Google Ads or Local Services Ads: which should a contractor run first?

If you're a licensed, insured contractor in the US or Canada, run Local Services Ads first: you pay per lead rather than per click, Google screens your business and shows a Google Verified badge, and the ad sits at the top of the results when people search for your trade. Add Google Search ads when you want to pick the exact jobs you attract and you have a page built to make the phone ring. Verification for Local Services Ads takes three to four weeks on average, so start it now. Valistix runs both in Get Booked, matched to how fast you want to grow on a short call, month to month, cancel any time, with ad spend paid straight from your card to Google.

What Local Services Ads are, in Google's words

Local Services Ads are Google's lead-based ad unit for service businesses. Google's help page says 'the Local Services unit is shown prominently in Google Search results when people search for the services you offer', and that you 'pay only for leads related to your business and the services you offer'. When a customer reaches out, 'you'll get an email. From this point on, the lead is yours to turn into a customer.' The ad shows your business name, rating, hours, service area and a badge. The customer calls or messages from the ad, and in the US and Canada can also send a booking request.

Setup, per Google's Canadian page, is four steps: give your business information and service type; set a budget; pass verification ('Google verifies your business which includes checks on your business registration and identity verification'); and go live with call or message buttons. You 'choose the budget that works for your business based on the number of new leads you want every week', and you 'can adjust your monthly budget whenever you need to'.

The badge: Google Guaranteed, Google Screened, and now Google Verified

If you've seen 'Google Guaranteed' on a competitor's ad, that was the badge home-services advertisers earned after screening, and it came with a Money Back Guarantee for customers. Google has moved to a single badge for all advertisers, Google Verified, which 'will display on the Local Services Ads profile' and may appear on other Google surfaces; 'relevant verifications will also be called out on verified profiles'. Google says it 'will be discontinuing the Money Back Guarantee associated with the Google Guarantee badge': customers could request reimbursement only for services booked through Local Services Ads before December 7, 2025, within 30 days of the service. Existing verified advertisers earned the new badge automatically; new advertisers 'will need to successfully complete the Local Services screening and verification process'. Google's old 'About Google Screened' help address, the badge professional firms such as law offices used to earn, now shows the Google Verified information.

What verification involves, from Google's help pages: 'background, business registration, insurance, and license checks, and minimum review requirements'. 'Local background check partners perform background checks', including identity and criminal-history checks and, in the US, cross-checks against sex-offender, terrorist and sanctions registries. Google checks 'applicable state, provincial, or country-level licenses for businesses and owners or managers', and insurance 'for business categories that require insurance'. You need a public, verified Google Business Profile. Urgent categories (electrician, garage door, locksmith, HVAC, plumber) also require background checks on the service professionals who go to the home. 'On average, this process takes 3–4 weeks.' Some applicants get accelerated verification and then have 14 days to finish the remaining steps.

Per lead or per click: how each one charges

LSA charges per lead. Google's 'How leads work' page says 'you're charged for each valid lead you receive through your Local Services ad'. A lead is created when you receive a text, email or voicemail, answer a phone call, return a missed call and reach the customer, or receive a booking request (US and Canada). 'Lead prices may vary depending on your location, the job type, the type of lead, or your bidding mode', and message leads and phone leads are priced differently. You pick a budget by leads per week. Billing happens either 30 days after your last payment or when charges reach a payment threshold, whichever comes first.

Google Search charges per click. 'Your actual cost-per-click (actual CPC) is the final amount you're charged for a click', and 'you're often charged less, sometimes much less, than your maximum cost-per-click (max. CPC) bid'. The auction sets the price: 'you only pay what's minimally required to clear the Ad Rank thresholds and beat the Ad Rank of the competitor immediately below you'. You set an average daily budget; on a given day Google may spend up to two times it, but never more than 30.4 times it in a month.

The difference that matters: a Search click is a visit to your page, which then has to turn into a call. An LSA lead is already a call or a message. With LSA you don't need a landing page. With Search, your landing page and your phone answering are where the money is won, and the ad is the smaller part.

Who can run LSA: categories and countries

Google's screening-requirements page lists Local Services Ads for Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Both countries Valistix serves are in. Categories are set by country: Google's Canadian page lists 36 home-service categories, including electricians, plumbers, HVAC and landscapers, and the job-types help page names plumbing, HVAC, dental, real estate, legal services and food and beverage among the industries you can add to an account. Whether your trade is eligible in your market is a quick check inside the LSA sign-up. If it isn't, Search is your first ad.

