How do you choose who runs your Google Local Services Ads?

What does someone running Local Services Ads for you actually do?

Four jobs that arrive as one invoice. Getting through screening — licences, insurance, and the background checks Google runs through partnered risk management companies. Setting the services and areas the ads are eligible for. Managing the average weekly budget against the leads it produces. And answering leads fast enough to matter, since a missed call you return is itself a charged lead.

Is running Local Services Ads the same as local SEO?

No, and conflating them is the most expensive mistake in this purchase. Local Services Ads are paid placement charged per lead; the organic map result is unpaid and decided by relevance, distance and prominence, which Google says cannot be bought. A vendor selling both should price them separately, because stopping one leaves the other exactly where it was. Maps Agent works on the organic profile only.

What access does a manager need?

Less than most ask for. A Local Services Ads account has five access levels — email-only, billing-only, read-only, standard and administrative — and only administrative can change other people's access. Standard covers editing the profile and replying to leads, which is the actual job. Access is granted from Access and security in the Admin menu and removed from the same screen, in one click, by whoever holds administrative rights.

What should you ask about the fee?

Whether it is flat or a share of spend, and what happens when the lead price moves. Lead prices vary by location, job type and bidding mode, so a percentage fee rises with a market the vendor does not control, while a flat fee does not flex when the account needs more work. Neither is wrong; an unstated one is.

How do you tell whether it is working?

Count leads and what they became, not impressions. The account reports leads received and charged, and the only number that matters beside it is how many turned into jobs — which lives in the business's own records, not Google's. A monthly report that shows spend and lead volume without booked work is describing the ad, not the return.

What can nobody promise you?

A position, a badge, or a lead price. The unit's order is Google's to decide, the Google Verified badge follows screening the provider passes personally, and lead prices move with the market. Google's third-party policy for Business Profiles bars guarantees of top placement outright, and a vendor willing to make one about the ads is telling you what their other promises are worth.

What survives when the arrangement ends?

The account, if it was opened in the business's name. Screening is attached to the business and its owners, so the licences and background checks do not need redoing; the budget stops when billing stops. What can be lost is history and access, which is why the account should belong to the business from day one, with the vendor holding a role that can be withdrawn.

Where does the Business Profile fit into this?

Underneath it. Google states that customer reviews on Local Services Ads are managed through Google Business Profile Manager, not your Local Service Ads account, so the stars in a paid unit come from the free listing. Anyone quoting for the ads without asking about the profile is quoting for half the thing that decides whether the ad converts.

Common questions

Do you need an agency to run Local Services Ads?

No. The account is designed to be run by the provider — screening, services, areas, budget and lead replies are all in one interface. What an agency sells is that somebody watches it daily, which matters most in the categories where a slow reply is a wasted charge. Small single-area accounts often do not need it.

Can a manager dispute leads on your behalf?

They can send the feedback survey Google provides for a poor-quality lead, which is the same route the owner has. Google says it may occasionally credit leads reported that way, and credits some low-quality leads automatically in the US and Canada. Nobody holds a faster channel, and a vendor claiming one is describing a queue that is not published.

Should the vendor be listed on your licence or insurance?

No. Google verifies that the advertiser holds the applicable licences and that the business is insured where the category requires it — those belong to the business, not to whoever manages the account. A vendor offering to supply either is offering to make the account's compliance depend on their continued involvement.

What should be in writing before you grant access?

Which of the five access levels they get, who holds administrative rights, what the fee covers and how it changes, who answers the leads and how fast, and what the monthly report contains. Google's guidance on third parties for Business Profiles makes the same point about ownership: the business keeps it, and access is lent.

Is a Google Ads certification relevant here?

Only loosely. Local Services Ads run in their own interface with their own screening, budget model and lead flow, and experience with search campaigns transfers unevenly. The better question is how many accounts in your category they run now, and what their leads cost in your area — both answerable without a badge.