Local Services Ads
LSA / Google Local Services Ads / Google Verified ads
Local Services Ads are Google ads for local service providers that charge for each valid lead, such as an answered call, a message or a booking request. How quickly the business responds affects where the ad ranks, and Google will not credit a valid lead that arrives outside the listed business hours.
Google builds a Local Services profile from the hours, service area and services a business gives at sign-up, and the ad shows a preview of it. The ad carries a tracking number that forwards calls to the business phone. It also shows a star rating that includes Google Business Profile reviews, and a Google Verified badge once Google has verified the business.
The advertiser sets an average weekly budget. One week can run over it, but spend never passes a monthly max equal to the weekly budget times the average number of weeks in a month. After that the ad stops appearing for the rest of the month unless the budget changes. Billing runs through Google Ads, and a suspended Google Ads account suspends the Local Services ads as well.
Google's list of valid leads includes an answered call, a voicemail, and in the United States and Canada, a text, an email or a booking request. A missed call with no voicemail joins the list once the business returns it and speaks with the customer or leaves a voicemail. Lead prices vary by location, job type, lead type and bidding mode, and message leads usually cost less than phone leads.
Leads judged invalid or low quality at first contact are not charged. Charged leads are reassessed over time and may be credited automatically, but only in the United States and Canada, and never for health care or tax specialists. Google's examples of leads it will not credit include one received outside business hours and a customer who was researching prices.
Ads are ordered by an auction that weighs the bid against profile quality. Google says missed calls may hurt responsiveness, one input to how likely the ad is to produce a lead. Profile quality counts the rating, number of reviews, average response time, photos and verification checks, and higher quality profiles may also pay less per lead.
In practice
A roofer's ad produces 12 leads in a week: 8 answered calls, 2 messages and 2 missed calls with no voicemail. The roofer returns one missed call and leaves a voicemail, which puts it on Google's list of valid leads. One answered caller was only checking prices, and one message arrived at 9 p.m., after the listed hours. Google's examples say neither of those two will be credited. The second missed call was never returned, and missed calls may weaken the responsiveness that feeds ranking. The figures are a worked example.
Why it matters to you
With these ads the phone matters as much as the bid. A price check still counts toward the budget, and slow or missed replies may lower where the ad ranks. Google says turning on message and booking leads can increase the likelihood of receiving a lead during nights and weekends, when nobody is free to answer. A business with several locations serving the same area gets only its highest ranking ad shown for a search.
What to ask or check
- 01Do the business hours on your Local Services profile match the hours someone answers calls and messages?
- 02How many leads last month were missed calls, and how many of those did the business return?
- 03Which charged leads has the business flagged as poor quality in the feedback survey, and were any credited?
- 04Are message and booking leads switched on for your profile?
What people get wrong
That Local Services Ads charge only for leads that turn into jobs. Google charges for each valid lead, and its examples of leads it will not credit include a customer researching prices, a canceled booking and a customer who never answers the return call.
Red flags
- Missed calls in the leads inbox that nobody at the business returned.
- Listed business hours that are longer than the hours anyone answers the phone or messages.