Key Takeaways
- Sending Traffic to the Homepage: This is probably the most common mistake.
- Bidding on the Wrong Keywords: Broad match keywords are the default in google ads, and they’ll burn through budget fast on searches that have nothing to do with booking a move.
- No Follow-Up System After the First Call: Most people don’t book on the first call.
- Ignoring the Quality Score: Google scores your ads partly based on how relevant your landing page is to the keyword.
Plenty of moving companies have tried Google Ads and walked away convinced it doesn’t work. Usually, that’s not the platform’s fault. It’s the setup. The same patterns show up again and again, and they’re fixable.
Sending Traffic to the Homepage
This is probably the most common mistake. Someone searches “residential movers in Denver,” clicks your ad, and lands on a homepage full of navigation links, generic copy, and a phone number buried halfway down the page. The visit lasts eight seconds and they’re gone.
Every campaign needs a dedicated landing page that matches the search intent. If the ad says “residential movers,” the page should say “residential movers” in the headline, list what’s included, show reviews from residential customers, and make it dead simple to get a quote. That alignment between ad and page is what turns clicks into calls.
Bidding on the Wrong Keywords
Broad match keywords are the default in Google Ads, and they’ll burn through budget fast on searches that have nothing to do with booking a move. Terms like “moving boxes,” “moving tips,” “DIY moving,” or “moving abroad” can trigger your ads and cost you real money with zero chance of conversion.
Start with phrase match or exact match keywords. Build a negative keyword list before you launch, not after. “Free,” “DIY,” “rental,” “international,” “tips,” and “jobs” are a good starting point for exclusions. Check your search terms report weekly in the first month and keep adding negatives. It’s tedious, but it’s where you save the most money.
No Follow-Up System After the First Call
Most people don’t book on the first call. They get a quote, hang up, and compare two or three other companies. If you’re not following up within 24 hours, you’re losing jobs to whoever does. A simple CRM with automated follow-up texts and a callback reminder can recover a significant chunk of those leads.
The math here matters. If you’re spending $50 per lead and converting 20% of them, your cost per booked job is $250. Get your follow-up process right and you might push that to 30%. Same ad spend, 50% more booked jobs.
Ignoring the Quality Score
Google scores your ads partly based on how relevant your landing page is to the keyword. Low quality scores mean you’re paying more per click than competitors who’ve built tighter campaigns. It’s a compound problem: bad setup leads to expensive clicks, which leads to burned-out budgets and the conclusion that “ads don’t work.”
Tighter keyword groups, landing pages that match the keyword closely, and fast page load times all push quality scores up. Better scores mean lower cost-per-click. Over time, the gap between a well-run campaign and a poorly structured one is substantial.