How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Pause Local Services Ads or change the budget
Updated October 11, 2026
5 minutes
To stop leads, pause the ad; turning off job types does not stop them. To cover only some hours, narrow the ad schedule. To spend less, lower the budget, but in the old account the new figure sets what can be spent for the days left, whatever was already spent.
Before you start
- Access to the Local Services Ads account, or to Google Ads if your account has moved there.
- Where your account lives now. Google began moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads, as Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals, in August 2026 for some US advertisers. After the move, the old account redirects to Google Ads and the budget becomes a daily average.
- The dates or hours you want to cover, and the monthly spend you can afford.
Pause the ads
Pausing is the switch Google says stops all leads, and where it lives depends on whether your account has moved into Google Ads.
- In an account that has not moved, sign in to the Local Services Ads account, select the menu at the top left, then Profile & budget, and switch the ad's status off with the toggle. Google says to pause or edit these ads there, not in the main Google Ads interface.
- In an account that has moved, open Campaigns, select the Settings tab, choose the campaign and set its status to Paused. Set it back to Enabled to resume.
- Do not rely on turning off job types. Google says deselecting all job types will not stop leads for the overall category, and that you must pause the ad to stop receiving all leads.
While the ad is paused or outside its schedule, Google says a free version of your listing may still be displayed, so customers can still find you.
Cover only the hours you can answer
If the problem is calls at times nobody can pick up, narrow the ad schedule instead of pausing, since a missed call inside your hours can be charged and may count against ranking.
- In the old account, on Profile & budget, select the blue text next to Ad schedule.
- In the Ad scheduling dialog, choose All day, Only during my business hours or Custom hours, set the days and times, and select Save.
- For a short closure, open the Business hours card, select the pencil icon and choose the temporarily closed status. Google lists it as the option to turn off your leads, though it does not say it stops every lead; another Google page says only that, while listed as not taking customers, the ad will not show in searches with a badge. To be sure, pause instead.
- In an account that has moved, edit the ad schedule in the campaign's settings, or sync it to your Business Profile's hours.
Google charges a missed call only when it comes during both your business hours (the hours on your Business Profile) and your ad schedule, and the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds; a call that goes to voicemail counts the same way. Google also says missed calls may hurt your responsiveness, which feeds ranking. Narrowing the schedule to the hours you can answer limits both.
Change the budget
The budget is an average, and in the old account Google says a change sets what can be spent for the days left in the month, whatever was already spent.
- In the old account, open Profile & budget, select the pencil icon on the Budget card, edit the amount and select Save. You can change it as often as you like.
- In an account that has moved, open Campaigns, then the Settings tab, choose the campaign, select Budget and edit the average daily budget.
- Work out the monthly maximum. Google gives it as the weekly budget × 30.4 ÷ 7 in the old account, and the daily budget × 30.4 after the move. In the old account, once it is reached the ad stops for the rest of the month unless you change the budget, and under Google's rule even a lower budget opens new spend for the days left. After the move, Google says only that monthly billing will not exceed the cap.
- Expect some weeks or days above the average. Google says spend can run higher when demand is high, but never past the monthly maximum.
Worked example under the old account's rule, not a real account: you cut a weekly budget from 350 to 210 with 14 days left in the month. Google's rule gives 210 ÷ 7 × 14 = 420 still to spend, however much went out in the first half. If the old monthly max of 1,520 (350 × 30.4 ÷ 7) had already been reached, the cut makes the ad eligible to spend that 420 on top. To spend less this month, pause instead. Google's pay-per-lead pages do not say how a mid-month change is counted after the move.
Check it worked
After a pause, new leads should stop arriving in the lead list within a few hours; Google says profile edits may take a few hours to go live. Confirm the status reads off or Paused where you set it.
After a budget change, read the Budget spent card in Reports in the old account, or the campaign's Cost in Google Ads, over the next one to two weeks. Spend should track the new average, with single weeks or days above it.
Does a pause hurt ranking when you come back?
Google's ranking pages name the bid, responsiveness (missed calls and slow responses can lower ranking) and profile quality. They do not list pausing as a factor, and none of the Google pages cited here says a pause lowers your ranking afterwards.
Google says it takes about two weeks to see accurate results as the bidding model adjusts and learns about your business. Google does not tie budget changes or pauses to that learning, so a judgment only: give any bid change about two weeks before judging it.