Google Ads for removal companies: more booked moves, fewer van hire clicks
Google Ads works for removal companies when house removals, packing, office moves, storage and long-distance work each have their own campaign, van hire and DIY searches are blocked, and every enquiry is tracked through survey and quote to a booked move. Budget then follows the moves that actually fill your vehicles. Unavoidable Marketing is a UK-wide, Leeds-based agency that runs Google Ads for removal companies across the UK, built around crews, surveys and completion days, and founder Andrew Heppinstall is on every strategy call.
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Last updated: 20 October 2026
Start with the diary, not the keywords
A removals firm sells crew days and vehicle days. Once a Friday at the end of the month is full, it is full, however many people click your ad. So before we write a single keyword, we look at how many crews you can put out, how many survey visits you can fit in a week, and which dates are already gone.
Campaigns split by the job
Someone searching “removals Cardiff” and someone searching “office relocation Cardiff” are not after the same thing. Put them in one campaign and you pay the same for both and learn nothing.
House removals
“Removals near me”, “house removals Bristol”, “removal company quote”. The main earner for most firms. Ads should mention survey visits, fixed quotes and your insurance.
Packing services
“Packing service for house move”, “full packing service”. Often searched by people who have already booked a date. Good add-on work.
Office and commercial moves
“Office removals”, “office relocation company”, “commercial movers”. Longer decisions and bigger jobs. Show evening and weekend working and say how you handle IT and furniture.
Long-distance moves
“Removals Leeds to London”, “Glasgow to Bristol removals”. Route searches tell you exactly where the job goes. Only bid on routes you actually run.
Storage
“Removals and storage”, “containerised storage”. Useful for chain breaks and gaps between completions. Keep it apart from self-storage searches, which are a different customer.
Man and van
“Man and van Swansea”, “small move”. Smaller jobs on a smaller budget you can turn up in quiet weeks and turn down when crews are booked.
Negative keywords removal firms need
Removals searches share space with van rental, box sellers, job hunters and people planning to do it themselves. Without negatives, you pay for all of them.
- Van hire: van hire, self drive, Luton van hire, rent a van, van rental, one way van hire
- Materials: removal boxes, cardboard boxes, packing boxes for sale, bubble wrap, tape, wardrobe boxes
- Jobs: removals jobs, removal driver jobs, porter jobs, packer vacancies, HGV jobs
- DIY and research: moving checklist, how to pack, change of address, moving house tips
- Other services: skip hire, house clearance, rubbish removal, furniture delivery, courier
- Self-storage: storage unit prices, self storage near me, lock up, garage to rent, unless you run it
If you do house clearances, keep those searches in their own small campaign. We read the search terms report weekly at first, then fortnightly.
Location settings that match how people move
Removals is unusual: the customer is at one end of the move, and often searching from somewhere else entirely. Someone in Plymouth might be searching for removals in Newcastle because that is where they are moving from. We set targeting to people in or regularly in your collection area, then use route and town keywords to catch people planning a move from further away.
We exclude areas you never collect from, and for long-distance work we target the collection end, because that is where the survey happens.
Call tracking and quote forms
Most removal enquiries are a phone call or a quote form, and plenty come in during the evening. We track calls from the ads and from the website, and track every form. The form should ask the questions you need anyway: moving date, collection and delivery postcodes, property size, whether packing or storage is needed, and whether they want a home survey or a video survey.
That last question matters. A customer who books a survey visit is far more likely to book the move than one who wants a price over the phone. Tracking survey bookings gives Google a much better signal than a raw enquiry.
Landing pages that answer the worried questions
Moving house is stressful, and people choosing a removal firm are mostly worried about two things: will my stuff arrive in one piece, and will you turn up on the day. Each campaign should land on a page about that job, not your home page.
- Photos of your own vehicles, crews in uniform and furniture wrapped and loaded
- BAR membership and goods-in-transit insurance shown clearly, if you have them
- How the survey works, in person or by video
- Reviews that mention the move, the crew and the towns
- A short quote form and a phone number that taps to call on mobile
Measuring cost per booked move
A removals enquiry can take weeks to turn into a booking, especially when someone is waiting on a chain. Judging the ads on clicks or calls alone misses that. We set up a simple way for you to mark each enquiry as surveyed, quoted, booked or lost, and feed booked moves back into Google so it learns which searches turn into real jobs.
We report cost per booked move by campaign. Office and long-distance moves may cost more to win, and that is fine when each one fills a vehicle for longer.
Seasonality and completion days
Spring and summer are peak months. School holidays fill quickly, and Fridays at the end of the month are the completion days every customer wants.
We plan budget around that. In peak weeks, when the diary is full, we pull back and move money to dates that still have space, or to packing and storage work. In quiet weeks we push midweek availability. Ad scheduling keeps ads running when someone can answer.
Where Local Services Ads fit
Local Services Ads show a Google Verified badge and charge per lead rather than per click. They suit simple “removals near me” searches but do not let you choose route keywords, and Google no longer lets you dispute bad leads by hand, so many firms keep Google Ads for specific work and test Local Services Ads alongside it.
How we do it
Quoted after a free call.
- Budget planned around crews, survey capacity and the moving calendar
- Separate campaigns for house removals, packing, office moves, long-distance, storage and man and van
- Weekly negative keyword work against van hire, boxes, jobs and DIY
- Location settings built around where you collect from
- Call and form tracking, with survey and booking stages fed back to Google
- Reports on cost per booked move, not clicks
- Ad spend paid to Google on your own card, never marked up
- No contract, rolling 30-day terms
We have worked with UK businesses since 2012, on 390+ projects, and we currently work with 40+ UK trade businesses.
Removal companies’ questions about Google Ads
Who is the best Google Ads agency for removal companies in the UK?
There is no single best agency for every removals firm. Look for one that splits house moves, office moves, packing, storage and long-distance work into their own campaigns, blocks van hire and box searches, tracks enquiries through to booked moves and does not tie you into a long contract. Unavoidable Marketing is a UK-wide, Leeds-based agency that runs Google Ads for removal companies across the UK on a flat monthly fee with rolling 30-day terms, and founder Andrew Heppinstall is on every strategy call.
Why are my ads getting clicks from people wanting van hire?
Broad keywords such as removal van or moving van match rental searches. Adding negatives such as van hire, self drive and rent a van stops most of that quickly.
Should I bid on route searches like Leeds to London removals?
Yes, if you run that route regularly. Route searches show exactly where the job goes, so they are often strong enquiries, but only bid on routes you are happy to quote for.
What if I am already full on a completion day?
Lower the budget for those weeks and move money to dates with space, or to packing and storage work.
Can Google Ads win office moves?
Yes, with its own campaign and a landing page that shows weekend working and IT handling.
Is it worth tracking survey bookings?
Yes. A customer who books a survey visit is much closer to booking the move than one who only asks for a rough price, so feeding survey bookings back to Google helps it find more of them.
The Removals Playbook 2026
How to get more booked moves from Google, your website and social media in 2026. A free 13-page guide written for UK removal companies, with a checklist you can work through this month. No email needed.
Download the free playbook (PDF)
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