If Google offers Local Service Ads for your trade in your area, start there. You pay only when a customer calls or messages you through the ad, and your listing carries a badge showing that Google checked your business. Google Ads, the regular search ads, fit better when your trade isn't eligible or when you want to choose the exact searches you pay for.
Where each one shows on the page
Search for 'electrician near me' on your phone. In many towns, the first listings you see each show a star rating and a badge from Google. Those are Local Service Ads, and they usually sit at the very top of the results.
Under them come the regular Google Ads. They look like ordinary search results, with a headline and a link to a website, and Google labels each one Sponsored. The Maps 3-pack and the unpaid website results follow, and more ads can appear at the bottom of the page.
Pay per lead and pay per click
With Google Ads, you pay per click. Each time someone taps your ad, Google charges you, whether they call or leave after a few seconds. You choose keywords, meaning the searches you want your ad to show for, and the price of a click is set in an auction against other businesses bidding on the same search. Some of those clicks come from people only comparing prices, and your website decides how many of them pick up the phone.
Local Service Ads charge per lead instead. A lead is a call or message that reaches you through the ad. Someone can open your listing and read your reviews at no cost to you. Google sets the price of each lead, and it changes with the type of job and where you work.
Google bills you directly for both. If a Local Service Ads lead turns out to be a wrong number or a job you don't offer, you can ask Google to review it, and Google may credit the charge.
Budgets work differently too. In Google Ads, you set an average daily budget. Google can spend up to twice that on a busy day, but it won't bill you for more than your daily budget times the average number of days in a month.
| Compared on | Local Service Ads | Google Ads |
|---|---|---|
| Where it shows | Usually the very top of the results | Under Local Service Ads, and sometimes at the bottom of the page |
| You pay Google for | Each lead, meaning a call or message | Each click on the ad |
| Who picks the searches | Google, from the job types and area on your profile | You, by choosing keywords |
| Badge | Google Guaranteed or Google Screened | None |
| Before the ads run | Google checks your license and insurance, and in many trades runs background checks | Google reviews each ad against its ad policies |
| Where the customer lands | Your listing, then a call or message | Your website, or a call from the ad |
| Who can use it | Certain trades and services, in the areas Google covers | Almost any business |
Where the customer ends up
With Local Service Ads, the customer mostly stays on Google. They read your listing and your reviews, then call or message you from there. With Google Ads, most taps land on your website, so the page they land on has to make calling easy. Open that page on your phone and check that your number is in sight without scrolling.
Google's badge and the checks behind it
Before a Local Service Ad can run, Google checks the business. Home-service trades such as plumbing and roofing usually carry the Google Guaranteed badge, and professional services such as law firms usually carry Google Screened. Google decides which one by category.
You send your business license and proof of insurance. In many categories, Google also runs background checks on the owner and on the workers who go into customers' homes. Nothing runs until Google is done, and how long that takes is up to Google. Keep both documents current afterward, since Google can pause your ads if your insurance lapses.
Once you pass, the badge shows on your listing. A homeowner choosing between businesses they've never heard of can see which ones Google has checked.
Google Ads has no badge and no background check. Each ad is reviewed against Google's advertising policies, usually within a business day.
Want this done for your business
What decides who shows first
Paying per lead doesn't buy the top spot in Local Service Ads. Google says it weighs things such as these:
- •How close your business is to the customer
- •Your review score and how many reviews you have
- •How quickly you answer calls and messages
- •Your business hours
- •Serious or repeated complaints about your business
Two of those are yours to work on every day. Answer calls during the hours on your profile, and keep asking customers for reviews.
Google Ads ranks a different way. Your spot depends on your bid and on how useful Google judges your ad and your website to be for that search. Google Ads also gives you more control, since you write the ad text and pick the keywords. In Local Service Ads, Google builds the listing from your profile.
When each one fits
Start with Local Service Ads when
- •Google offers them for your trade where you work. Search for your service in your town and look for badged listings at the top.
- •You have the paperwork: a current license where your trade needs one, and insurance.
- •Someone picks up the phone during your business hours.
- •You'd rather pay for calls and messages than for visits to your website.
Start with Google Ads when
- •Your trade isn't eligible for Local Service Ads in your area.
- •You want more of one particular job, such as panel upgrades or roof replacements, and want to show up for exactly those searches.
- •You want people to land on a specific page of your website, such as an offer or a booking form.
- •You want to write the ads yourself and choose when they run.
Plenty of owners start with Local Service Ads, since a charge comes only when someone reaches out, and add Google Ads later for the searches Local Service Ads don't cover. Give the first one long enough to judge the calls it brings before you add the second.
Either kind of ad only gets you the call. In Local Service Ads, Google also counts how quickly you respond, so missed calls can push your listing down.
What it costs to start with us
Our Local Service Ads setup is $750, and the $750 monthly management fee starts only once your ads are live, so you pay us $0 while Google verifies you. For Google Ads, the ad spend is billed by Google to your own card, and we never mark it up.
