Google Ads vs. Local Services Ads for home services

If you run a plumbing, HVAC, roofing or cleaning business and want to pay for more calls from Google, you’ll come across two products: regular Google Ads and Local Services Ads. Both can show up on the same search, but they charge differently, ask different things of you and suit different businesses. Here’s how they compare, based on Google’s own help pages.

The short version

• Google Ads (search): you choose keywords, write the ads and pay when someone clicks.
• Local Services Ads: you choose job types and service areas, pass Google’s screening, and pay per lead, meaning a call, message or booking from a potential customer.

How each one charges

Google Ads

Search ads are cost-per-click. You set the most you’re willing to pay for a click, and you’re often charged less. Whether your ad shows, where it shows and what you pay depend on Ad Rank, which takes in your bid, the quality of your ad and landing page, the context of the search and a few other things. Google says higher ad quality often lowers your actual cost per click.

You set an average daily budget. For most campaigns, Google can spend up to twice that on a single day, but it won’t charge more than 30.4 times your daily budget in a month. If your ads show a call button, a tap on it is charged the same as a click on the ad.

The key point: you pay for the click whether or not the person calls.

Local Services Ads

Local Services Ads charge for leads related to your business and the services you offer. A phone lead counts when you speak with the customer, or when you miss a call during business hours and the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds. Messages count too, and Google says booking leads are only available in the United States and Canada.

Some contacts aren’t charged. Follow-up calls or messages with the same customer within 15 days of a charged lead are free, and Google filters out spam and duplicates. Lead prices vary with your location, the job type, the type of lead and your bidding mode. You can let Google maximize leads for your budget, set a target cost per lead, or set a maximum per lead yourself. Your budget is set weekly.

Google also reassesses charged leads over time and credits ones its systems later judge to be low quality, usually within 30 days. It no longer gives credits for “job type not serviced” or “geo not serviced” leads, so set your job types and service areas carefully.

Screening and the badge

Local Services Ads

In August 2025 Google announced that a single Google Verified badge would replace Google Guaranteed, Google Screened, License Verified by Google and the Money Back Guarantee, with the change starting that October. If you remember the Google Guaranteed badge, it’s gone, and so is the Money Back Guarantee.

For US home services, Google’s requirements page lists checks such as:

• a business check and a check on the business representative
• a background check on the owner
• extra background checks on field workers in urgent categories like plumbers, HVAC and electricians
• business and owner licenses, where state or local law requires them
• general liability insurance

Google says many of these apply only to select businesses, depending on business type and location. It doesn’t charge for the background check, and it says verification takes three to four weeks on average after you submit your documents. If you fail, you can reapply after 30 days, and after a second denial the wait is 180 days. In some categories you can start getting leads before you finish onboarding, but those ads show below providers who have completed it.

Locksmiths in the US and Canada, and garage door companies in the US, must also pass Google’s Advanced Verification, which applies to both Google Ads and Local Services Ads.

Google Ads

Search ads don’t carry a badge. Google does run advertiser verification, where you confirm your identity or business details, and it says all advertisers will eventually have to complete it.

Where each one appears

Google says Local Services Ads appear at the top of Google Search results in the areas you choose. Their order comes from an auction that weighs your bid and your profile quality: your rating and number of reviews, how quickly you respond, your photos and the verification checks you’ve passed. Missed calls can hurt your responsiveness. Your reviews for these ads are managed through your Google Business Profile.

Google Ads search ads can appear above or below search results, and beside, above or below results on Google Maps. You can’t run ads only on Maps. New Search campaigns also include Google’s search partner sites by default, which you can turn off in campaign settings.

Is your trade covered?

Local Services Ads are available in both the US and Canada, but only for certain categories, and the lists differ. Google’s US page covers a long list, including plumbers, HVAC, electricians, roofers, house cleaning, lawn care, landscaping, pest control, tree services and auto repair, and a few categories are limited to certain states. The Canadian list is shorter. It includes plumbers, HVAC, electricians, roofers, cleaning, lawn care, pest control, tree services, movers, locksmiths and appliance repair, among others. Categories change, so check the current list for your country before you plan around it.

How to choose

Start with Local Services Ads if:

• your trade is covered in your area
• you or your staff can answer the phone quickly, since responsiveness affects your ranking
• you’re ready to go through screening and keep asking customers for reviews

Start with Google Ads if:

• your trade isn’t covered
• you want control over the exact searches you appear for, such as higher-value jobs, and want to block the ones you don’t with negative keywords
• you have a landing page that’s ready to turn visitors into calls, since landing page quality feeds into Ad Rank

If you choose Google Ads, look closely at location targeting. Google recommends “Presence or interest” for Search campaigns, which can include people outside your area who show interest in it. “Presence” limits your ads to people who are physically in the places you target.

You can also run both. Whichever you pick, measure booked jobs, not clicks or leads. Google Ads can count calls from your ads as conversions when call reporting is on, and the Local Services leads page shows which leads were charged or credited. Give each option a fair trial, then compare what a booked job cost you. Ad products and policies change often, so check Google’s pages before you commit a budget.