A US home services advertiser doing everything right in Google Ads can still lose, because Local Services Ads sit in a block above the ads. Local Services Ads, carrying the Google Guaranteed badge, a star rating and a phone number — and they are what a lot of people tap first.
How Local Services Ads differ from search ads
- You pay per lead, not per click. A phone call or message, not a visit.
- There is no landing page. The listing is the destination. Your profile, reviews and response rate do the convincing.
- Ranking is not bid-led. Proximity, review score and volume, responsiveness, hours and complaint history all feed it. A business that answers the phone outranks one that does not.
- Entry is gated. Licence checks, insurance verification and background checks on the business and in many categories its staff.
The verification is the hard part
This is where most engagements stall. Verification takes weeks, not days, and it has to be completed by the licence holder — an agency cannot do it on your behalf. Licences, insurance certificates and background check consent all have to come from you.
Which means it belongs at the very start of an engagement. We ask for it in week one, precisely because the cost of discovering it in month three is a quarter of lost placement.
Where the actual money is: disputing bad leads
Here is the part that is almost never worked. You are charged per lead, and some of those leads are not leads: wrong number, outside your service area, a service you do not offer, a spam call, someone looking for a job.
Google lets you dispute them. Credits are issued when the dispute holds. Done weekly, with a short specific reason on each, this recovers a meaningful share of spend over a year.
Most LSA accounts we inherit have never disputed a single lead. It is unglamorous, it takes twenty minutes a week, and it is the highest-return task in the account.
Reviews are the ranking lever
Because bidding does not decide position the way it does in search, reviews carry disproportionate weight — both the score and how recently they arrived. A steady trickle beats a burst, and a business with thirty reviews from this year will generally outrank one with two hundred from four years ago.
The practical version: ask at the point of completion, while the technician is still there and the customer is pleased. Not three days later by email.
Answer the phone
Responsiveness is a ranking input and a conversion input at the same time. Missed calls hurt twice. For most home services businesses the cheapest improvement available is not in any ad platform — it is making sure somebody picks up, including at the hours when people actually have emergencies.
Run it alongside search, not instead
LSA captures people who want to call someone now. Search captures research, comparison, and every query LSA does not serve. Planned work — renovations, system replacements, anything with a long consideration — still belongs in search with a proper landing page.
Budget them separately and judge them separately. A blended cost per lead across both hides the fact that they are buying two different kinds of customer.
Before you start
Work out what a job is actually worth to you, because LSA pricing is per lead and leads are not jobs. If you are not already tracking which calls become booked work, fix that first — our PPC forecast calculator will show you quickly whether the arithmetic supports the lead price, and how we run home services accounts covers the rest of the setup.
Questions people ask
How do Local Services Ads differ from search ads?
You pay per lead rather than per click, the listing carries the Google Guaranteed badge and your review rating, and you cannot write the ad or choose keywords. Ranking comes from reviews, responsiveness, proximity and your booking history.
What does verification involve?
Business registration, licence and insurance documents, and background checks on the business and often its owners and field staff. It is the slowest part of the setup, commonly taking weeks, so start it before you plan the budget.
Can I dispute a bad lead?
Yes, and this is where the economics are decided. Leads outside your service area, for services you do not offer, spam, and wrong numbers can all be disputed for credit. Firms that dispute consistently pay meaningfully less per real job.
Should I run Local Services Ads instead of search ads?
Alongside, not instead. The two occupy different positions on the same result, and search ads still cover the terms and services the Local Services categories do not. Dropping search usually costs more volume than the saving is worth.
Working with US brands: Performance marketing for US brands