SEO Tips for Moving Companies in Austin

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Intro

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Moving and storage is a highly competitive industry.

The sheer number of firms in the field in Austin ensures that only the best and most adaptive survive. This article will prepare you to take on the SEO aspects of your marketing. Without further ado, let’s dive in.

1. Create Google My Business Account

When it comes to finding movers, people do a quick online search to find out who’s the best. And one way to showcase your excellence in this field is to open a Google My Business Account.

It allows you to share your business address, contact, and operational hours. You can also upload photos, including the 360 degrees one, onto your business account. For example, it looks as in the below image.

You leverage ‘near me’ searches through My Business account, booming since 2011.

For example, suppose someone owning a business in Austin is shifting to a new address. They are most likely to enter the search phrase “Movers near Austin”. 

If you have listed your business on Google, yours will be one of the several that will appear on search results.

Read: Step-by-step Setup Guide for Google My Business Set up

2. Study Your Competitors

Competition in the digital marketplace has made analysis a key strategy for businesses. As for SEO, these are the major areas of interest.

• What are the major keywords your competitor ranks for
• Which are the top websites linking up with your competitor
• What type of content are they using to attract visitors

Here Are Three Tools You Can Use For Competitor Analysis:

1. SEMRush: Use this tool to find out your competitors' priced link providers. It helps analyze competitor traffic, backlinks, social performance, etc. 

1. Ahrefs: Ahrefs will display your competitors’ cash keywords and how much traffic they pull.
2. MozBar: It’s a browser extension that helps you determine the ‘authority’ of each website.

3. Let Your Design Speak

A well-designed website is a cornerstone of SEO. People tend to conclude a website within seconds of landing on one. 

If your website is well-designed, the user will stick around to read your content. If it’s not, the user will ‘bounce’ (more on this soon).

Keep these three points in mind:

• Remember to have plenty of visuals, including pictures and charts.
• Choose a color or a combination thereof to represent your brand. For example, take a look at the below screenshot. You’ll easily know that it’s Netflix. 

• Use this color combination consistently throughout your design.

Website design is especially important for movers. There is a tonne of options available for users on SERPs. That’s how much competition there is in your field.

Read: Importance of Website Design for a Website

 4. Your Navigation Makes or Breaks A Deal

Website navigation is as important as design. Simply put, it is how content is placed on a website. You should place the most important information within 3-4 clicks of the landing page. This ensures less time for users to make a decision. 

Take a look at this screenshot; the site has easier navigation to choose the services required for their chosen location. 

Now, you can also apply Hick’s Law to ensure your website has smooth navigation. According to this law:

The time one takes to decide is directly proportional to the options available.

So, a website should have well-written but least call-to-action buttons.

Here's How Good Navigation Helps You With SEO:

• Higher Dwell Time: Dwell time is when a user spends on the page after landing on one. Easy navigation helps users to explore the website instead of bouncing.

• Increases User Experience: Good navigation helps users easily find the information they want
• Higher Sales/Conversion Rate: Right information helps customers reach the conversion stage faster

5. Narrow Down Your Keyword Research

Finding the right keywords leads to higher sales. Selecting them, however, can be daunting owing to the variety of search terms. Be that as it may, there is one rule of thumb:

A Balance Between Volume And Competition

This entails finding long-tail keywords rich in intent but low in competition. Let’s take an example. 

The headword ‘movers’ has a massive search volume. But it doesn’t have any intent, meaning traffic coming through this word rarely converts.

On the other hand, ‘Trustworthy movers in Austin’ is a long-tail keyword rich in intent. Those searching with this keyword are more likely to convert and thus more valuable. 

Use SEO tools like Keywords.io, SEMrush, or others to find these low, competitive long-tail keywords.

Still Not Convinced?

Here Are Three Reasons Why You Should Bank On Long-Tail Keywords

• Easier to rank compared with short-tail keywords
• Brings the right user to your website
• Leads to better brand awareness 

6. Let Reviews Work Their Wonder

There is a reason why platforms like YouTube offer ad-free versions. More and more users detest ads - 3 out of 4 people (a study by Edelman’s Trust Barometer in 2021).

