What are Google Local Services Ads?

What are Google Local Services Ads?

Google's own description is short: with Local Services Ads, you can advertise your business on Google and receive leads directly from potential customers. Google says the Local Services unit is shown prominently in Google Search results when people search for the services you offer in areas you've chosen, and it hands the customer a call button, a message box or a booking slot rather than a link to a website.

Where do Local Services Ads show up?

At the top of a service search, and only where the provider has chosen to appear. Targeting is by service and by area rather than by keyword: a provider selects job types and the areas they serve, and the unit is eligible when someone there searches for one of those services. Maps Agent works on the organic Business Profile beneath all of this, and buys no advertising for anyone.

How do they differ from Google Ads and the map pack?

Three different mechanisms sharing one screen. A Google Ads campaign bids for a click and lands the visitor on a website. The map pack is unpaid and decided by relevance, distance and prominence, which Google says cannot be bought. Local Services Ads charge for a lead — a call, a message, a booking — and require screening before the ad may run at all.

What do you have to pass before the ads run?

More than any other Google ad product asks. Google verifies that advertisers hold applicable state, provincial and/or country-level licenses for businesses and owners or managers, to the extent practical, and confirms that all workers are appropriately licensed. Whenever applicable, each business must be insured, with the type and minimum amount depending on category and location. And business owners, and in some cases, service professionals, may undergo background checks by third-party risk management companies with which Google has partnered.

What is the badge on a Local Services Ad?

Google's documentation calls it the Google Verified badge and says it helps inspire confidence by signaling to consumers that your business has passed Google's proprietary screening process. It is not available in every category — auto, beauty and dining are excluded. Providers who come through certain affiliate partners display that partner's logo instead, because the screening was the partner's rather than Google's.

What counts as a lead, and when are you charged?

A lead is a contact, and Google names the forms: a text or email, a voicemail, a phone call, a missed call you return, or a booking request. You're charged for each valid lead you receive through your Local Services ad, at a price that varies by location, job type and bidding mode. Leads determined to be invalid or low quality are not charged, and Google reassesses them afterwards rather than only at the moment of contact.

How does the budget work?

By leads per week rather than spend per day. An average weekly budget sets how many leads you want, and Google will attempt to deliver against it — some weeks under, some weeks over, depending on demand. The ceiling is monthly: you never spend more than the average weekly budget multiplied by the average number of weeks in a month.

Where do the reviews on a Local Services Ad come from?

From the Business Profile, not the ads account. Google states plainly that your customer reviews are managed through Google Business Profile Manager, not your Local Service Ads account, and that reviews may appear and be used across Google services and on third-party sites. The review link a provider shares with customers is found under the profile, and the same content policies apply.

Common questions

Which businesses can run Local Services Ads?

Service categories Google has opened, which is where the licence and insurance requirements come from — trades, home services, and professional verticals among them, with requirements set per category and location. Professional categories additionally ask for a headshot during setup. A category Google has not opened cannot run the format at all, whatever the budget.

Do Local Services Ads replace a Google Business Profile?

No — they lean on it. The reviews shown in the ad are managed through the Business Profile, and Google's setup requirements include obtaining reviews in some categories. A profile that is unverified, suspended or empty weakens the paid unit as well as the organic one, which is why the two are rarely worth treating as alternatives.

Can you dispute a lead you were charged for?

There is a route, though not a formal appeal: if you believe the lead you received is poor quality, you can let us know in the Feedback Survey for that lead, and Google says it may occasionally credit leads reported that way. Some low-quality leads are credited automatically, a behaviour Google limits to the United States and Canada.

Do Local Services Ads improve organic map ranking?

No. The organic result is decided by relevance, distance and prominence, and Google states there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. What the ads change is how many people see the business at all this month, which stops the day the budget does.

What does the screening actually check?

Three separate things, run by third parties Google has partnered with: a business entity check, a business owner background check, and in some categories a service professional background check. Licences are verified against the applicable state, provincial or country-level requirement, and insurance is required wherever the category and location call for it.