The short version
- You pay for valid leads, not clicks, and Google credits many bad leads automatically.
- Google Verified replaced Google Guaranteed and Google Screened, and it comes after background, registration, insurance, and license checks.
- Local Services Ads have no keywords and no landing page, so they run beside a search campaign, not instead of one.
Local Services Ads are the other kind of Google ad. Instead of paying for a click to your site, you pay when a homeowner calls, messages, or books you through the ad. Google screens every business that runs them, and the profile carries a Google Verified badge once you pass.
For many trades that makes them worth a look. For some trades they are not available at all. Here is how they work, what they cost, what happens to a bad lead, and how they sit next to a normal search campaign.
How Local Services Ads work
A homeowner searches for a service in their area, say a plumber in Everett, and Google shows a unit of Local Services profiles. The homeowner picks one and calls, sends a message, or books a time. Google calls each of those a lead, and the lead is what you pay for. Google's page on how leads work (opens in a new tab) lists what counts as a valid lead.
- The customer sends you a message.
- The customer leaves a voicemail, or uses an automated system to add job details or ask for a call back.
- You answer the call and speak with the customer.
- You miss the call, there is no voicemail, and you call or message the customer back and reach them or leave a voicemail.
- The customer sends a booking request.
Read the fourth one twice. A missed call with no voicemail turns into a valid lead once you return it and reach the customer or leave a voicemail. You pay for that lead either way, so the call you answer the first time is the better deal, and Google counts how responsive you are when it ranks the ads.
There are no keywords. You choose your service categories, the job types you take, and the area you serve, and Google matches searches to your profile. Google also says the ads are open only to certain service categories, and a few categories only in certain states. Its getting started page (opens in a new tab) lists them. General contractors, roofers, plumbers, electricians, HVAC, kitchen and bathroom remodeling, and moving services are on the list. Check your own trade and area with Google's eligibility tool before you plan around these ads.
The same page says it plainly. If you regularly fail to answer calls or respond to messages, your ad ranking may be affected. Local Services Ads reward the shop that picks up.
Google Verified replaced Google Guaranteed and Google Screened
If you have read about Local Services Ads before, you have seen the old badges. In August 2025 Google announced that starting that October it would replace Google Guaranteed, Google Screened, License Verified by Google, and the Money Back Guarantee with a single badge called Google Verified (opens in a new tab). The badge shows alongside details of which checks the business passed.
So when a homeowner or a competitor asks if you are Google Screened, the current version of that question is whether you are Google Verified. The checks behind the badge did not go away.
The checks Google runs on your business
Every business has to pass Google's screening and verification to take part. Google's screening and verification page (opens in a new tab) says the checks vary by business category and location and may include the following.
| Check | What Google looks at |
|---|---|
| Background | The business, the owner, and in some categories the field workers who go into homes. Identity and criminal history for people, and court history like judgments and liens for the business. Google says there is no credit check, and the business is not charged for it. |
| Business registration | For select trades in the United States, a Dun & Bradstreet number, or else a Secretary of State registration, an IRS EIN, or a Department of Revenue registration. |
| Insurance | A certificate of insurance with a policy number, valid for at least 14 days after you submit it, in the same name you advertise under. |
| License | State licenses for the business and the owners where the trade requires them. Google validates them against state databases and shows the verified licenses on your profile. |
| Business Profile | The person completing the checks has to manage the matching Google Business Profile. |
Two things trip up contractors here. The first is names. If your insurance certificate, your registration, and your Business Profile use three versions of your business name, expect questions. For insurance in a different name, Google accepts a Doing Business As document to connect the two, but it is easier to make the names match before you start.
The second is working in two states. Google says a business serving multiple locations has to provide licenses for each location. A roofer in Vancouver who also works Portland needs the Washington L&I registration and the Oregon CCB license ready, each in the name on the ad. Before you apply, look up your own record the way Google will. My guide on how to look up a contractor license in Washington shows what the L&I record says and how to fix what is wrong.
What Local Services Ads cost
Google's help pages do not list a price per lead for each trade, and I will not guess one. Its leads page says lead prices vary with your location, the job type, the type of lead, and your bidding mode, and that message leads are usually priced lower than phone leads, though not always.