On the other hand, trust in User Generated Content (UGC) is rising. Many businesses have exclusive sections on their websites to place customer reviews.

Reviews are valued in the moving industry, focusing on specific localities. As per stats, more than 50% of people read reviews before purchasing. Hence, all businesses focus on getting positive reviews, as shown in the image below. 

Here’s How You Can Gather Such Content:

• Encourage customers to leave a review or comment on your website
• If the review is negative, reply and try to solve the issue as soon as possible
• Post resolving the issue, make sure you gather responses from the customer

7. Page Titles and Meta-Descriptions

Your efforts to show up high on SERPs will fail if your page title and meta-description are poorly written. 

A page title is shown in blue on SERPs, and a meta-description is that small write-up just below it. Here’s how it looks on SERPs.

How To Make Page Titles SEO Friendly

• Character count should not go beyond 55
• Add your main keyword in the page title
• Ensure Google doesn’t add your brand name

How To Make Meta-Descriptions SEO Friendly

Meta descriptions should be a summary of what the website contains. As it determines the Click-Through Rate (CTR), keep these points in mind:

• Keep the description short: 150 characters maximum (120 for mobile screens)
• Use multiple sentences for easy comprehension
• Make different descriptions for different web pages
• Place your main keyword meaningfully inside the description

Read: Tips to Personalize Your Website/Onpage Content

8. Draw As Much Link Juice As Possible

Link juice refers to the authority a website draws by linking with relevant websites. You can do this two ways:

1. A) Linking out with relevant websites
2. B) Attracting links using content (backlinks)

Linking out with businesses in your city helps search engines determine the field you are in. This will help your search engine rankings.

It’s, however, backlinks that bring authority. They are like approvals of the quality of your content. 

As such, high-quality content is essential for attracting quality backlinks. It’s believed that getting backlinks from high DA sites, as in the below image, increases a site's authority. 

Here Are A Few Other Tips To Obtain Backlinks

• Competitor analysis
• Useful infographics
• Tools like Google Analytics to find out types of content that attract the most links

9. Don’t Ignore Loading Speed

Don’t ignore loading speed in the eager pursuit of keywords and backlinks. It plays a major role in getting users ‘actually’ to visit your site.

The ideal loading time for any website is below three seconds. Any longer and you run the risk of losing the user. Loading speed is important for movers as their customers usually hurry. Take a look at the below screenshot of a mover company that loads in 2.1 seconds. 

If your website has an issue with the page loading, here are a few tips.

Compress Your Images: Most websites contain many images, adding weight to the page.

Reduce HTTP Requests: One way to do this is to use CSS sprites. They combine several images into one tile for easy browser download.

Separate HTML And Javascript/CSS Files: Placing the latter two in an HTML file makes it heavier. The rule of thumb is to place them as external files.

10. Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

Both desktops and laptops can’t claim to be the top dog for search volume. That title goes to mobile devices. The use of smartphones to access the web has been on the rise. 

Optimizing websites for smartphone screens is no longer an option. So try mobile device testing platforms to see how your site looks and how friendly it’s to access. 

Here’s How Screen Optimization Affects SEO

• User Experience: Unoptimized websites are displayed haphazardly. Sometimes, a webpage doesn’t load at all.
• Revenue: If people can access your website on the go, more people will visit you, leading to higher sales.
• More Reach: It’s easier for customers to share your link or screenshots, giving you better reach.

11. Have Dedicated Service Pages

A moving company often operates in different cities. They, however, don’t always use service pages dedicated to each city. This is leaving a lot on the table. Here’s why.

People Add Locations In Search Terms

Suppose you have a service page only for Austin. But you have services in Jollyville and Anderson Mill as well. So, people searching for movers in these cities won't see you as they add locations to their search terms.

That’s not all; having dedicated service pages will get you:

• Personal connection with the resident
• More opportunities to link up with local businesses
• Possibility of obtaining more reviews and other UGC

12. Make an Appealing Landing Page

It's onto a landing page that a user arrives at after clicking on a link. A poorly-planned landing page, as such, increases bounce rate. A bounce happens when a user leaves a site without navigating to another page. 

