A Google Ads click on "cross country movers near me" costs $98.17, and the 11 most expensive moving keywords are all long-distance searches. Moving company clicks average $18.86, 1.7 times the $10.82 average across 23 industries, making moving the 5th most expensive of the 23.
Analysis of 134 moving company keywords · Google Ads Keyword Planner, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.The most expensive moving company Google Ads keyword, "cross country movers near me", costs $98.17 per click, followed by "long distance moving companies" at $80.14.
- 2.A click on a moving company Google Ads keyword costs $18.86 on average, 1.7 times the $10.82 average across 23 industries, placing moving 5th of the 23.
- 3.56% of moving company Google Ads keywords cost $10 or more per click, and the most expensive 10% cost $42.53 or more.
- 4.A click on a moving company keyword costs $8.29 on Microsoft Ads against $23.31 on Google Ads for the same keywords, 64% less.
- 5.Movers advertising in Colorado pay 31% more per Google Ads click than the national price for the same keywords, while Pennsylvania pays 18% less.
Summary
A family in Denver is moving to Atlanta. They search "cross country movers near me", and every moving company whose ad appears pays $98.17 when they click. Their neighbor, moving across town, searches for local movers; those clicks cost a fraction of that.
Cost per click, or CPC, is what an advertiser pays each time someone clicks its ad in Google's search results, whether or not that person books a move. For a moving company, it decides how many quote requests a monthly budget can buy. Knowing which searches are expensive shows where the competition for customers is fiercest.
Moving is one of the most expensive industries to advertise in. A click on a moving company Google Ads keyword costs $18.86 on average, 1.7 times the $10.82 average across 18,477 keywords in 23 industries, and 56% of moving keywords cost $10 or more. The top of the list belongs to long-distance moves, led by "cross country movers near me" at $98.17.
What we measured
In September 2026 we collected Google Ads Keyword Planner prices for 134 moving company keywords with a cost per click above zero, each searched at least 2,900 times a month in the US. For those keywords we calculated the average, median and spread of cost per click, and compared moving with 18,477 keywords across 23 industries. We also collected state-level prices for the 25 largest US states, and Microsoft Ads prices for the 96 keywords priced on both platforms.
Cost per click is Google's estimate of the average price an advertiser pays for one click on an ad shown for that search. The median is the middle keyword: half cost less, half cost more. The volume-weighted average counts each keyword by how often it is searched, so busy searches count for more than rare ones. Each state is compared with the national price of the keywords priced in that state, so a state's percentage shows how much more or less a local mover pays for identical searches.
Long-distance searches top the price list
The 11 most expensive moving keywords are all long-distance searches. After "cross country movers near me" come "long distance moving companies" at $80.14, "full service long distance movers" at $75.45, "interstate moving companies" at $73.27 and "out of state moving companies" at $71.12. The top keyword costs more than five times the $18.86 moving average.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 134 moving company keywords · Google Ads Keyword Planner, September 2026
| Keyword | CPC | Monthly searches |
|---|---|---|
| cross country movers near me | $98.17 | 3,600 |
| long distance moving companies | $80.14 | 22,200 |
| full service long distance movers | $75.45 | 5,400 |
| interstate moving companies | $73.27 | 6,600 |
| out of state moving companies | $71.12 | 8,100 |
| state to state moving companies | $68.93 | 3,600 |
| national moving companies | $62.70 | 2,900 |
| long distance movers near me | $61.78 | 27,100 |
| long distance moving companies near me | $58.62 | 12,100 |
| nationwide movers | $56.49 | 3,600 |
| best long distance moving companies | $50.78 | 8,100 |
| allied van lines moving company | $50.45 | 5,400 |
A long-distance move is a far bigger job than a local one, so each booked customer is worth much more to a mover, and the bids reflect it. Searches that include "near me" are cheaper: they average $15.57 a click, against $20.12 for other moving keywords.
