Local Services Ads have always worked differently from classic search campaigns. A plumber, electrician, lawyer or cleaner does not pay for clicks. They pay for a lead: a phone call, message or booking that Google counts as valid. The ad sits above standard results on Search and Maps with a business name, rating, hours, service area and a verification badge.
That format is now moving into Google Ads as a pay-per-lead Performance Max type. The first phase started in August 2026 for selected US home and storefront advertisers. Service-area businesses follow later in 2026, and non-US accounts move in 2027. As of October 2026, new pay-per-lead campaigns still cannot be created inside Google Ads.
What actually controls the ads
There are no keywords to manage. An advertiser selects service categories such as water heater repair or divorce law, chooses a service area, and completes verification. Screening takes roughly three to four weeks after documents are submitted, and can cover business registration, licences, insurance and individual field workers. A verified Google Business Profile is mandatory.
Ranking combines three groups of signals: the bid acts as a ceiling; Google estimates the likelihood of a lead based on responsiveness, relevance, search context and whether booking or messaging is enabled; and profile quality weighs rating, review count, response time, images and completed checks. Higher-quality profiles may pay lower costs per lead.
The old Google Guaranteed and Google Screened badges were consolidated into one Google Verified badge from October 2025. The money-back guarantee is discontinued; only bookings made before December 7, 2025 remain eligible for reimbursement within 30 days of completion.
- Pay-per-lead billing and keywordless targeting survive the migration.
- Manual maximum bids, vertical-level targets and Better Business Bureau callouts do not.
- Historical reports are lost when the old dashboard closes, with 14 days’ notice to export.
- Name, address and hours now sync one-way from Business Profile.
Why the format still matters
For high-value local jobs, LSA offers top-of-page presence and shifts risk away from wasted impressions and clicks. For agencies, it is a separate discipline: with no landing pages or ad copy, the levers are verification, review velocity, call handling and budget.
Answer rates are commercial variables. Invoca’s July 2026 benchmarks, cited by PPC Land, report that people answer 52% of inbound home-services calls, falling to 34% in HVAC. A missed call can now become a billable lead.
The competitive context is tightening too. Angi, HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack sell similar lead products, and Amazon began placing Yelp-supplied plumber and roofer ads on order confirmation pages in September 2026. Google’s format still occupies space above those marketplaces on its own results page.
Where to focus next
Google controls the definition of a valid lead, and that definition keeps moving. From October 1, 2026, missed calls during business hours that ring longer than 20 seconds became billable leads, while follow-up calls from the same person within 15 days are charged only once. Terms dated March 20, 2025 also give Google an irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free licence over submitted content, with binding arbitration.
The practical move is to treat call handling and review management as campaign variables. If the old dashboard is still live, export historical reports during the 14-day window. Audit the Business Profile that now feeds the campaign, and review the settings that will not carry over before the migration reaches your account.
Source: PPC Land