For example, take a look at the below screenshot. The user cannot read the text on the landing page, which annoys them and bounces. 

A high bounce rate signals search engines that the content on the website is of low quality. This, in turn, affects your rankings on search results.

Read: Benefits of Creating High converting Landing pages for Ecommerce

To Make Landing Pages Appealing, Follow These Tips:

1) Have an attractive visual accompanied by a suitable headline and introduction.

2) Include testimonials and interviews of satisfied customers

3) Avoid grammatical errors in copy

Also, make use of negative space. It's the space between large and small segments on your website. Use them with strong call-to-action buttons, and you can guide users to convert.

Three Bonus Tips

I) List Your Business On Authoritative Online Citations

Here Is a List of Citations from the Web

1. Yelp

It's an online directory of businesses with filters ranging from localities to prices. Yelp allows users to leave reviews and comments.

2. Angi

You can find local service providers through Angi, a website, and an app. You can also leave reviews (verified by Angi) on this platform.

3. Apple maps

Having your business listed on Apple maps will boost your local SEO. This is because voice searches using Apple's Siri are gaining popularity.

4. Yellow Pages

It's the digital version of the traditional yellow page directories. The credibility of this directory helps businesses win quality leads.

5. Home Advisor

It connects homeowners with local service providers such as electricians, masons, and carpenters. It also offers content on home improvement and repair.

6. Houzz

A platform to share ideas on home improvement. Interested homeowners can review your projects and hire you based on your ratings.

7. Manta

Manta is one of the largest local small business directories in the US. It's ideal for individual homeowners to research and find the services they need.

8. Thumbtack

Thumbtack is a free service that allows users to find local services, hire, rate, and review their works. It has categories ranging from home improvement to photography.

9. Consumer Affairs

This platform allows businesses to converse with customers and address their grievances. This helps in winning back customer trust and patronage.

10. Expertise

This website helps people find top service professionals in over 200 industries. Services range from roofers to attorneys.

II) Publish Your Website in Top Directories

Here is a List of Moving Directories You can Consider

1. Moving

Moving is a part of realtor.com. It is an online directory of movers. The filters it offers, including types of moving, make searching this directory super easy.

2. ProMatcher

ProMatcher is a directory that offers information on local services. Apart from company profiles and costs, it also has FAQs on such services.

3. Find Movers Now

Find movers is one of the largest directories of moving firms in the US. The interface is easy to use and offers filters to find movers of your choice.

4. Van Lines

Van Lines has many firms catering to local or interstate moving. Apart from contacts, it's a repository of information on budget moving.

5. Movers Directory

An all-in-one platform to find movers helps you compare quotes from different firms. It can also guide you in choosing the right service.

III) Write High-quality Content on Your Blog

Here is a list of Top Moving Company Blogs You Can Refer

1. Austin Moving Forward

Find posts on the A-Z of moving on this blog. Topics covered range from moving with pets and moving for a short period.

2. Greater Austin Moving

A blog is known for its superbly written posts on different aspects of moving. Though not much about design, the blog covers many topics.

3. Heavenly Moving & Storage

A moving company based out of Texas stands out with a superb blog detailing various aspects of moving. Posts focus on affordability and minimal damage.

4. Firefighter Movers

Floated by two firefighters in 2001, the firm soon gained professionalism. Its well-stacked blog is a treasure trove of valuable information on safely relocating.

5. Austin Van & Storage

The blog of this company is full of useful posts on long-distance moving. Posts topics like moving pianos have been well-received and reviewed by users.

6. Bronko Box 

This blog focuses mainly on moving to Austin. Posts range from moving during inclement weather and methods of storage.

Key Takeaways

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• Conduct competitor analysis before devising SEO strategies.
• Focus on low-competition long-tail keywords rich in intent 
• Have a clean design with easy navigation
• Ensure landing page loads within 3-4 seconds
• Ask customers to leave a comment or review
• Address negative reviews ASAP to retain customer
• Optimize page titles and meta-descriptions to increase CTR 
• Have a blog attached to your website, write posts on moving
• Link up with other websites and attract links from them