Local Services Ads Management, Pay Per Lead Done Properly

Google Local Services Ads for home services, legal, real estate, health, and automotive businesses, run beside your Search campaigns by a senior lead. You own the Business Profile, the account, and every lead.
Komplex is a Local Services Ads agency based in Austin, Texas, with a presence in New York City and Reykjavik. We are a Google Partner and have run paid search since the AdWords era. Our senior led team manages Google Local Services Ads for home services, legal, real estate, health, and automotive businesses. We run them inside Google Ads as pay per lead campaigns, with Search beside them. Local Services Ads can be the whole engagement or one part of our wider paid search management.
Google Partner
Founded In 2014
You Own The Profile
No Long Contracts

No Keywords, No Clicks,
And A Different Set Of Levers

Everything a buyer knows about Google Ads stops working the moment they open Local Services Ads. There are no keywords to bid on and no clicks to pay for. Google matches searches to your Business Profile, shows your ad above the text ads and the map pack, and charges you when someone calls or messages. So the levers are not bids and match types. They are the Profile itself, the Google Verified badge, your reviews, and how fast the phone gets answered. Then there is what happens to the leads that were never real. Most agencies bolt Local Services Ads onto a Search retainer and let them run. We run them as their own channel, with Search beside them for the searches they cannot reach.
Isometric illustration of a marketer reviewing keyword research as Komplex ranks number one in search results.

What Changed
In 2025 And 2026

Two things, and both matter. In October 2025 Google folded Google Guaranteed, Google Screened, and License Verified into one Google Verified badge. The consumer money back guarantee ended a month later. From August 2026 Google began moving Local Services Ads accounts into Google Ads, as Performance Max campaigns with pay per lead goals. The ads show in the same places and you still pay per lead. What changed is that the manual cost per lead cap is gone and one Target CPA runs the campaign. Anyone still managing the old way is leaving the new lever untouched.
Ask About Local Services Ads

What Our Local Services Ads Management Covers

Less to set up than Search and more to keep alive. Here is what the retainer covers once the ads are live.

LSA Audit

We read the Profile, the badge status, the reviews, the service area, the budget, and the lead history before anything changes. The scorecard ranks the fixes by the leads each one is costing you.

Business Profile And Verification

The Profile is the campaign. We match it to the ad account exactly and complete the categories and job types. Then we get the business through Google Verified, with the licensing and checks it needs.

Reviews And Responses

Business Profile reviews are the Local Services Ads reviews now, and rating and volume move the ranking. We set up the review asks after each job and answer every review, including the bad ones.

Service Area And Job Types

Too wide a service area buys leads you cannot serve, and too few job types hide you from searches you could win. We set both from where the profitable jobs actually come from.

Budget And Target CPA

After the move into Google Ads there is no manual cost per lead cap, only a Target CPA. We set it from your close rate and average ticket, and we move the weekly budget with the season.

Lead Handling And Credits

A call counts as a lead whether or not it becomes a job, and credits for bad leads are automatic now. We track every lead, flag the patterns that should be credited, and fix the answering gaps that waste them.

Search Campaigns Beside LSA

Local Services Ads take the top of the page for the categories Google allows. Search catches the rest: emergency phrasing, nearby suburbs, and services outside your categories. We run both from one plan.

Reporting

Leads, cost per lead, booked jobs, and credits, on the schedule we agree, with Local Services Ads on their own line beside Search. You see which one is earning the budget and which one is spending it.

Start With Your Business Profile Link

Send us the link to your Google Business Profile and read only access to the account. The audit will tell you whether Local Services Ads will work for you and what is holding them back.
Get The Free Audit
Get A Quote
THE EIGHT LEVERS

What Moves A Local Services Ad, In Order Of Weight

Google says the ranking comes down to how fast you respond, your reviews, how close you are to the searcher, and how you handle leads. Budget sits behind all four. These are the eight things we work, and the first four matter most.

Response Time

Google measures how fast you answer calls and messages, and it ranks slow responders down. Every missed call is both a wasted lead and a ranking hit, so answering is the first lever.

