Are You Spending Too Much on Google Ads? Data from 500 Movers

The average mover spends $6,300 a month on ads.

You pay for every accidental tap and half-hearted click—but how many of those actually turn into jobs?

Let's look at what you're spending, what other movers are spending, and how to maximize your Google Ads budget so you win more than you lose. 

The truth about Google Ads

Google Ads are a great way to bring in hot leads. But they don’t come cheap. 

Here’s what we know:

• 3 out of 5 moving companies run paid ads
• 68% of them use Google Ads
• 32% use other ad platforms, like Facebook

Smart movers don't sink all their budget into pay per click (PPC). They invest in affiliates, social media, SEO, and 12 more profitable lead sources.  

But paid ads are the meat-and-potatoes of your lead generation strategy.

And with cost per click (CPC) on the rise, you can’t afford to let your team go hungry.

👉Where'd the money go!? Learn why Google might be eating your ad budget.

What are other movers spending?

Here's what real moving companies invest in paid ads (2025 data):

For moving companies with 2-4 trucks

• Budget: $2,000-3,000/month
• Strategy: Target high-intent keywords in your primary service area
• Expected results*: 15-30 leads/month 
• Cost per lead: $66-200 

🤔 At this spend level, conversion tracking and fast follow-up matter more than campaign complexity.

For moving companies with 5-10 trucks

• Budget: $5,000-7,000/month
• Strategy: Expand reach, target premium services, retarget website visitors
• Expected results*: 50-75 leads/month
• Cost per lead: $66-140

🤔 This tier should start tracking job profit by lead source, not just cost per lead.

For moving companies with 11+ trucks

• Budget: $10,000+/month
• Strategy: Multi-location, brand + competitor campaigns, behavior-based retargeting
• Expected results*: 120-160+ leads/month
• Cost per lead: $63-83

🤔 Operators at this size should segment leads by job type and geo and optimize margin, not just volume.

*Actual results vary by market size, season, and how well your funnel converts.

Ready to stop wasting ad dollars? Do this

Here's how successful movers make Google Ads pay off:

1. Know your return on investment

Know your marketing and sales metrics like your favorite coffee order.

Here’s what $3,000/month actually gets you:

• Average cost per click: $15
• Monthly clicks: 300
• Website conversion rate: 8%
• Expected leads: 24
• Average booking rate: 30%
• Expected jobs: 7

If your average job is worth $1,500, that's $10,500 in revenue from a $3,000 investment. 3.5X return? Not bad!

👉Want a better booking rate? Steal Grant Korzetz's strategies for booking 50% of his leads.

2. Get obsessive about conversion tracking

Google will gladly spend as much money as you throw at it. 

It's your job to set the guardrails and make sure clicks turn into profitable jobs:

• Set a strict daily budget
• Track key actions like calls and quote form submissions
• Use a bidding strategy to maximize conversions, not clicks

3. Be smart with your keywords

Nothing burns money faster than vague Broad Match terms.

Want better leads? Choose better keywords:

• Focus your bidding strategy on profitable zip codes (not just cheap clicks)
• Pick your top 5 job types and build targeted keywords around them
• Use negative keywords to filter tire-kickers
• Always use ad extensions to display your phone number

4. Convert more of your clicks

Tired of paying for clicks that immediately bounce from your site?

Try these proven conversion tactics:

• Build landing pages for each of your ad groups or moving services
• Make contact forms shorter (especially for "free quote" CTAs)
• Add social proof (customer reviews, testimonials)

5. Climb in organic rankings, too

Why not show up higher in Google organic results while you're at it?

Ads bring instant visibility. SEO builds over time. The best strategy is both.

• Create content that targets your core services
• Build location-specific landing pages
• Focus on long-tail keywords
• Track performance in Google Analytics

🔥Pro tip: Those expensive keywords devouring your budget? Create killer content around them to drive organic traffic, so you're not paying for every click.

There's more to it than your budget

It's (usually) true that the more you spend on Google Ads, the less you pay per lead.

But what about profit per lead? And acquisition costs compared to other lead sources?

That's all you. And the system you use for tracking and booking leads will either make you look like a marketing genius—or an unlucky gambler. 

You don't need an MBA when you have all the answers in your moving software.👇