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Need a Queue of Local Customers? Use Local Service Ads
January 31, 2025
10m
If you run a service-based business with a local character you (should) know that promoting it goes beyond the traditional mouth-to-mouth advertising.
How can you attract more customers, increase your sales and strengthen your brand name? This article reveals to you the answer, so stay with us.
So, what exactly are the Local Google Service Ads?
If you are a hairdresser or a plumber, you don’t seek clients from another state, do you? The same goes for someone who lives nearby and needs your services.
This is where Google Ads come into the scene - they help you find each other. So you can both benefit.
Google Local Service Ads (LSAs) are a type of advertisement offered by Google that allows businesses to promote their services directly to customers in their area. Contrary to traditional Google Ads, which typically show up in search results, LSAs appear at the very top of Google search results and are designed specifically for local service providers.
These ads stand out with a “Google Guaranteed” badge (or “Google Screened” in some cases) ensuring potential customers that your business meets some criteria and giving them peace of mind.
Incorporating them into your local business advertising strategies will multiply your chances of getting noticed in your community.
So, whether you’re a lawyer, locksmith, cleaning service, or dog walker, Google Local Service Ads help you get in front of people actively searching for your services near you.
Picture this for one second. Someone’s sink starts leaking all of a sudden and they need a plumber like you. Yet, they don’t know you or someone else to call. So, they open their browser and type in the search bar "plumber near me" or "best plumber in [city name].
Then, Google will respond with a list of Local Service Ads for plumbers that match that query.
These ads typically display:
With this type of digital marketing, you only pay for leads, not clicks, which is a much budget-friendlier option for small businesses. Usually, pay-per-click advertising means that you pay each time someone clicks on the ad (as you may have guessed from the name). With local service ads, you're only charged when someone reaches out to you directly through the ad, whether it's through a call, a message, or a quote request.
Quite a cost-effective way to find customers and fill up your schedule, right? Couple LSA’s with Local SEO, and you’re fully booked without investing a ton.
Here are the steps:
First, you need to go to the Local Service Ads website and sign up. If you don’t already have a Google Ads account, you’ll need to create one by entering your business details, the services you offer, your location, and operating hours.
Then, you’ll need to undergo some crosschecking by Google since it requires a background check to qualify for the Google Guaranteed badge. This may include checking your business license, insurance, and any necessary certifications depending each time on your field.
Once you pass the test, then you can set your local business marketing budget based on the number of leads you seek to attract. You can change this number over time as you evaluate how well your ads perform.
Away from the public eye and once everything’s set up, Google will automatically create your ad based on the information you provided. You can then review it while still in the back scene and make any necessary tweaks. After that, you can launch your ad.
This is when you start waiting for the benefits. Once your ad is live, brace yourself to start receiving leads from potential customers who are interested in your services and reside nearby. You can track and manage these leads via your Google Ads account, where you can also adjust your budget, service areas, and other ad settings.
Although LSAs can be literally your game-changer regarding your business’s growth, there is still room for some improvement.
Here are some helpful tips to optimize Google Local Service Ads’ performance:
This means, completing every field, adding detailed service info (you can break down your services into subcategories), uploading quality photos and listing any accreditations to help you stand out from the competition.
One thing Google Local Service Ads thrive on is customer reviews. You aim to gain many positive reviews to increase your ad’s visibility and click-through rate metric.
So, ask your customers (especially the satisfied ones and the famous too!) to leave a review and make sure you respond to all reviews to show you care about your customers’ opinions.
Your lead response time is measured and evaluated by Google. The sooner you reply the better for your ratings.
Set up alerts, to ensure you don’t miss a lead when it comes through, and be disciplined enough to respond within minutes, not hours. If you have to, use auto-respond messages, but don’t forget to get back to them promptly.
This is also important. You need to be able to provide your services in the areas and hours you have stated in your ad. So, choose them both wisely, because you want your customers to receive the best quality you can offer.
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Don’t go overboard with your money in the beginning. Avoid, on the other hand, underfunding your Google Local Service Ads, too. The golden ratio is to start with a reasonable budget and adjust it accordingly as you receive the first results. You can also set a maximum lead cost, and check how it goes while paying attention in certain areas that boost lead generation.
Once your ad is live, you don’t just forget about it. It needs ongoing tracking to monitor its performance and act on necessary adjustments. Are you getting enough leads?
How many of them convert to real customers? And how much does each lead cost you on advertising terms? Knowing all this information helps you refine your digital strategy and rationalize its budget.
If you haven’t done it already. This badge adds extra credibility and encourages more people to trust your business. So, strive to get it to enhance your business brand.
At this point, you may wonder: Why choose Google LSAs rather than stick to the traditional Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads? The truth is that both have their strengths, but they work quite differently.
Let’s dive into their key differences:
Google Local Service Ads are designed to appear at the very top of Google search results and can be instantly recognizable due to the “Google Guaranteed” or “Google Screened” badge. They are also only visible to people searching for services in your local area on Maps.
On the contrary, traditional PPC ads, typically show up at the top or bottom of the search results and you’ll find them labelled as “Ad” or “Sponsored,” distinguishing them from organic search results. They are more customizable and address a wider audience since they are keyword and not location-based.
