Moving company owners, is this season slower than the last one? Do the phones seem to have stopped ringing? The market might feel dead. But is it really? Before you chalk it up to a bad season, let’s consider a different perspective. In most cases, it’s not that people stopped needing movers – it’s that their attention (and how they find you) has shifted.
From Yellow Pages to Google: How Customer Attention Shifted
Not so long ago, the Yellow Pages were the go-to source for new customers. If you’ve been in the moving industry for decades, you remember this well. In those days, getting your company’s name listed first in the phone book was gold. Some movers even chose business names like “AAA Moving” or “A1 Movers” just to appear at the very top of the Yellow Pages listings. Using alphabetical order was their version of search optimization!
Then came the internet, and with it, Google. Practically overnight, company names didn’t matter, because customers weren’t searching directories anymore – they were searching online. Moving companies that stayed glued to the old methods started saying, “The phones stopped ringing. The market is dead!” But it wasn’t that people stopped moving or suddenly didn’t need movers. Far from it – people were still moving, maybe more than ever. The attention just shifted to a new place: the internet.
The Decline of Organic Reach
Back in 2012, if you ranked #1 for “moving company near me,” you’d likely get the lion’s share of clicks from potential customers. Today, when a potential customer searches for a mover, they often don’t see any traditional organic results until they scroll down. To visualize this, let’s break down a typical Google search results page for a local service query (for example, “best moving company in “Your Town”):
- Local Services Ads (LSAs) – These appear at the very top. They often show 3 movers with their ratings, a “Google Guaranteed” checkmark, and a phone number. (This is a pay-per-lead ad Google offers for certain industries, including moving companies.)
- Google Search Ads (PPC) – Below the LSAs, you’ll usually see a few traditional text ads labeled “Ad”. These are pay-per-click ads businesses run through Google Ads.
- Google Maps Local Pack – Often, Google will show a map and three local business listings (from Google Business Profiles) beneath the paid ads. This isn’t necessarily a paid ad, but it’s another section that competes for attention above the organic links.
- Organic Search Results (SEO) – Finally, beneath all of the above, you get the regular organic results – the websites that earned their spot with SEO. This could start appearing only after a user scrolls past the ads and map section.
Think about that layout. Your company could be the #1 organic result, but on a typical modern smartphone screen, a customer might see 5–10 other moving companies (ads and map listings) before your free listing even appears. It’s no wonder that the share of clicks on organic results has plummeted.
Google’s Pay-to-Play Search Results
From Google’s perspective, if a user clicks your organic (unpaid) listing, Google earns nothing – if they click a paid ad, Google earns a few dollars. It’s not cynical to say Google wants searchers to click ads; it’s simply their business model. This is why more and more of the search results page is dominated by paid content. For moving companies, that means to get prime visibility online, you can’t rely solely on the “free” route anymore.
Now, this doesn’t mean abandon your SEO efforts. It means recognizing the new reality: SEO alone isn’t enough. You need a combined strategy (SEO plus paid channels) to capture the maximum number of customers.
Facebook & Instagram: The Rise of Meta Ads for Movers
At the same time Google’s organic prominence was shrinking, something interesting was happening on social media. Meta (Facebook/Instagram) ads have dramatically improved in their ability to target the right audience and generate real leads. And it’s not just about advanced targeting based on location, interests, and behaviors — Facebook is also attracting a new wave of users with actual buying power. The platform is no longer just for playing games or scrolling endlessly; it’s where homeowners, families, and professionals — the exact audience moving companies want — are spending time and making decisions.
A lot of moving company owners might think of Facebook as “that thing teenagers were on posting selfies.” But remember, Facebook launched over 15 years ago – and the teens of yesterday are the adults of today. In fact, the largest age group on Facebook right now is 25–34 year olds.
Think about that demographic: people in their mid-20s to mid-30s are prime customers for moving services. They’re graduating college, advancing in careers, getting married, having kids, buying houses – all life events that often involve moving. That “Facebook generation” from a decade ago now has purchasing power and big life changes underway.
The social media advertising platforms have also become much more sophisticated. We can now target ads so that they’re shown to people in specific zip codes, of a certain age range, who have interests or behaviors that suggest they might be moving soon (for example, people browsing real estate sites or looking at home improvement content).
The bottom line: if you’re not advertising on Facebook and Instagram in 2025, you could be leaving a lot of business on the table.
Today’s Young Customers, Tomorrow’s Moving Clients (Hello TikTok!)
If you really want to see where attention is going, look at the generation coming up behind those 25–35 year olds. Teens and early-20-somethings today are glued to platforms like TikTok. Maybe you’ve heard about TikTok as a place for dance videos or viral memes, but it’s evolving into something more: for Gen Z (and the generation after them), TikTok and Instagram aren’t just entertainment apps, they’re becoming search engines of choice. Don’t take our word for it – Google themselves has acknowledged this trend.
This doesn’t mean you need to pivot your whole marketing budget to TikTok ads just yet. But it’s a reminder of a larger principle: marketing channels evolve with each generation. Ten years ago, few would have predicted Facebook would rival Google Ads for local service marketing – yet here we are. Ten years from now, it could be TikTok, or some other platform that doesn’t even exist yet.
“Marketing Doesn’t Work” vs. Using the Right Strategy
By now, a pattern should be clear. Whenever we hear a moving company owner say, “Marketing doesn’t work like it used to” or “This season is just dead; you can’t get leads,” it usually turns out they’re using strategies that no longer match where the customers actually are.
If your phones aren’t ringing, it’s likely not because people aren’t moving or don’t need your service – it’s because your marketing isn’t reaching them. Maybe you’re investing in SEO but haven’t tried running Google Ads or LSAs, so your competitors’ paid listings are eating up all the visibility.
Here’s a quick reality check: people are still moving in 2025 (if anything, migration and moving trends are very dynamic, with people relocating for jobs or lifestyle more than ever). The overall demand for moving services hasn’t collapsed. It’s the way people find and choose their mover that’s radically different from 10 or 20 years ago. Once you accept that, you can start to adjust your strategy and get back in front of your customers.
Conclusion
If this season feels slower, take it as a prompt to reassess your marketing. Are you still pouring effort into something that used to work years ago, at the expense of what works today?
As a moving company owner, you have enough challenges – trucks to maintain, staff to manage, customers to satisfy. The last thing you need is an empty schedule because your marketing hasn’t kept up with the times. The good news is you don’t have to figure it all out alone.
We pride ourselves in staying on top of these shifts, and our mission is to translate that into real results for you. Our strategy focuses on maximizing conversions by leveraging multiple traffic sources: by embracing a mix of updated SEO, strategic Google paid presence, and social media advertising, you can rejuvenate your lead flow and say goodbye to the quiet phone lines.