Moving clicks cost 1.7 times the cross-industry average
Moving ranks 5th of 23 industries by average cost per click. The median moving keyword costs $15.70, the middle half cost between $4.09 and $24.26 a click, and the most common price band is $20 to $50, which holds 40 keywords, 30% of the total. Only 9 keywords cost less than $2.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 134 moving company keywords · Google Ads Keyword Planner, September 2026
| CPC range | Keywords | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1 | 2 | 1.5% |
| $1 to $2 | 7 | 5.2% |
| $2 to $5 | 30 | 22% |
| $5 to $10 | 20 | 15% |
| $10 to $20 | 23 | 17% |
| $20 to $50 | 40 | 30% |
| $50 to $100 | 12 | 9% |
Weighted by how often each keyword is searched, the average falls to $8.04, less than half the simple average. The reason is do-it-yourself moving: "u haul", the most searched moving keyword at 2,740,000 searches a month, costs $2.59 a click. Truck rental searches are huge and cheap, and they come from people planning to move themselves, not to hire a mover.
Moving demand is seasonal. Searches peaked in August 2026 and were lowest in November 2025, with 1.25 times as many searches in the peak month, following the summer moving season.
Colorado pays 31% more than the national price
Among the 25 largest states, Colorado is the most expensive for moving clicks, 31% above the national price of the same keywords, followed by South Carolina (19% above) and Washington (17% above). Pennsylvania is the cheapest at 18% below, with Indiana at 17% below and Virginia at 8% below.
| State | vs national price |
|---|---|
| Colorado | +31% |
| South Carolina | +19% |
| Washington | +17% |
| Virginia | -8% |
| Indiana | -17% |
| Pennsylvania | -18% |
Microsoft Ads charges 64% less for the same searches
For the 96 moving keywords priced on both platforms, a click on Microsoft Ads, which shows ads on Bing search, costs $8.29 on average against $23.31 on Google Ads, 64% less. The same budget buys almost three times as many visits on Bing.
What this means for moving companies
Decide which moves you want before you bid. Long-distance keywords cost $50 to $98 a click, so they only pay off for movers who can price, schedule and deliver interstate jobs well. Local movers have a cheaper entry point in "near me" and city searches, which average less than other moving keywords.
Exclude do-it-yourself searches. Truck rental and storage searches such as "u haul" have enormous volume but bring people who want to move themselves. Add them as negative keywords, raise budgets ahead of the summer peak, and expect to pay more in Colorado, South Carolina and Washington. Then copy your best campaigns to Microsoft Ads, where the same keywords cost 64% less.
A google ads agency that separates local and long-distance campaigns keeps $98 clicks for the jobs that are worth them.
Embed this research
Paste this on your site to embed the charts. It links back to the source automatically.
<iframe id="sd-moving-company-google-ads-cpc" src="https://www.suffdigital.com/embed/data-studies/moving-company-google-ads-cpc" width="100%" height="600" style="width:100%;border:1px solid #E5E7EB;border-radius:12px" loading="lazy" title="Long-Distance Moving Searches Cost Up to $98.17 per Click on Google Ads - Suff Digital"></iframe>
<script>window.addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e&&e.data&&e.data.sdEmbed==="moving-company-google-ads-cpc"&&e.data.height){var f=document.getElementById("sd-moving-company-google-ads-cpc");if(f){f.style.height=e.data.height+"px";}}});</script>
<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/moving-company-google-ads-cpc">Long-Distance Moving Searches Cost Up to $98.17 per Click on Google Ads - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). Long-Distance Moving Searches Cost Up to $98.17 per Click on Google Ads. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/moving-company-google-ads-cpc
Long-Distance Moving Searches Cost Up to $98.17 per Click on Google Ads - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/moving-company-google-ads-cpc
Frequently asked questions
Related studies
- PPCPersonal Injury Lawyers Pay $195.73 per Google Ads Click vs $1.68 for Auto Dealers
- PPCMicrosoft Ads Clicks Are Estimated to Cost 70% Less Than Google Ads on the Same Keywords
- PPCGoogle Ads Clicks Cost 24% More in Colorado Than the National Average
- PPCPlumbers in Arizona Pay 115% More per Google Ads Click Than the National Price