Google Local Service Ads - Tips and Best Practices
As one of the original beta testers of this Google Ads product (7-8 years ago during my time at MaidPro), I have always been a huge fan of the LSA (Local Services) ads. And having launched hundreds of franchise owners through the approval process for this ad format, I’ve learned and tested a lot. Also, I’ve seen countless accounts transfer to me for management with a lot of mistakes when it comes to settings. So I thought I’d share my tips on LSA ads as of June 2025.
What does this ad format look like? Chances are you’ve seen it. It is the TOP placement on the Google search results for almost every service based business.
Tip 1: Let’s say your business has existed 8 years, but you only setup your LSA account 3 years ago. Well if that’s the case, by default, your business will show to potential customers that you have been in business 3 years. Not good. Notice above how prominent the number of years in business is displayed. You need to actually call LSA (650) 260-5700 to have this changed; it’s not a element in your account you can change. This is probably the best tip I have, but don’t stop reading. Who do you think a potential customer is going to choose if the number of reviews are essentially the same? They are way more likely to go with the more established business.
Tip 2: Pick up phone calls in real time (as much as possible). Actually this is a good tip regardless of the marketing source, but especially with LSA ads. Google knows which business owners have the most favorable response time and that is big ranking factor in terms of which businesses are actually shown in the search results. I’ve had franchise owners/clients tell me LSA ads don’t work. Then I’d listen to each call, only to find out almost all went straight to voicemail. LSA ads will not work if you don’t answer the phone when it rings.
Tip 3: Do not let your general liability insurance policy (the copy in the account) expire. If you typically average say 30 LSA calls a month and then start to experience a drop off in calls, 9 times out of 10 it’s because your insurance expired and you need to upload the latest version of your policy. However, let’s say your insurance shows in the account as needs reverifying and your leads are at a consistent level (nothing has changed), I would NOT update the insurance. Wait until you see a slowdown in leads. Google’s algorithms are overly complex at times so why fix something that isn’t broken?
Final Tip: Setting the areas/locations you want to target. In a traditional Google Ads search campaign I have found the best results with entering exact zip codes. That’s not the case with LSA area settings (in my experience). I am a firm believer that if you service an entire county, enter the county name to target. Google seems to like county targeting the best. A lot of franchise owners do not own the rights to all the territory in a county…so what would I recommend you do then? Add the individual town names….not the zip codes. Again it’s totally opposite to how I target when it comes to Google Search Ads, but trust me…county and town names over zip codes. And if Google shows you that you duplication of targeted territory, delete the duplication. I cannot stress that enough!
I hope you found this helpful and if you ever have any questions with all things Google, don’t hesitate to reach out. hugh@growthsupportagency.com or click on the “Contact Us” button.
