Google Local Services Ads: How They Work, What They Cost and How to Get the Badge

Google Local Services Ads are pay-per-lead ads for local service businesses such as plumbers, lawyers and dentists. They show at the top of Google Search and on Google Maps, and you pay when a customer calls, messages or books through the ad, not when someone clicks (Google). There are no keywords. You choose your job types and service areas, set a weekly budget, and pass Google's screening to earn the Google Verified badge.

Since August 2026, Google has been moving these ads into Google Ads as Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals, starting with US home services. You still pay per lead. What changes is where you manage it.

Local Services Ads vs regular Google Ads

Google puts the difference this way. Regular Google Ads are pay-per-click ads open to any business. Local Services Ads are pay-per-lead listings for verified local providers, shown at the top of the page (Google).

The targeting and profile rows come from Google's page on the move into Google Ads, which says the campaigns stay keywordless and draw on your Google Business Profile. If you already run search ads and get clicks without calls, our guide to Google Ads clicks with no leads covers that side.

Who can use Local Services Ads

Only certain categories can. In the US, Google's list includes (Google):

• Home services: HVAC, plumbers, electricians, roofers, house cleaning, landscaping, pest control, movers, locksmiths, garage door services and more.
• Professional services: lawyers by practice area, financial planners, real estate agents and tax services.
• Health and care: dentists, chiropractors, physical therapists, child care, veterinarians and pet services.
• Other local services: tutors, driving instructors, hair and nail salons, barbers, auto repair and body shops, and many kinds of restaurant.

A few categories, such as architects, drain experts and interior designers, are open only in California and Florida. The Google Verified badge isn't available for auto, beauty and dining categories, so those businesses advertise without it (Google). If your category isn't on the list, Google points you to regular Google Ads (Google).

How Local Services Ads work

When someone searches for a service you offer in an area you serve, such as "repair toilet" or just "plumber", your listing can appear in the Local Services section at the top of the results (Google). It shows your rating, your reviews and the Google Verified badge with the checks you passed. Customers can call, message or, in the US and Canada, send a booking request (Google).

What decides who shows first

Listings are ranked by an auction that weighs your bid against the quality of your profile (Google):

• Your bid: the most you'll pay for a lead. You may pay less.
• How likely you are to get a lead: this includes how responsive you are, and Google says missed calls can hurt it. Turning on message and booking leads helps at night and on weekends.
• Profile quality: your rating, number of reviews, average response time, good photos and the verification checks you've completed. Google says higher-quality profiles may rank higher and pay less per lead.

If several of your locations serve the same area, only the top-ranked one shows for a search. Your reviews are your Google Business Profile reviews, managed there rather than in Local Services (Google).

Job types and service areas

You pick job types from Google's list for your category, such as "install shower" for a plumber. In some cases you only show for broad searches like "plumber" if you offer the common services for your category (Google).

Service areas are cities, counties, neighborhoods or ZIP codes. Adding a city reaches people in that city and people elsewhere who name it in their search. In Google's example, someone in Los Angeles who searches "repair toilet San Francisco" can see a San Francisco plumber's ad. Pick both carefully, because Google no longer credits leads for job types or areas you selected but don't serve (Google).

What counts as a charged lead

Google charges for each valid lead (Google). A lead is valid when:

1. You answer a call, or call back and speak with the customer.
2. You miss a call during business hours and the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds.
3. The call reaches your voicemail or greeting during business hours and the caller stays more than 20 seconds, message or not.
4. The customer sends a text or email.
5. The customer sends a booking request (US and Canada only).

"Business hours" are the hours on your Google Business Profile. If you also set an ad schedule, missed calls are charged only when the schedule is active and you're within business hours. With a phone menu, the 20-second timer starts at the caller's first key press, and there's no charge if they hang up before pressing one.

Once a lead is charged, follow-ups from the same number or email aren't charged again as long as you're in touch within 15 days. After 15 days with no contact, a new call or message is a new lead. Message leads are usually priced lower than calls, though not always.

What Local Services Ads cost

There's no set price. Google says lead prices vary by location, job type, lead type and bidding mode, and it publishes no price list (Google). You control what you spend with your budget and bid mode.

Your budget

You set an average weekly budget. Some weeks can go over it, but you never pay more than your monthly max, which is the weekly budget times the average number of weeks in a month. Once you hit the monthly max, the ad stops until the next month unless you raise the budget (Google).

After your account moves into Google Ads, the weekly budget is divided by 7 into a daily average, and the monthly cap is that daily average times 30.4, so the cap stays about the same (Google).

Bid modes

There are three (Google):

• Maximize leads: Google sets your bids to get the most leads for your budget. Google recommends it, with a budget of at least 10 leads a week.
• Target cost per lead: also automated, with an optional target you set, around what you'd pay on average.
• Max per lead: a manual cap on what you'll pay for each lead. It isn't supported after the move into Google Ads (Google).

Google says results take about 2 weeks to settle as its system learns your business.

What leads cost in practice

Since Google publishes no prices, the public figures come from vendors that track their customers' accounts. SearchLight Digital, which sells lead-tracking software, measured 888 home services contractors in February 2026 (SearchLight Digital, 2026):

Treat these as a rough starting point, not a quote. It's one vendor, one month (February, the heating season), home services only, and counted before credits. The figures that turned up for lawyers, real estate and other categories came from agency blogs that don't show their methods.

A worked example

This example is made up, using SearchLight's HVAC average. An HVAC company that wants 10 leads a week, Google's suggested minimum for Maximize leads, at about $51 each would set a weekly budget of about $510. Its monthly max would be about $2,200, which is $510 times roughly 4.3 weeks.

Whether that pays depends on how many leads you book and what a job earns you, and no benchmark can tell you that.