Reviews

Rating and count, pulled straight from your Business Profile. Fresh reviews after each job keep the number moving, and answered reviews show Google and the customer that someone is there.

Proximity And Service Area

Google favors businesses close to the searcher. A service area drawn around where you actually work, rather than the whole metro, keeps you competitive in the places you can reach.

Business Profile Match

Name, address, phone, categories, and hours must match between the Profile and the ad account. A mismatch can pause the ads or hide the badge without any warning.

Google Verified Badge

One badge now covers what Guaranteed, Screened, and License Verified used to. Background checks, insurance, and license documents keep it, and losing it drops you out of the unit.

Job Types And Hours

Every job type you leave unchecked is a search you will not appear for. Hours tell Google when to show you, so they should match the times someone can pick up.

Budget And Target CPA

Budget sets how many leads Google will send, and Target CPA sets what you will pay for them. Both come from your numbers, and both get adjusted as the season moves.

Lead Quality And Credits

Spam, wrong service, and out of area calls still get billed unless Google credits them. Tracking every lead and flagging the patterns keeps the real cost per lead honest.

Not Sure Which Levers Are Costing You Leads?

The free audit grades all eight and points at the ones holding your ads back.
Check My Levers
WHERE THE UNIT SHOWS

Where Local Services Ads Appear,
And What We Run Beside Them

The unit only shows for the categories and places Google allows, so a full local plan uses more than one campaign type. Here is where Local Services Ads appear and what fills the gaps.

Google Search

Above the text ads and the map pack on eligible local searches, with your name, rating, badge, and a call or message button. The highest position on the page.

Google Maps

The same unit inside Maps results for local searches, where the call button matters more than anything else on the screen.

Messaging And Booking

Leads arrive as calls or messages, and eligible businesses can take direct bookings inside the unit. Both are billed as leads, so both need someone answering.

Search Campaigns

Keyword driven, pay per click, and able to reach the searches Local Services Ads cannot: emergency phrasing, competitor names, suburbs, and services outside your eligible categories.

Google Business Profile

Free, and now the source of your Local Services Ads reviews and details. Local SEO work on the Profile lifts organic results and the ads at the same time.

Call Ads And Call Tracking

Call only ads for the hours the phone is staffed, with call tracking that shows which campaign and which search brought the call in.

Which Mix Fits Your Business?

Tell us your trade, your service area, and how the phone gets answered. We will map the campaign types to the jobs you want more of.
Map My Campaigns

What Does A Local Services Ads Agency Do?

A Local Services Ads agency runs Google's pay per lead ads for local businesses in the categories Google allows. Those include home services, legal, real estate, health, and automotive. Local Services Ads have no keywords. Google matches searches to the business's Google Business Profile and shows the ad above the text ads and the map pack. The work covers verification for the Google Verified badge, Profile and job type setup, and review generation. It also covers response tracking, service area and budget settings, Target CPA, and lead credits. Since 2026 the campaigns run inside Google Ads as Performance Max campaigns with pay per lead goals.

The service runs from Komplex's Austin, Texas base, with people in New York City and Reykjavik. Most clients pair Local Services Ads with a Search account we already manage, and one senior lead handles both.

WHO RUNS LOCAL SERVICES ADS WITH US

Local Services Ads For Home Services, Legal, Real Estate, And Health

Google gates Local Services Ads by category and by country, so the first question is always eligibility, and we check it before we quote. Where the answer is yes, these are the four groups that get the most from them. Our accounts have covered telecom, kitchens and home improvement, industrial services, and professional services.
See If We Fit
Home Services

Plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, cleaning, and the other trades Google verifies. The unit takes the emergency and repair searches, and Search covers installs, suburbs, and competitor names.

Legal

Local Services Ads for lawyers depend on the checks now folded into Google Verified. Practice area job types, intake speed, and review volume decide the ranking far more than budget does.

Real Estate And Financial

Agents, brokers, and financial advisors are eligible in most US markets. Leads arrive as messages as often as calls, so response time on both channels is the lever that matters.

