Before most people call a mover, they look the company up on Google. In a few seconds they see your star rating, how many reviews you have, how recent they are, a few photos and whether you reply. That quick look decides whether they call you or the next name on the list.
This guide covers both halves of that first impression: setting up and running your Google Business Profile, and building a steady flow of honest reviews. It also covers how to reply to good and bad reviews, what Google and the FTC do not allow and how to turn happy customers into referrals.
Why do your Google profile and reviews matter so much for movers?
Moving is a trust purchase. Customers are letting strangers into their home to handle everything they own, often on one of the most stressful days of their year. Reviews are how they decide who to trust.
- They help you show up. Google says prominence, which includes your review count and rating, is part of how local results are ranked.
- They help you get chosen. Two movers at a similar price? The one with more recent, detailed reviews and thoughtful replies usually gets the call.
- They keep selling for you. A review written in June is still reassuring someone in December.
Your Google profile is often the first thing people see, before your website. For many customers it is your storefront. Treat it with the same care you would give a shop window.
How do you set up a Google Business Profile the right way?
If you already have a profile, use this as a checklist. If you do not, create one and verify it first. Google will ask you to prove you run the business, often with a short video or a phone call.
- Claim and verify the profile with an email address the business controls, not one belonging to a past employee or an outside company.
- Use your real business name, exactly as it appears on your trucks and paperwork. Google’s guidelines prohibit adding keywords or towns to the name.
- Choose the most accurate primary category for a moving company, and add secondary categories only for services you really offer, like storage.
- Set your service areas by town or zip code, and hide your street address if customers do not come to you. Google’s guidelines say service-area businesses should hide their address.
- Add the phone number you actually answer, your hours and a link to your website or quote form.
- List your services with short, plain descriptions: local moves, apartment moves, packing, loading help, long distance.
- Upload real photos: trucks, crew, wrapped furniture and neatly loaded trucks. Add new ones every month.
Watch for two common problems. Duplicate profiles, often left over from an old address or phone number, split your reviews and confuse customers. Profiles controlled by someone who no longer works with you can lock you out. Ask Google to merge or remove duplicates, and make sure you, the owner, hold the main access.
Our step-by-step Google Business Profile setup for movers goes deeper on each field. Once it is done, make sure your website shows the same name, phone and area. The free website checker helps you spot gaps.
How do you keep your Google profile active every week?
A profile set up once and left alone slowly falls behind profiles that are kept up. Activity tells customers someone is home. A short weekly routine is enough.
- Post once or twice a week: a recent job, a crew spotlight, a packing tip or open dates.
- Add a few new photos from real jobs.
- Reply to every new review within a day or two.
- Answer messages and questions people send through your profile.
- Check for suggested edits. Anyone can suggest changes to a profile, and they can change your hours or phone number without you noticing.
- Update your hours for holidays and any seasonal changes.
Post ideas that work for movers: a before and after of a packed kitchen, the crew with a customer who agreed to a photo, a reminder that end-of-month dates fill fast or a quick tip on labeling boxes. Real and recent beats polished. If your crew already snaps photos on jobs, LeadKeet turns them into posts and short videos.
If you would rather not
This is the first thing to slip when the crews are booked solid in June. LeadKeet posts to your Google profile every week from your own job photos and drafts a reply to every review. See local SEO for movers.
How do you get more Google reviews without breaking the rules?
Most happy customers are willing to leave a review. They just do not think of it, or it feels like a chore. Your job is to ask at the right moment and make it take thirty seconds.
1. Ask every customer, the same day
Send a short, personal text a few hours after the move, once they have had a chance to sit down. Use their name, mention the crew lead by name and include a direct link to your review form. Ask everyone, not just the customers you think were happy.
2. Make the link one tap
Your Google profile gives you a short link that opens the review form. Use it in texts, emails and invoices, and on a small card or QR code you leave with the paperwork. Customers need to be signed in to a Google account to post a review, which is one more reason to keep it simple.
