a really simplified breakdown of how search engines work.

Here is the breakdown if you’re interested in the individual parts:

• Crawling
• Indexing
• Serving

Back to the most important keywords for a moving company..

These are the foundational steps that determine how your website is found and ranked.

Now, back to the most important keywords for a moving company…

At Rotate Digital, we’ve closely studied user search behavior and discovered that people follow specific patterns when searching for moving services. These patterns are especially consistent within the moving industry.

We’ve refined and optimized these patterns to identify the exact keywords that drive the most traffic and generate high-quality leads.

By using these proven keywords, you make it easier for potential customers to find your business online—helping your website not only attract more visitors but also convert them into paying customers.

For example, someone might search for “moving services near me.” While that seems simple, there’s a twist—there are dozens of variations like “affordable movers,” “local moving companies,” or “best moving company” that also compete in the same space.

Try running a quick Google search using any of these keywords. You’ll notice that Google doesn’t just surface pages with exact-match keywords—it prioritizes the pages that are genuinely helpful and relevant to the user. Simple, right?

That’s why, even though keyword optimization seems straightforward at first, it can quickly become complex with all the buzzwords and search variations out there.

• User Intent is Key: Google focuses on delivering pages that best meet the user’s needs, not just those with exact keyword matches.
• Quality Over Quantity: It’s not just about stuffing keywords; it’s about using the right ones that match the search patterns.
• Expertise Matters: While it might look simple on the surface, the real challenge is sifting through countless SEO trends to identify the keywords that truly drive traffic and conversions.
• Simplify Your Strategy: By understanding the actual search behavior and using proven keywords, you can boost your visibility without getting lost in the SEO buzz.

These keywords tend to have the highest search volume and are among the best to optimize for. Below, we’ve broken down the top 32 general moving keywords that are essential for any moving company’s SEO strategy.

The search volume figures provided are reported at the state-wide level. For a more detailed view of how many searches occur in your specific service area, consider drilling down further using tools like Serpfox, which offer localized search volume insights.

Keep in mind that these numbers are closely correlated with population size, demand for movers, and the overall size of a city. Typically, in metro areas, you can expect around 1,500 to 1,800 monthly searches on the top keywords. The numbers generally decline further down the list, though there are always exceptions.

The data referenced comes from Ahrefs—a tool we trust for modeling monthly search volumes. While Ahrefs and similar tools may slightly underreport actual numbers, the relative distribution and keyword rankings remain reliable, aligning with the patterns we observe across our clients.

Disclaimer: None of the data from our clients has been directly posted on this blog. Instead, it has been used as a reference to confirm the ground truth behind these trends.

While our previous list focused on general moving keywords, it’s important to note that many users search for moving services using city-specific terms. For example, someone might search for “New York movers” or “Los Angeles moving companies” rather than just “movers.” These city-based keywords help capture local traffic and lead to more targeted customer engagement.

Much like general keywords, city-specific keywords follow a similar pattern: larger cities typically have a bigger population, which translates to higher demand and greater search volume. However, the exact numbers can vary significantly depending on the metro area. In major cities, monthly search volume for these localized terms can be substantially higher, while in smaller markets, the numbers tend to be more modest.

Understanding the search volume and demand for city-specific keywords is crucial because it allows you to tailor your SEO strategy to your local market. Just like with general keywords, using local SEO tools—such as Serpfox—can give you more granular insights into your specific area, helping you identify the most effective keywords to target for your business.

Remember, while the overall trend holds true—more people means more searches—the details can vary widely depending on the unique characteristics of each city or metro area.

For this example, we’ve chosen Dallas. Below are the top-performing keywords for moving companies in Dallas, reflecting the high local demand for moving services. By targeting these keywords, you can boost your local SEO visibility and attract more Dallas-based customers.

The distribution above shows that most cities follow a similar pattern—about 90% of the cases exhibit a clear trend in keyword search volumes. This makes it crucial to do in-depth keyword research tailored to your specific area.

Using a paid tool like Ahrefs or hiring a digital marketing company specializing in movers can help you fine-tune your strategy and ensure you’re targeting the most effective keywords for your business.

Here is the distribution of the city keywords ranked by search volume:=

If you read this far it means you have a general idea of the best keywords to optimize for. The next step would be to take these and implement them in your SEO strategy. While the topic of optimization of keywords for moving companies is a topic of its own we are here t to tell you what not to do:

• Do not try to go after all possible keywords
• Do not overfit your pages with keywords
• Google is smarter than you think, a.k.a optimizing for “near me” keywords although temping is simply dumb
• Do not try to fool the system, it will only last for a short period before the next update hits you and you need a lot more time to recover you loss
• Do not canabalize your pages , a.k.a don’t have two pages competing for the same keyword
• Do not optimize for the wrong intent

• Step 1: A good starting point is taking the keywords and placing them according to your strategy. 
• Step 2: Closely watch the movement and make sure you are matching intent
• Step 3: Don’t be afraid to accept you were wrong, its a trial and error especially for someone just starting out

Tip: If you do not have any of the tools for keyword research you can always get a free SEO audit from Rotate Digital. Within the audit you can find the list of keywords you rank, do the math on how much market share you have and how much there is on the table.

Extra Tip: You can also hire the best seo agency for moving companies, Rotate Digital  to do all the work for you so you don’t have too.