Health And Wellness

Dentists, chiropractors, physical therapy, and wellness practices where Google allows them. Licensing checks are stricter, and the badge is worth more because patients read it.

THE FACTS

What Google Changed, And Why It Favors The Prepared

Local Services Ads have moved more in the last year than in the five before it. The badge changed, the guarantee ended, and the campaigns moved into Google Ads with automated bidding. Every one of those changes rewards the business with a clean Profile, current documents, and someone answering the phone. Every one of them punishes the business that set the ads up years ago and left them.
Get A Quote
Three badges became one: Google Guaranteed, Google Screened, and License Verified merged into Google Verified in October 2025.
From August 2026, US Local Services Ads accounts began moving into Google Ads as pay per lead Performance Max campaigns. The rest follow in 2027.
The unit shows above the text ads and the map pack on eligible searches, the highest position on the results page.
Local Services Ads run in the US, Canada, the UK, and several EU countries, in category gated verticals from plumbing to law.
HOW WE WORK

Verify, Connect, Launch, Answer

Four stages, and the first two take longer than buyers expect, because Google checks documents before it shows anything. The last stage never ends.
  • Verify

    Eligibility checked, licensing, insurance, and background documents submitted, the Business Profile matched, and Google Verified earned before a dollar is spent.

  • Connect

    Categories, job types, service area, hours, and budget set from your numbers, with call tracking and lead logging in place.

  • Launch

    The campaign goes live inside Google Ads with a Target CPA set from close rate and ticket size. Search campaigns get built for the searches Local Services Ads cannot reach.

  • Answer

    Response time, reviews, lead credits, and budget get reviewed for as long as the account runs. Local Services Ads are reported on their own line throughout.

See Which Leads You Are Paying For

Nothing gets touched before the audit, and the audit is free. It scores the Profile, the badge, the reviews, the settings, and the lead history. Then it says plainly whether Local Services Ads will work for your business.
Start With The Free Audit
FREE LOCAL SERVICES ADS AUDIT

Get A Free Local Services Ads Audit

We go through your Business Profile, your Local Services Ads account, and the last few months of leads and credits. Then we write down what is holding the ads back, what to fix first, and whether the channel deserves more budget. The audit is free, the findings stay with you either way, and it is the same audit our free growth plan includes.
Your Local Services Ads auditFree
  • Eligibility and Google Verified status
  • Business Profile match, categories, and job types
  • Reviews, rating, and response time
  • Service area, hours, and budget
  • Target CPA and cost per lead
  • Lead quality, credits, and answering gaps
  1. 1
    Tell us about your business

    The trade, the area you serve, who answers the phone, and what a busy month looks like.

  2. 2
    We read the Profile and the account

    Read only access to Google Ads and the Business Profile, or just the Profile link if the ads are not running yet. Nothing gets changed.

  3. 3
    You get the scorecard and a call

    A written review with the fixes ordered by the leads each one recovers, then a call to talk it through.

Ready To See What Your Leads Really Cost?

Free, no strings, and every finding is yours to keep or ignore.
Get My Free LSA Audit
PRICING

How Local Services Ads Management Pricing Works

Komplex most often works on a base retainer plus a share of ad spend, and we are open to other formats if one fits you better. Local Services Ads are usually a small addition to a Search retainer. The setup is front loaded, and the ongoing work is lead handling and reviews. Run on their own, they get their own retainer. Google bills you for the leads directly; that money never passes through us.
Agencies price this the same three ways they price Search. That means a flat amount, a percentage of spend, or a retainer with a smaller share on top. The initial term is short, and after it the engagement rolls month to month.
Get A Quote

What Clients Have Said About The Work

Client logo 2 - Shark/Ninja
The Komplex team helped us reach new audiences and drive higher conversions.
Client logo 2 - Hush Puppies
Strategies that delivered results beyond our expectations.
Client logo 2 - Saucony
Their expertise helped us scale efficiently, attract more customers, and drive measurable growth.
Client logo 2 - Blayze
Komplex played a key role in growing our user base and optimizing our marketing efforts.

