---
title: "A Guide to Google Local Services Ads"
description: "Google Local Services Ads are pay-per-lead listings at the top of Google Search for verified local service providers. Here is how they work, what decides the cost, how Google handles the phone number, and how to tell those calls apart from the rest."
image: "/assets/images/posts/call-tracker-google-local-services-ads-banner.png"
url: "https://calltracker.io/blog/2026-10-12-google-local-services-ads/"
---
Google Local Services Ads are listings that appear at the top of Google Search when someone nearby looks for a service you offer. Google describes them as "pay-per-lead listings for verified local service providers": you pay when a customer calls or messages you through the ad, and you do not pay for clicks. Every business has to pass Google's screening before its ads run.
This guide covers how the ads work, who can run them, what decides the cost, and how Google handles the phone number on the ad.
#### What Are Google Local Services Ads?
Each ad is a listing built from the business information you give Google, such as your hours, your service area, and the services you offer. Your ad can then show when people search for those services in the areas you chose.
Where they show. Google says the ads show "exclusively on Google Search and Google Maps".
What the customer does. They call you or send a message from the ad. You can also opt in to booking leads.
What you pay for. In Google's words, "You only pay when potential customers get in touch through your ads."
What the customer sees. Listings carry a Google Verified badge once the business has passed verification.
#### Who Can Run Them
Google lists the eligible categories country by country. In the United States the list covers home services, professional services, health care, auto care, beauty, pet care, wellness, and more.
What Google checks depends on the category. For HVAC, the requirements page lists background checks on the business, the owner, and service professionals, plus insurance and state licenses where they apply. For lawyers it lists a state bar license check for each lawyer in the firm. For real estate it lists a license check for each agent.
#### Google Verified: The Badge and the Screening
Google's rule is short: "all businesses must pass Google's screening and verification process." Depending on your category and location, that can include background, business registration, insurance, and license checks, and a minimum number of reviews. Google does not charge for the background check.
Google now uses a single badge, Google Verified, for every Local Services advertiser. Existing advertisers who had finished verification received it automatically. Google also discontinued the money back guarantee that was tied to the older Google Guarantee badge.
#### What Google Local Services Ads Cost
The Google help pages give no prices. The page on how leads work says "Lead prices may vary depending on your location, the job type, the type of lead, or your bidding mode". Three things are worth knowing before you set a budget.
You set an average weekly budget. Google can spend more than that in a single week. Your monthly maximum is the weekly figure multiplied by the average number of weeks in a month, and once you reach it your ad stops showing for the rest of the month.
Message leads are usually cheaper. Google says message leads "typically cost less than phone leads", though not always.
A better profile can cost less. Listings are ranked by an auction on "bid and overall profile quality", which covers your rating, reviews, and response time. Google says higher quality profiles "may rank higher and may also pay lower costs per lead".
You are charged for each valid lead. Once a lead is charged, follow-up calls and messages from the same customer are not charged again, unless 15 days pass with no activity. Google's list of valid leads includes a call you missed during business hours where the customer stayed on the line for more than 20 seconds. An unanswered phone can still cost you.
#### How Lead Credits Work
Google assesses each lead when the customer first makes contact, and leads it judges invalid or low quality are not charged. Charged leads are reassessed later and "may be issued credits automatically". Google says credits usually reach your account balance within 30 days, and the original charge still appears on your invoice.
You can report a poor lead in the feedback survey attached to it, and Google may occasionally credit leads reported that way. Two limits apply. Google no longer credits leads for a job type or an area you do not serve, and lead credits are not available in health care verticals or for tax specialists.
#### The Phone Number on the Ad
This is the part that decides how you measure the channel. You do not pick the number customers see. Google's help page says:
It is Google's number. "The number displayed on your ad is a Google forwarding number." Calls to it are forwarded to your business number.
It changes. It is a dynamic number that "will change often as different people search on Google".
You cannot choose it. "There is no way to choose your tracking number."
Calls are announced. When you answer, you hear "Call from Google". You may not hear it if your business number uses call forwarding or VoIP.
Calls are recorded. In the US and Canada, Google records all inbound calls that come through the forwarding number, and US advertisers can listen to them in the lead inbox. Customers hear a recorded notice first. Recordings are not available in health care verticals or for tax specialists.