How you're billed

Billing runs through Google Ads. If you already have a Google Ads account, its payment settings are reused. If not, you add a card or bank account. You're charged automatically 30 days after your last payment or when you reach your payment threshold, whichever comes first. In Google's example the threshold starts at $50 and rises in steps to $500 (Google).

Credits for bad leads

Google now credits bad leads automatically. It filters out spam and duplicate contacts before charging, then reviews charged leads and credits low-quality ones, usually within 30 days (Google). Each lead shows a status of Charged, Not charged, In review or Credited. You can also rate any lead in its feedback survey, and Google says it occasionally credits leads reported that way (Google).

Two limits apply. There are no credits for job types or areas you chose but don't serve, and no lead credits at all for health care and tax specialists (Google).

How to get the Google Verified badge

Since October 20, 2025, one Google Verified badge has replaced the Google Guaranteed, Google Screened and License Verified by Google badges (Search Engine Roundtable, 2025). Businesses that were already verified got it automatically, and new advertisers get it once they pass all their checks (Google). The badge shows next to your business name, along with the checks you passed.

The money-back guarantee that came with Google Guaranteed has ended. Customers could claim only for services booked before December 7, 2025, within 30 days of the job (Google).

What Google checks

The checks depend on your category and location, and many apply only to "select users", so your account shows what you owe (Google). They can include:

• Business registration: a D-U-N-S number, or a Secretary of State, EIN or Department of Revenue document.
• An identity check on the person representing the business, run by Google's partner Evident with a photo ID.
• Licenses for the business and owner, where your state requires them.
• Insurance, such as general liability, in categories that need it.
• Background checks on owners and, in categories such as HVAC, plumbing and electrical, on the workers who go into customers' homes.

The background check involves no credit check, and businesses aren't charged for it. An owner or manager has to complete the business check on the company's behalf (Google).

How long it takes

Google says screening and verification take 3 to 4 weeks on average after you submit your documents, and suggests starting as soon as you create the account (Google). If you fail, you can reapply 30 days after a final disqualification, and must wait 180 days after a second denial (Google).

Google also describes pre-badge ads, which let you get leads after passing preliminary checks, such as your license, reviews and billing, while you finish the rest. Pre-badge listings show below badged providers, and they aren't offered for garage door services, health care or locksmiths (Google). Check whether your sign-up offers them, since Google describes them on a page written before the move into Google Ads.

How to sign up

New advertisers still sign up through Local Services, not inside Google Ads. Google says new pay-per-lead campaigns can't yet be created directly in Google Ads (Google).

1. Check eligibility and Business Profile access

Find your category on Google's list. The person who completes the business checks must be an owner or manager on your Google Business Profile, even if someone else already verified it (Google).

You're done when your category is listed and the person signing up is an owner or manager on your Business Profile.

2. Start the sign-up

Go to Google's Local Services sign-up page and add your business name, service type and location (Google). Then choose your job types and service areas. Pick only the work and places you'll take.

You're done when your job types and service areas match the jobs you want.

3. Set your budget, bidding and billing

Choose a weekly budget and a bid mode, then add a card or bank account (Google).

You're done when you can state your weekly budget and your monthly max.

4. Complete screening and verification

Submit what your account asks for: registration, license, insurance and, in some categories, background checks. Google says the representative's full name and the legal business name must match exactly across documents to avoid delays (Google).

You're done when every check shows as passed or not needed.

5. Finish your profile and go live

Add photos, ask customers for reviews with the review link in your account, and turn on message and booking leads if you can answer them (Google). Set your ad schedule to the hours someone can pick up.

You're done when your ad is live and someone is ready for the first call.

For help with setup, Google's onboarding line for the US and Canada is 1-877-824-3983, Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm Eastern (Google).

Local Services Ads are moving into Google Ads

Google is moving existing accounts out of the separate Local Services dashboard and into Google Ads, in phases (Google):

• August 2026: select US home and storefront service businesses, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, house cleaning, lawn care and pest control.
• Late 2026: service-area businesses without storefronts, and accounts with custom bidding or booking setups.
• 2027: accounts outside the US and the remaining categories.

What stays the same: you pay per valid lead, ads show only on Search and Maps, there are no keywords, and your verification and badge carry over. Insurance and license reverification are no longer required.

What changes:

• Budgets become daily averages, and manual max-per-lead bids end.
• Old performance reports don't carry over, so Google suggests screenshots before your move. Past leads, messages and call recordings do carry over.
• Leads are under Goals, then Conversions, then Leads in Google Ads.
• Business name, address and hours sync from your Business Profile. A big change to your name, storefront address or main category triggers a review that typically takes 24 to 48 hours, and your campaign may pause meanwhile.

Your account admin gets an email 14 days before the move and a reminder 7 days later. Google's migration support line is +1-844-205-0011, Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm Eastern.

Are Local Services Ads worth it?

They're worth testing when three things are true. This is our judgment from Google's rules, not a Google claim or a study:

1. Your category is eligible and you can pass screening.
2. Someone answers the phone during the hours your ad runs, because missed calls can cost you leads and ranking.
3. You know the most you can pay for a lead. Multiply what a typical job earns you by the share of leads you book. If that's comfortably above what leads cost in your trade, the numbers can work.

They're a weaker fit if calls often go unanswered, or if 10 leads a week, Google's suggested minimum for Maximize leads, is more than you can take on. You can also run them beside search ads, which let you control keywords, wording and the page people land on.

If you'd rather hand this off, our Google Ads management page explains that service. Our pages for HVAC and plumbing, cleaning and landscaping, law firms and roofing cover how Local Services Ads fit each trade, and our comparison of flat fees and percentage-of-spend pricing covers how agencies usually charge.