Common Questions About Local Services Ads

What are Local Services Ads, and how are they different from Google Ads?

Local Services Ads are Google’s pay per lead ads for local businesses in the categories Google allows. They have no keywords, and they show above the text ads and the map pack with your rating and badge. You pay when someone calls or messages. Google Ads search campaigns are pay per click and keyword driven. The two reach different searches, and most local businesses should run both.

Are Local Services Ads worth it?

For an eligible business with someone answering the phone, usually yes, because you pay for contact rather than for clicks. They are not worth it for a business that lets calls go to voicemail, since missed calls are still billed and they rank you down. The audit says which side you are on before you spend.

Where do Local Services Ads appear?

At the top of Google Search results for eligible local searches, above the paid text ads and above the map pack, and inside Google Maps. The unit shows your business name, your rating, the Google Verified badge, and a button to call or message.

What happened to Google Guaranteed and Google Screened?

In October 2025 Google merged Google Guaranteed, Google Screened, and License Verified into one badge called Google Verified. In November 2025 the consumer money back guarantee ended. Businesses that passed the old checks kept their badge. New advertisers go through the Google Verified checks, which still include licensing, insurance, and background screening where the category requires them.

Is my business eligible?

Google decides by category and by country. Home services, legal, real estate, health, wellness, beauty, and several automotive categories are eligible in the US, and the list keeps changing. Some trades are still excluded, and licensing rules differ by state. We run the eligibility check before we quote, so you never pay for a setup that cannot launch.

How much do Local Services Ads cost?

You pay per valid lead, and Google sets the price in an auction that varies by trade and by market. There is no click cost, and no minimum beyond what Google needs to deliver leads. Our fee for managing the account is separate and follows the model in the pricing section above.

How do you rank higher in Local Services Ads?

Answer fast, collect reviews, and keep the Profile and the account matching. Keep the badge current, set job types and hours as they really are, and draw the service area where you actually work. Budget and Target CPA come after all of that. Google rewards the business that responds, and no budget makes up for a phone nobody picks up.

Can you dispute bad leads?

Not by hand any more. Since 2024 Google reviews leads automatically and credits the ones it judges invalid, such as spam or the wrong service. We log every lead, flag the patterns that should be credited, and raise them through the channels Google still allows. Leads are not exclusive, so the same searcher can contact three businesses.

What changes now that Local Services Ads run inside Google Ads?

The ads show in the same places and you still pay per lead. What changes is the management. Campaigns become Performance Max campaigns with pay per lead goals, the manual cost per lead cap goes away, and one Target CPA runs each campaign. Google is moving accounts in phases through 2026 and 2027, so the date depends on your category and country.

Do you run Search campaigns alongside Local Services Ads?

Yes, and for most businesses that is the whole plan. Local Services Ads win the top slot for the searches Google allows. Search campaigns pick up the rest: emergency wording, suburb names, competitor searches, and services outside your eligible categories. One senior lead runs both, from one budget.

Who owns the Local Services Ads account and the Business Profile?

You do. The Business Profile is the business’s own, and the ad account is in your name. Our access is manager access you can switch off whenever you choose. Walk away and the badge, the reviews, the lead history, and every report stay with you.

Do you work with businesses outside Austin, Texas?

Yes. Austin is where Komplex sits, with people in New York City and Reykjavik, and most clients are elsewhere. Local Services Ads are local by nature, so each market gets its own service area, categories, and budget, set up city by city.

Let's Look At Your Business Profile Together

Send us the link to your Google Business Profile, or read only access if the ads are already running. Back comes the audit, a plan, and a straight answer on whether Local Services Ads will pay for you.
Get My Free Audit

Get in Touch

Let's discuss how we can work together to achieve your goals.      Provide your name, email and website, and one of our team members will reach out to learn more about your business, understand your unique needs, and explore how our tailored marketing solutions can drive your success.     We're excited to partner with you and help take your business to the next level.
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