3. Follow up once, then let it go
If a customer has not left a review after the first text, one gentle reminder two or three days later is fine. After that, stop. More than one reminder starts to feel like pressure, and a customer who feels pushed is less likely to write anything kind.
4. Let the crew set it up
At the end of the job the crew lead can say something like: you will get a text from us later today, and if we did a good job, a review really helps a small business. That is enough. Never stand over the customer while they write one.
5. Know what is not allowed
- No rewards for reviews. Google prohibits offering discounts, gifts or payment in exchange for a review.
- No review gating. You cannot ask only happy customers, or send unhappy ones somewhere else first. Google calls this selectively soliciting positive reviews.
- No fake or insider reviews. The FTC’s rule on fake reviews bans made-up reviews and reviews from employees or relatives that hide the connection.
- No pressure. Do not require a review on the spot or tell customers what to write.
Copy-ready wording for texts and emails is in our free review request templates. LeadKeet sends review and referral requests after every job, to every customer, the same way each time.
How should movers reply to reviews, good and bad?
Replies are read by future customers far more than by the person who wrote the review. Each one is a small ad for how you treat people when things go well and when they do not.
6. Positive reviews
Thank the customer by name, mention something specific about their move and name the crew if they did. Keep it to two or three sentences. Avoid the same copy-paste reply on every review, because it looks like nobody is really reading.
For example: “Thanks so much, Priya! Glad Marcus and the crew made moving day easy and that the piano arrived without a scratch. Enjoy the new home.”
7. Negative reviews
Take a breath before you reply. Then work through these steps.
- Wait until you are calm, but reply within a day or two.
- Thank them and acknowledge the problem without arguing about the details in public.
- Say what you are doing about it, such as talking with the crew or changing a process.
- Offer to talk directly, with a name and a phone number.
- Keep private details private. Never share their address, inventory or anything from your records.
A reply that helps
“Thanks for the honest feedback, Dan. You are right that we arrived later than promised, and we are sorry. That is not the experience we want for anyone. I have talked with the team about our scheduling, and I would like to make this right. Please call me directly at [number].”
8. Star-only reviews
Ratings with no text still deserve a short thank-you. It shows the profile is looked after and costs you ten seconds.
What can you do about fake or unfair reviews?
Sooner or later most movers get a review that seems wrong: someone who was never a customer, a review meant for a different company with a similar name, or a rant with no connection to any job. You have a few options.
- Check your records first. Search your jobs for the name, date and details. Sometimes it is a real customer using a different name.
- Report it to Google from your Business Profile if it breaks Google’s policies, for example fake engagement, off-topic content, harassment or a conflict of interest. Google decides whether to remove it.
- Reply calmly in public either way. A short, polite reply saying you cannot find a record of the move and inviting them to call shows readers you are reasonable.
- Never threaten the reviewer. The FTC’s rule bans using groundless legal threats or intimidation to suppress reviews.
- Outweigh it with real reviews. One odd review among many recent, detailed ones does very little harm.
What you should not do is ask friends, family or staff to post reviews to balance it out. That breaks both Google’s rules and the FTC’s, and it tends to look obvious to customers too.
How do reviews lead to referrals and repeat business?
A customer who took the time to write a review is your best referral source. They have already said in public that they recommend you. Most movers stop there. Do not.
- Thank them and ask once. A week after their review, send a short note: if anyone they know is moving, you would love to help.
- Stay in touch lightly. A check-in a few months later, or before your slow season, keeps your name in mind. A few times a year is plenty.
- Make referring easy. A link to your quote form that they can forward is easier to share than your phone number.
- Thank people who send you work. A handwritten card or a small thank-you for a referral is a nice touch. Keep rewards for referrals, never for reviews.
Reviews and referrals are one part of a bigger plan. See how to get moving leads for the rest, SEO for moving companies for how reviews fit into ranking, and our article on getting more reviews for your moving company for more wording ideas.