Local Services Ads in plain English
Local Services Ads are Google's way of selling a contractor phone calls instead of clicks. A homeowner searches for a service in their area, sees a short list of verified local businesses with their rating, and calls, messages or requests a booking. If that contact counts as a valid lead, the business pays for it.
For a trade business, that pricing model changes the question. With search ads, you pay for attention and hope it turns into a call. With LSA, you pay for the call and need to turn it into a job.
How do Google Local Services Ads work?
- 1
Pass screening and verification
New advertisers must complete Google's Local Services screening and verification process before the Google Verified badge is issued.
- 2
Set service area, job types and hours
Your business hours come from your Google Business Profile and affect which missed calls count as leads.
- 3
Set a budget and bidding mode
You set an average weekly budget and a bidding mode, which sets the maximum you'll pay per lead.
- 4
Customers contact you
Calls, messages and, in the US and Canada, booking requests arrive through Google. Messages use anonymized proxy numbers and email aliases.
- 5
Google charges valid leads
Invalid or low-quality leads aren't charged. Charged leads are reassessed and may be credited automatically.
Source for the steps: Google's help pages on how leads work and the Google Verified badge.12
What counts as a charged lead?
| Contact type | Charged when | Not charged when |
|---|---|---|
| Phone call | You answer, or you call back and speak with them | Judged invalid or low quality |
| Missed call in business hours | The caller stayed on longer than 20 seconds (voicemail and automated greetings treated the same way) | The call was shorter |
| Message (text or email) | The customer messages you | Judged invalid or low quality |
| Booking request | In the US and Canada only | Outside those countries (not offered) |
| Repeat contact | After 15 days with no activity | The same customer again within 15 days |
Charged leads are reassessed over 30 days and may receive an automatic credit if later judged low quality, duplicate or invalid.1 Credits are no longer given for "job type not serviced" or "geo not serviced" leads, so keep your job types and service area accurate.3
How does Local Services Ads ranking work?
Google ranks LSA advertisers in an auction using three inputs:4
| Input | What Google says feeds it | What you control |
|---|---|---|
| Your bid | The maximum you'll pay per lead | Bidding mode and budget |
| Likelihood of a lead | Your responsiveness to inquiries, what the customer searched for, how relevant your business is | Answer calls and messages fast; accurate job types |
| Profile quality | Rating, number of reviews, average response time, high-quality images, verification checks | Ask every customer for a review; reply quickly; add real photos |
Responsiveness shows up twice, in lead likelihood and in profile quality, which is why speed to lead matters more on LSA than almost anywhere else. Reviews feed profile quality, which makes review velocity a ranking input, not just a reputation metric.
Google Verified replaced Google Guaranteed
Google announced on August 20, 2025 that a single Google Verified badge would replace Google Guaranteed, Google Screened and other LSA badges, starting in October 2025.5 Existing advertisers who had completed verification earned the new badge automatically. Google also ended the money-back guarantee tied to the old Google Guarantee badge; reimbursement requests were limited to services booked through LSA before December 7, 2025.2
What is changing in 2026?
Google is moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads as Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals.6
Aug 2026
First phase
Select US home and storefront service advertisers, such as plumbing, HVAC and roofing, begin migrating.
Late 2026
Wider rollout
Service-area businesses without storefronts and accounts with custom bidding or booking setups.
2027
Everyone else
Non-US accounts and remaining categories.
What stays the same: you pay only for valid leads, ads still show only on Google Search and Maps, and campaigns stay keywordless. What changes: weekly budgets become daily averages, manual bidding goes away, business details sync one way from your Google Business Profile, and LSA performance reports do not transfer, so download them before migration.6
Local Services Ads vs Google Search ads
| Local Services Ads | Google Search ads | |
|---|---|---|
| You pay for | Valid leads | Clicks |
| Verification required | Yes, screening and verification | No business-level screening |
| Keywords | None: job types and service area | You choose keywords |
| Ad text and landing page | Your profile, reviews and photos | Your ad copy and your website |
| Biggest ranking lever you control | Responsiveness and reviews | Bids, ad relevance and landing page |
How do you measure Local Services Ads?
Google's reports stop at the lead. Whether LSA is worth it depends on what happens next, so tag LSA leads with their own source and track cost per lead, booking rate and revenue per lead against your other channels. A worked budget from cost per lead to cost per booked job is in Google Local Services Ads for contractors.
Local Services Ads in TradesWork
Google Local Services is one of the lead source cards in the TradesWork lead inbox. LSA leads land with the rest, are de-duplicated against existing customers, tied to a campaign so the job they become carries the source, and show the time to first reply, the same responsiveness Google weighs in LSA ranking.
Footnotes
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Google Local Services Help, How leads work. ↩ ↩2
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Google Local Services Help, About Google Verified badge. ↩ ↩2
-
Google Local Services Help, About automated Local Services Ads lead credits. ↩
-
Google Local Services Help, About ad rankings. ↩
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Google, Google Verified makes it easier to find trusted local businesses advertising on Google, August 20, 2025. ↩
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Google Ads Help, Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals. ↩ ↩2