Here is an example from Google itself:
While Google LSAs work on a pay-per-lead model, their traditional PPC adversaries use a pay-per-click advertising model, meaning you pay each time someone clicks on your ad regardless if they contact your business or not in the end.
However, despite both offering you weekly control of your budget - which allows sufficient time for any adjustments, the cost per click can be way more expensive than the cost per lead.
Unlike traditional PPC ads, the pivotal benefit of Google Local Service Ads is that it boosts the connection between your service-based business and your potential customers, increasing your chances of widening your customer base. In simple words, with LSAs customers are more likely to use your services and do it right away.
However, this isn’t the case with PPC ads, because they attract audiences who search by keywords. This includes target groups that may not be interested at all in your specific kind of service but in something similar.
This is where Local Service Ads thrive. Their setup is pretty easy and so is their maintenance.
Whereas, setting up traditional PPC ads is more complex and needs regular monitoring of several metrics and optimization actions down the road.
If you own a local service-based business, then the answer is pretty much straightforward. Go for Google LSAs. Simple as that.
They are ideal for targeting leads in your area, have a highly cost-effective element, and are simple to implement and monitor.
Ok, you made your choice and it's final. You created your LSAs and started seeing queues forming outside your business.
But, apart from the obvious evidence, how do you actually measure your Google ads’ success?
Let’s uncover the metrics you need to monitor:
1. The Lead Volume (How Many Leads Are You Getting?)
Estimating the lead generation is the most crucial factor of your ads' effectiveness.
Look in your Google Local Services dashboard, to track the lead activity section and find the total number of leads (people who reach out to receive your services directly) you've generated over a certain period. When this number is high it indicates that your ad is reaching the right audience.
2. The Lead Quality (How Many of Those Leads Convert?)
If you’re getting a lot of “hits” but few conversions, it may mean that your leads are not a good fit for your business. Once again, check the dashboard, to check the “converted” vs the “not converted” leads you have.
3. The Lead Cost (What Are You Paying for Each Lead?)
Google Local Service Ads, as already highlighted, use a pay-per-lead model, meaning you only pay when someone contacts you directly via your ad. Look at the “Lead Cost” metric in your LSA dashboard to see the average amount you’re paying for each lead. Then evaluate if it’s worth the cost.
4. The Response Time (How Quickly Are You Responding to Leads?)
Already roughly mentioned too. Google’s algorithm rewards businesses that respond quickly to leads. So, monitor your response time in the LSA dashboard and aim at shrinking it.
5. The Customer Reviews (What Are Customers Saying About You?)
Customer reviews are crucial for your LSAs’ performance. The positive ones are more welcomed than the negative ones since they increase your ad visibility, credibility, and click-through rates.
So, keep an eye on your star rating and customer feedback, to monitor your business’ reputation.
6. The Ad Position (Where Does Your Ad Rank in Search Results?)
Finally, where your ad shows up in search results determines how visible your business will be. The higher your ad appears, the more likely customers are to see it and contact you. Google lets you know how often your ad appears at the top of search results versus further down the page. Don’t ignore it.
Read these articles to get even better in marketing your local venture:
How to Effectively Promote a One-Page Website
How to Dominate Local SEO: Practical Tips
How to Create Effective Calls to Action
Besides implementing local business advertising strategies, you can also improve your local SEO for better results.
Here are some tips:
Go for optimizing the meta title and meta description for local search results. These elements play a key role in rankings. You can include local keywords—like your city or state—in the meta title, with the most important keywords at the beginning, followed by your business name.
As per the meta description, aim to craft a short, engaging description that highlights the best aspects of your website.
For even better SEO, add your business contact details (address, phone, email) in the footer or create a dedicated contact page to boost local relevance and rankings.
Web directories are important for SEO - and local SEO too. So, opt for local link building from authoritative sources to boost your site’s ranking. In addition, aim to include your business in local business listings to further improve your visibility and local SEO.
Likewise, local citation building, which involves adding your business name, address, and phone number to third-party sites, will also help you improve search visibility, and thus your local SEO. The more citations you have, the better your search engine presence.
It’s important to add your business to Google Maps for complete local service ad optimization. It’s a very easy process and will help your customers find you.
Handing away your business card or promo leaflet to make your service-based business known within your local community and waiting for some lead generation won’t get you far enough.
You can opt for the more effective way - the Google Local Service Ads. These ads come with an affordable cost and can increase substantially your leads without much fuss or a high budget.
And if digital marketing isn’t your knack, you can always turn to Promodo’s professional team to help you create optimum local Google ads that generate leads and in the end sales for your business!
Ready to conquer your local market?
[[FAQ-START]]
Once you create them, make the most of them with these tips:
Because LSAs are designed to connect your local business in particular with potential customers from your area. They use location-based features to improve your business visibility and target audiences that reside nearby and need your services promptly most of the time.
The more the better. But, it’s better to have positive reviews than negative ones. A good pace is to add at least one review per week, to refresh your rating, enhance your visibility and improve your reputation. [[FAQ-END]]
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