This post was written by Shannon Hayner, Head of SEO and Content at Mover Search Marketing. Shannon specializes in optimizing content to be recognized by LLMs and search engines. A seasoned author and speaker at the intersection of technology and wellness, she brings expertise in visibility across the shifting digital space. In her book, "Surviving Creative Evolution," she tackles automation anxiety, championing human gifts such as creativity and critical thinking.
Search is no longer confined to Google's ten blue links. Today's customers discover, research, and evaluate moving companies across a system that includes AI assistants, large language models like ChatGPT and Perplexity, voice search, and social platforms.
This transformation has given birth to AIO, Artificial Intelligence Optimization, the next evolution of SEO that ensures your moving company appears not just in search results, but wherever AI-powered tools answer customer questions.
What AIO means for moving companies
Traditional SEO focuses on ranking for keywords. AIO goes further by positioning your content to be referenced and cited by AI assistants when users ask questions like “Who are the best movers in Phoenix?” or “How do I pack my kitchen for a move?” This visibility builds trust and drives high-quality leads.
When your company’s content answers those questions, you’re not just showing you’re proving you’re the expert.
Trust is everything in moving
Moving isn’t a casual transaction. Moving represents one of life's most stressful experiences. Customers are trusting your company with their homes, memories, and belongings. That emotional weight means trust must be earned early.
Mapping the customer journey in the AI era
The modern moving customer journey spans multiple touchpoints across various platforms, with AI playing an increasingly central role in each stage. You can think of this journey as the moving customer funnel.
If your company’s website shows up in each of these stages, it builds qualified traffic to YOUR website, increases your online authority and presence, grows your brand awareness AND leads to more moving leads to you instead of your competitors.
Let’s look at each part of the journey in more detail:
Awareness: Life transitions and early research
Customers often begin their journey with life changes, such as job relocations, growing families, or new homes. At this stage, they’re not searching for movers. They’re asking broader questions about neighborhoods, climate, or the cost of living.
If your content can answer these questions, you’ll appear in AI responses before your competitors. For example, 2 College Brothers Moving shows up in AI search results related to Gainesville, FL neighborhoods, reaching users before they even search for moving services.
Consideration: Deeper lifestyle research
As their plans solidify, customers dig into details, school options, commute times, restaurants, and community culture. AI tools gather this info from local content. When your website includes neighborhood guides and lifestyle tips, AI assistants can reference your site when users explore their new community.
This builds familiarity with your brand before customers even begin comparing movers.
Decision: Trust, clarity, and confidence
At this final stage, customers compare moving companies directly. They want to understand your services, licensing, pricing, and the level of professionalism you offer.
AIO and SEO work together here. A well-structured website with transparent FAQs, clear pricing, and professional information helps both humans and AI tools understand your offerings. Republic Moving & Storage demonstrates this in action; they rank for a high-converting keyword and appear in ChatGPT results.
How to succeed with AIO
Create deep, structured content
AIO content needs to be comprehensive and clearly organized. Short blog posts won’t cut it. Instead, publish detailed resources, such as guides on how to move cross-country, pack fragile items, or understand local moving regulations.
Structure content with clear headings and factual, concise language. Avoid marketing fluff. AI tools require straightforward and accurate information to reference.
Show true local expertise
AI tools value specificity. That means your content should cover things only a local expert would know, like HOA rules, seasonal moving tips, or city parking restrictions.
In a crowded market, this kind of detailed, location-specific knowledge is what sets your brand apart and helps you rank and appear in AI search results.
Support AIO with smart technical SEO
Structured data and schema markup inform AI about the content's subject matter. Use them to define your business details, services, reviews, and FAQs. This makes it easier for AI systems to trust, understand, and display your content.
Clarity and clean formatting also help. AI tools can’t interpret vague or overly promotional content. Be clear, accurate, and helpful.
Don’t abandon traditional SEO
AIO builds on top of SEO; it doesn’t replace it. Continue to optimize your Google Business Profile, build backlinks, and maintain consistent local listings. These efforts support your visibility in both traditional search and AI-powered platforms.
Measuring AIO success
To evaluate the impact of your AIO, look beyond keyword rankings. Track brand mentions in ChatGPT and Perplexity, monitor traffic from AI sources, and measure voice search visibility. You’ll also want to look at the quality of leads coming through.
Everyone loves proof - here is proof that Mover Search Marketing not only successfully gets our clients in AIOs like ChatGPT, but those results turn into leads. Below is a screenshot of a tracked call that resulted in a moving customer. Notice the lead source is SearchGPT, specifically ChatGPT.
The competitive advantage of early AIO adoption
Moving companies that embrace AIO early gain significant advantages over competitors still focused solely on traditional marketing approaches. As AI tools become primary research channels for many customers, your optimized presence ensures consistent visibility regardless of how customers search.
At Mover Search Marketing, as the leading SEO agency for movers, we have been early adopters of this trend and have achieved great success for our clients. Our client, 2 College Brothers Moving and Storage, has seen massive growth in AI visibility with our AIO processes.
If your AIO is done correctly, you can appear in ChatGPT, just like our client does, as shown below.
The future of moving company marketing
AI isn’t a trend; it’s a permanent shift in how people search and make decisions. Moving companies that incorporate both SEO and AIO will emerge as winners in this new environment. Visibility alone isn’t enough anymore. You need to earn trust with helpful, well-structured content across every channel your customers use.
If your company shows up with real expertise and clear answers across Google, on AI platforms, and everywhere in between, you won’t just grow. You’ll dominate.
