Google Local Services Ads for contractors: how you are charged and how to win

Google says lead prices vary with your location, the job type, the type of lead and your bidding mode. It does not publish a price list. You set an average weekly budget. Google says you can spend more than that in a given week, but never more than your monthly max.

Google's help page on how leads work lists what counts as a valid lead: you answer a call or call the customer back and speak with them, you receive a text, email, voicemail or booking request, or you miss a call. Google's help page lists a missed call during your business hours as a valid, charged lead when the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds.

Google says it assesses lead quality over a 30-day period and credits leads it finds to be poor quality, duplicate or invalid. If you think a lead was poor quality, you can say so in the feedback survey for that lead. Google says it may occasionally credit leads reported that way. Each lead shows a charge status in Google Ads: charged, not charged, in review or credited.

In practice that means three habits: check the charge status column each week, use the feedback survey on every lead that was spam, a wrong number, a job you do not do or outside your area, and tighten your service areas and job types if the same kind of bad lead keeps coming. Google's help page says narrowing your targets can cut unwanted leads, though it may also cut volume.

Google's screening varies by category and location and may include background, business registration, insurance and license checks, plus minimum reviews. Google says Local Services advertisers must have a public, verified Google Business Profile. Google's requirements list general liability insurance and, for many categories, professional liability insurance, plus state license checks where they apply.

In applicable categories, every worker who performs core services for customers must pass a background check, not only the owner. Google says its background check does not involve a credit check, and businesses are not charged for it. After a failed background check, Google says you wait 30 days to reapply, and 180 days after a second denial. Some advertisers get accelerated verification and then have 14 days to finish the remaining steps to keep the ad running.

Google replaced its older badges, including Google Guaranteed, with a single Google Verified badge for all advertisers. Google discontinued the Money Back Guarantee that came with the Google Guarantee badge. Google says the badge change does not affect Local Services Ads ranking. See our guide to what happened to Google Guaranteed.

Google offers pre-badge ads while you finish onboarding, but not for garage door services or locksmiths. Pre-badge listings show below providers who have finished all onboarding.

Google ranks Local Services ads by your bid and profile quality: rating, number of reviews, response time, photos and the verification checks you completed. Google says missed calls may count against your responsiveness, which is part of the ranking. Google says that if you regularly fail to answer calls or respond to messages, your ad ranking may be affected.

Google recommends 5 or more reviews, and says some business types need 5 reviews to show. Google suggests setting service areas broadly, such as your whole county, and selecting every job type you perform. Local Services Ads reviews are managed through your Google Business Profile, not the ads account.

On bidding: A bid is the most you would pay for a lead. Google offers Maximize leads, Target cost per lead and Max per lead bidding. For Maximize leads, Google recommends a minimum budget of 10 leads per week. Google says it takes about 2 weeks to see accurate results as its model learns your business.

It can be, when three things are true: your trade is on Google's eligible list, someone answers or texts back within minutes, and you know what a booked job is worth to you. Run it for at least a month, then divide what you spent by the jobs you actually won, not the leads you got. The free cost per lead calculator does that math, and the missed call calculator shows what calls that go unanswered are costing you.

It tends to disappoint when calls ring out, when reviews are thin (Google ranks on them) or when the jobs are so small that a few charged leads that never book wipe out the margin. Our step-by-step setup guide covers getting started, and LSA vs Angi compares it with buying leads from Angi.

Local Services Ads charges for the lead. The leads you do not pay for come from the same Google profile those ads draw on: reviews, photos, hours and a site that matches. Koira asks for a review after every paid job, keeps Google and Bing listings in step with your site and texts back missed calls in about a minute on Grow, which protects the profile whether or not you run ads. See reviews and the receptionist.