Two settings control what you spend.
- The budget. You set an average weekly budget. You can spend more than that in a busy week, but never more than the monthly maximum, which is the weekly budget times the average number of weeks in a month.
- The bid. Google's page on how the ads are ranked (opens in a new tab) says your bid is the most you are willing to pay for a lead, and you may pay less. Google recommends Maximize Leads, where Google sets the bid to get the most leads for your budget.
Ranking is not only the bid. The same page lists how responsive you are to calls and messages, how relevant your business is to the search, and your profile quality, which includes your rating, your number of reviews, your response time, your photos, and the checks you completed. Google says higher quality profiles may rank higher and may pay lower costs per lead.
To size the budget, use the same math as a search campaign. Cost per lead times leads per job gives you a cost per job, and that cost has to fit inside what the job earns. My guide to setting a Google Ads budget walks through it with example numbers.
When a lead is bad
Google assesses each lead when the customer first makes contact and does not charge for the ones it judges invalid or low quality. Charged leads get reassessed over time and may be credited automatically. If you think a lead was poor, you rate it in the feedback survey for that lead, and Google says it may occasionally credit leads reported that way.
Google's leads page also lists leads it will not credit. These are the ones that catch contractors.
- A valid lead that came in outside your business hours.
- A customer asking for advice on a project related to your service.
- A customer researching projects or prices.
- A customer who does not answer your call back or your message.
- A specific job you do not do, when your profile lists the general service it falls under.
- An area you normally serve but cannot take work in right now.
Almost every one of those is a settings problem you can fix. Set real business hours. List only the job types you want. Keep the service area to the towns you drive to. When you are booked solid, pause the ads instead of letting leads pile up that you cannot take.
Local Services Ads are moving into Google Ads
Google is moving Local Services Ads into the main Google Ads platform, as a Performance Max campaign with pay per lead goals. Google's migration page (opens in a new tab) lays out the timeline. The first phase began in August 2026 for select home and storefront service advertisers in the United States, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, and moving. Service area businesses without a storefront follow in late 2026, and the remaining categories in 2027.
What stays the same. You still pay per lead, the ads still show only on Google Search and Google Maps in the same positions, and there are still no keywords.
What changes.
- Where you work. Leads, budgets, and settings move into your Google Ads account, and a Leads page there replaces the old inbox. Your lead history carries over. Your old performance reports do not, so download or screenshot them before your date.
- The budget. Your average weekly budget is divided by 7 to become a daily budget, and the month is capped at the daily budget times 30.4.
- Bidding. Manual bidding, like setting a maximum cost per lead, is no longer supported.
- Verification. Your verified status and your Google Verified badge carry over. Google says insurance and license reverification are no longer required after the move.
Google emails the account administrator 14 days before each business's migration date. If you run these ads now, watch for that email.
How they sit beside search ads
Local Services Ads and search ads answer the same homeowner in different ways.
| Local Services Ads | Search ads | |
|---|---|---|
| You pay for | A valid lead. A call, a message, or a booking | A click on the ad |
| Targeting | Service categories, job types, and service area | Keywords, negative keywords, and locations |
| Where the homeowner lands | Your Local Services profile on Google | A page on your site for that service |
| Where it shows | Google Search and Google Maps | Google search results |
Neither one replaces the other. Local Services Ads cannot be tuned with keywords, so you cannot block a bad search the way a negative keyword does in a search campaign. Search ads send the homeowner to your own page, where your reviews, your photos, and your quote form do the selling, and the quote request lands in your email with the job details. When you run both, compare them on cost per job, not cost per lead.
Search campaigns are what I build and manage, only on a site I built, for contractors whose average job is over $10,000. The build is $1,500, paid in full up front, and it goes live within a week in your own Google Ads account. Management is $1,000 a month, month to month, with every search term read twice a week and a written report every week. The ad spend is paid by you directly to Google. Local Services verification runs through Google in your business's name, and your Business Profile is part of it. My map listings set up your Google Business Profile, your Apple Maps listing, and your Bing listing. They are $600 on their own and come with a Site with Tools.