The number those calls forward to is your business number, and changing it takes a request to Google support. That number can be a call tracking number. Google forwards the call to the tracking number, and the tracking number forwards it to your phone.
Google keeps its own record either way. The lead list in your account shows which calls came from the ad and whether each one was charged, with a recording in the US.
#### Local Services Ads vs Google Ads
| | Local Services Ads | Google Ads |
|---|---|---|
| You pay for | A valid lead | A click |
| Who can run them | Verified businesses in eligible categories | Any business |
| The ad | A listing built from your profile | Text ads you write |
| Phone number | Google's forwarding number | The number on your landing page |
| Call detail | The lead and, in the US, a recording | Campaign and keyword, with call tracking |
Google sums up ordinary Google Ads as "customizable, pay-per-click text ads open to any business". Because you control the landing page, you control the number on it. That is where dynamic number insertion fits, and where a call can be traced to a campaign and keyword. Our guide to Google Ads call tracking covers that setup.
#### The Move Into Google Ads
Google is retiring the separate dashboard for these ads. Existing campaigns are being migrated into Google Ads as Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals. The first phase began in August 2026 for select home and storefront service advertisers in the United States, with broader groups in late 2026 and non-U.S. accounts in 2027.
What stays the same: you still pay only for valid leads, the ads show in the same positions, and your Google Verified badge transfers. What changes: manual bidding is gone, your weekly budget becomes a daily one, a Leads page replaces the lead inbox, and your old performance reports do not move across. Google also says that after the move you can edit the phone number your leads are routed to yourself. New campaigns are still created at g.co/localservices for now.
#### Telling These Calls Apart From Your Other Google Calls
A local business usually has three Google sources ringing one phone: Local Services Ads, a Google Business Profile listing, and ordinary Google Ads. Here is what you can do with each.
Local Services Ads. Google identifies these for you. The "Call from Google" message marks the call when you answer, and the lead list holds the full record. You cannot place a tracking number in the ad. We recommend putting one behind it: ask Google support to set a tracking number used only for Local Services Ads as your business number, so those calls land in the same report as your other sources.
Google Ads. Yours to measure. A number pool on your website gives each visitor their own number, so a call is matched to the click, the campaign, and the keyword.
Google Business Profile. There is no click to follow. We recommend a second tracking number used only on that listing, with your real number kept as an additional phone number. That is how those calls get counted on their own.
Two limits apply. First, without a tracking number behind the ad, calls from the Google forwarding number reach your main line and look like any other direct call. Google's lead list is then the only thing that separates them. Second, if your business number forwards or runs on VoIP, you may not hear the "Call from Google" announcement. Your call log and the lead list still mark the call.
One habit helps the person answering. Put a whisper message on your Google Ads and Business Profile numbers. Those calls then announce their own source, the same way a "Call from Google" does.
To compare the channels, take lead count and spend from Google for Local Services Ads, and calls per source from your call reports for everything else. Then work out cost per booked job for each. The setup is in how to track phone calls.
#### Are Local Services Ads Worth It?
That depends on your own numbers, so run a test and count. Three checks tell you most of what you need:
1. Can you answer during the hours your ad runs? Google states that "Missed calls may negatively affect your responsiveness", and they can still be charged.
2. What is a booked job worth to you, and how many leads does it take to book one?
3. Are you counting every other source too? Without that, you cannot say whether these leads are cheap or expensive.
#### Frequently Asked Questions
##### What are these ads?
Pay-per-lead listings on Google Search and Maps for verified local service providers. You pay for calls and messages, not clicks.
##### How much does a lead cost?
Google's help pages give no prices. Lead prices vary with your location, the job type, the type of lead, and your bidding mode.
##### Can I use my own phone number on the ad?
No. The ad shows a Google forwarding number that you cannot choose. It forwards to your business number, which can be a tracking number.
##### Does Google record the calls?
Yes, in the US and Canada, with recordings in the lead inbox for US advertisers. Health care and tax specialists get none.
##### How are they different from Google Ads?
They charge per lead and use Google's number. Google Ads charge per click and send people to a page where the number is yours.
#### Count the Calls Google Does Not
Google counts the leads from its own ads. Call Tracker counts the calls from your Google Ads, your Business Profile, your website, and your offline ads, with a recording of each one if you switch it on. Start a 14 day free trial of Call Tracker, or see pricing. Plans are $37, $87, and $147 a month with unlimited users.