Requirements vary by country, most of all for business registration. Google says it 'verifies that businesses are registered according to relevant laws and regulations governing a given country', with different document options for Canada and the US; applying for a D-U-N-S number, one US option, can take up to 30 days. Insurance requirements vary by category too.

Bad leads: how credits and disputes work now

The old process of disputing bad leads one at a time has largely been replaced by automatic credits in the US and Canada. Google's page on automated lead credits says leads 'are first assessed when the potential customer makes initial contact', and 'charged leads get reassessed by our models over time, and may be issued credits automatically if later determined to be low quality'. Credits usually appear within 30 days, and the original charge stays visible on the invoice.

Two changes to know. First, 'Google no longer supports credits for job type not serviced and geo not serviced leads'. Set your job types and service area tightly, because a lead for a job you don't do, or an address you don't go to, is now your cost. Second, automated credits are not available for health care verticals, tax specialists, or advertisers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Google also lists leads it doesn't credit: leads outside your business hours, customers seeking advice only, cancelled bookings, price-research inquiries, non-responsive customers, and service mismatches already shown on your profile. You can still report poor-quality leads through the feedback survey, which feeds the model. Answering fast matters: a returned and reached call is a charged lead, so make it count. It is one reason we pair ads with the receptionist.

What each one is good at

A quick rule: if you can pass verification, LSA first, because every dollar buys a lead rather than a visit. Add Search when you want jobs LSA doesn't surface (a specific service, a commercial niche, a new service area) and you have a page built for it.

The table compares the two on the things that decide the outcome.

How to set your budget

Start from your own numbers, not someone else's account. You need three: what a click or a lead goes for in your market, which your account shows within the first weeks of spending; how many calls a week you can actually answer and book; and what a booked job is worth to you. A budget that buys more leads than you can answer is money spent on calls nobody answers.

For Search, Google's own budget page explains the daily budget as your monthly budget divided by 30.4, the average number of days in a month. On a busy day Google may spend up to twice your daily budget, and never more than 30.4 times it in a month, so plan the month, not the day. A tight first campaign on your best-paying jobs learns faster than several thin ones.

For LSA, set the weekly lead target you can answer. Google prices leads by location, job type, lead type and bidding mode, and you'll see the going rate for your trade and city in your own account. One of our specialists plans your budget from that rate.

How Valistix runs both

Both run inside Get Booked, our ads and marketing stage: Google Search, Local Services Ads, Microsoft Ads and Meta, chosen for your trade and your market. Google Search and Local Services Ads suit most trades; Google and Meta suit businesses where people choose by what they see.

What it covers: your campaigns built and managed, landing pages built for them, every call and form tracked to the ad that brought it, weekly optimization and testing, and a monthly report on what you spent, what rang and what booked. Ads start spending after you approve the campaign.

Ad spend goes straight from your card to the platform, in accounts you own, so your history and data stay with you, on a budget you approve.

Get Booked comes in three sizes, matched to how fast you want to grow on a short call or by email: a one-time setup fee for the account and campaign build, the tracking and the landing pages, plus a monthly fee, both on a one-page Order Form before you sign. Month to month, cancel any time. US businesses are billed in US$ and Canadian businesses in C$.

Ads work hardest when every call gets answered. A returned and reached call is a charged lead on LSA, so the leads you pay for should reach someone who books the job, which is what Get Answered does.

The order we'd run them in

Six steps, in order. Most of the waiting is in step one, so start it today. Want the plan written for your trade and your city? Book 15 to 30 minutes; you get the written fix list either way.

• Start LSA verification today; Google says three to four weeks on average.
• Fix the Google Business Profile it depends on: real-world name, categories, hours, photos, reviews.
• Answer every lead: put an AI receptionist on the number your ads ring, so the leads you pay for reach someone who books the job.
• Launch LSA with job types and service areas set tightly, because mismatches are no longer credited.
• Add Search for the jobs LSA doesn't surface, with a landing page built for calls and tracking wired before any spend.
• Track every call and form to the ad that made it, and move budget to the campaigns that bring the jobs you want.