Google Local Services Ads are an ad type geared for home service-based businesses. While Google Search Ads are pay-per-click and Ad Rank is based on factors like bid, ad quality, and more, LSAs are pay-per-lead and ad rank is based on factors like customer reviews, proximity, and hours. The ads appear above regular Google Search Ads and the advertiser goes through an extensive verification process.

Ways to Improve Local Services Ads Performance 

Quick Reference

1. Mark your leads daily! ASAP is best.
2. Have additional Job types and service areas we can expand into? Let us know!
3. Get more reviews consistently and reach out to past customers. More reviews = more leads
4. Provide us with high-quality photos
5. Use new LSA features like Chat. 
6. Avoid missing certification deadlines
7. Have ads run only when you can answer a call. 

Mark your leads

If a lead turns into business, mark it as closed successfully, and archive leads that aren’t a good fit. Some lead quality issues can be because of services you said you were open to taking (i.e., saying you’ll take rentals but you only do sales/purchases), but most will be because the prospect just wasn’t right. Archiving the lead communicates that to Google so it can learn where not to invest your budget.

Expand your job types and service areas

Select all job types you perform and set your service areas broadly. For example, your whole county, rather than specific postal codes.

Encourage past customers to review your business

We recommend 5 or more reviews. Depending on your business type, your business may need 5 reviews to show. Learn how to Understand the screening and verification process.

To collect customer reviews, you can use the vanity link in your account or, if you have an existing Business Profile, you can link your Business Profile reviews to your Local Services account in your Business Verification tab under “Customer Reviews.” If you are still looking for your Business Profile, contact support. Learn more about Local Services Ads reviews.

Keep your Google reviews up with New Customers

Keep in mind that reviews on your regular Google Business Profile appear on your LSA profile and impact your ad ranking, but not the other way around. Any reviews you get from your LSAs will go away if you stop advertising, and you won’t be able to respond to reviews that come through your review link. 

It’s also important to know that Local Service Ads require a 3.0 average review rating to remain active. If your Google Business Profile slips below 3.0, your ads will stop serving till your review score clears 3.0.

You can learn how to get more Google reviews here. Make sure your Google Business Profile and other directories are accurate and updated with this free business listing grader.

Provide us with high-quality photos in your ad

These could be photos of your team, work, or equipment. Learn more about Local Services Ads photo guidelines.

Note: Your photos will be reviewed for these quality guidelines before being published in your ad. Your ad may include images from your Google Business Profile, but no personally identifying photos should be uploaded.

Opt into new features

Opt in to message leads to connect with customers via text. Message leads typically cost less than phone leads. Enabling messages or booking leads means there are more ways for customers to reach you, which can increase the likelihood of receiving a lead, especially during nights and weekends when you can’t answer the phone, or when consumers want to reach out to you but don’t expect to hear back immediately. Many customers today prefer messaging and direct booking over calling. For message leads, your average response time may be displayed in your ad, and quick response times can drive greater consumer engagement in your ad. How likely your ad is to result in a lead is one factor in the Local Services Ads auction. Learn how to Manage leads and jobs.

If you use an integrated CRM partner, opt into the Local Services Ads booking feature to allow consumers to book directly through your Local Services ad. Learn how to Schedule a booking with a Local Service provider.

Avoid unnecessary disapprovals

The most common reason for LSAs to stop serving is disapprovals, and two common disapprovals are for the image to get flagged or certifications to go out of date.

To avoid expired certifications

When you’re setting up your profile you’ll be asked to input the expiration date of your certifications. However, some certifications don’t need to be renewed—or if they do, they’re not an annual renewal. Be sure to set the expiration date far enough in advance that you won’t need to think about it for 5-10 years.

Set realistic hours

Conversion rates for LSAs and response times have a strong correlation: the faster you are to respond to leads, the greater the chance you will win the business.

Local Service Ads do not factor response times into ranking, but they do learn what kind of users result in successful calls/form-fills.

Make sure your LSA is set only to run when you know the team can respond. If you can’t support leads 24/7, do not let the campaign run 24/7. This will help Google allocate the budget as efficiently as possible.