Key takeaways
- An audit is how you check what you have been paying for. Run it yourself before you trust anyone's report.
- The quote form is where most moving websites lose customers. Test it on a phone as a customer would.
- Search Console shows which pages Google has indexed and which searches bring visitors. It is free.
- Every audit should end with a short list of fixes, each with an owner and a date.
An SEO audit for a moving company website checks whether Google can find your pages, whether customers can request a quote on a phone, and whether your profile and site back each other up. You can run the core of it in an hour with free tools. It is also the simplest way to check what an agency has been doing for you.
What an audit checks
A useful audit looks at four things, in the order a customer meets them:
- Can Google find and index the pages? Your local moves, long-distance, packing and storage pages, plus the area pages.
- Does the site work on a phone? Speed, layout, and above all the quote form.
- Does the site look trustworthy to a cautious customer? Licensing and insurance details where they apply, real crew and truck photos, a clear explanation of how estimates work.
- Can you measure it? Whether quote requests from search arrive in your moving software with a source attached.
If an agency has been working on your site, the audit tells you whether the pages, fixes and tracking they reported actually exist.
What an audit checks
Google profile
- Categories and services
- Service area and hidden address
- Photos and review replies
Website
- Speed on a phone
- A page for each service
- Titles and descriptions
Reviews
- How recent they are
- Whether each one is answered
Listings
- Name and phone consistent
- Duplicate listings
Tracking
- Calls tracked by source
- Forms tracked to bookings
Run a quick self-audit
- Search like a customer (10 minutes). On your phone, search "movers near me" and "long distance movers" from your office, then from an area you serve 20 or 30 minutes away. Note where you appear in the Map Pack and in the organic results.
- Check what Google has indexed (15 minutes). In Search Console, open the Pages report (Search Console). Look for your service and area pages under "Indexed". If the long-distance or storage page is missing, Google is not showing it to anyone.
- See which searches bring visitors (10 minutes). In the Performance report, sort queries by clicks. If most clicks come from your company name, search is barely finding you for anything else.
- Test speed on the page that matters (5 minutes). Run your quote page through PageSpeed Insights (PageSpeed Insights) on mobile. Large truck photos and embedded widgets are the usual reasons a moving site is slow (Core Web Vitals).
- Request a quote yourself (10 minutes). On your phone, fill in the form as a customer would: date, origin and destination, home size. Time it. Then check it arrived in SmartMoving, Supermove or your inbox, with a lead source attached.
- Compare the profile with the site (10 minutes). Name, phone number and services should match. The profile's website link should go to a relevant page, not just the home page.
Write each problem down as you find it. That list is your audit.
Most common problems for moving and storage companies
The same problems turn up on moving websites again and again:
| Problem | How it shows up | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Quote form in a third-party frame | Requests arrive, but analytics cannot say which came from search | Set up form tracking that works with the embedded form, or a lead-source field the customer cannot skip |
| A template site shared with other movers | Pages read like every other mover's, and rank poorly | Rewrite service pages with your own pricing factors, crews and photos |
| No long-distance or storage page | You never appear for those searches, even if you do the work | Build one page for each service |
| Town pages that only swap the name | Many pages indexed, few visits, almost no quotes | Merge them into fewer, real area pages |
| A site on a lead vendor's account | You cannot edit it, and you would lose it if you left | Move the domain and site into your own name |
| Trust details missing | Visitors leave before asking for a quote | Add the registration and insurance details customers look for, plus photos of your own trucks |
| Last summer's offer still live | The site looks unattended | Date every offer and remove it when it ends |
What to do after the audit
Fix what blocks quote requests first, then what blocks trust, then what blocks rankings.
- This week: a broken or slow quote form, a missing lead source, a profile link pointing to the wrong page.
- This month: trust details, real photos, the profile's name and services matching the site (Google's guidelines).
- Before peak season: missing service pages, area pages that need rebuilding, and indexing problems.
Give each fix a name and a date. Then rerun steps 1 to 3 in a month and see what moved. If an agency's report says pages were built and Search Console has never heard of them, you have your answer. For a fuller list to work through, see the local SEO checklist for moving companies.
How VETS Growth Marketing helps
The free growth consultation covers the same ground as this audit, your site and Google profile, plus your ads and follow-up, and turns what it finds into a short list of dated fixes. If we do the work, every account stays in your name and we report booked moves, not audit scores. Book a growth consultation and leave with the five fixes that matter most, whether or not you hire us.
Sources
- Google Search Console, Google
- PageSpeed Insights, Google
- Understanding Core Web Vitals and Google search results, Google Search Central
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help