Short version: Local Services Ads charge per lead, never per click. A lead is a call you answer or return, a message, a voicemail or a booking. Google doesn't publish lead prices; they vary by location, job type, lead type and bidding mode. Since August 2026, existing accounts are moving into Google Ads as Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals.

What are Local Services Ads?

They're the ads at the very top of a local search, with your rating, your hours and the Google Verified badge. They show on Google Search and Google Maps. You don't choose keywords: Google matches you to searches for the job types you offer in the area you serve. Google keeps a list of eligible US categories, from plumbers and HVAC to dentists, movers and pool contractors.

Since October 2025, one badge, Google Verified, replaced Google Guaranteed, Google Screened and License Verified, and the Money Back Guarantee ended for services booked from December 7, 2025 (Google, Google help). The badge isn't available for auto, beauty or dining categories.

What do Local Services Ads cost?

You pay per lead. Google's own words: "Lead prices may vary depending on your location, the job type, the type of lead, or your bidding mode" (How leads work). There is no public price list, and anyone quoting you a national average is guessing. What Google does publish is how a lead is counted:

Charged: a call you answer, a call you return and connect on, a message, a voicemail, or a booking.
Missed calls during business hours: charged when the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds. Business hours are the hours on your Google Business Profile, limited to your ad schedule (How leads work). Trade press reported this started October 1, 2026 (PPC Land).
Not charged again: follow-up calls or messages with the same customer within 15 days.

That missed-call rule is why the first thing we check is whether your listed hours match when someone actually picks up. An unanswered phone used to cost you a customer; now it can also cost you the lead fee.

Budgets and bidding

In the original Local Services Ads you set an average weekly budget, and Google caps the month at that weekly budget times 30.4, divided by 7 (Google). Bidding is Maximize leads, a target cost per lead, or a hard maximum per lead (Google).

After the move to Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals, the weekly budget becomes a daily one (weekly divided by 7, with the month capped at daily times 30.4), and bidding becomes Maximize conversions or a target cost per acquisition (Google). Google suggests a target only for campaigns getting more than 15 leads a month (Google).

Bad leads and credits

Credits are now automatic. Google's systems filter spam and duplicates and "machine learning models automatically credit low-quality leads" (Google). Two credits owners used to rely on are gone: Google "no longer supports credits for 'job type not serviced' and 'geo not serviced' leads" (Google). So job types and service areas have to be set exactly right, because a lead for a job you don't do is now yours to pay for.

What ranks a Local Services Ad

Google names three things (About ad rankings): your bid, how likely your ad is to produce a lead (including how responsive you are, and missed calls count against you), and your profile quality: rating, number of reviews, response time, photos and verification. Google's pay-per-lead guidance adds two targets: at least 5 reviews, and a service area within a two-hour drive (Google).

The 2026 move into Google Ads

August 2026: the first group of US home and storefront trades, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control and moving (Google).
Late 2026: service-area businesses without a storefront.
2027: everything else, including healthcare such as dentists and chiropractors, and the two trades that need Advanced Verification, locksmiths and garage door companies (Google).

Migrated accounts no longer have to re-verify insurance and licenses, and most trades get a 30-day grace period to finish verification. Ads still show only on Search and Maps, and you still pay per lead. New advertisers still sign up through Google's Local Services site.

Google Ads vs Local Services Ads: run both?

For most trades that qualify, yes. Local Services Ads win the top of the page and the badge, but you can't choose keywords or write the ad. Search ads let you target the exact jobs you want, like a replacement instead of a repair, and send people to the right page. We usually start with about 30% of the budget on Local Services and 70% on Search, then move money toward whichever brings the lower cost per booked job. Your industry page shows what Search clicks cost in your trade: see HVAC, plumbers, roofers, pest control or all industries.

Read how we run Google Ads, check whether the numbers work for you with the Google Ads worth-it calculator, or get a free audit of your Search and Local Services setup.

Google Local Services Ads, without the guesswork.