Google is moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads: what changes for your cost per lead

What Google Local Services Ads are

Local Services Ads, sometimes shown with the Google Guaranteed badge, are Google's pay-per-lead ads for local service businesses. They sit at the very top of Search and on Maps, above the regular text ads, and you pay when someone contacts you, a call, a message or a booking, rather than when they click.

They run keywordless. Google matches you to searches based on your service categories, service area and Business Profile, not a keyword list you build. That is why plumbers, electricians, cleaners, clinics and similar local businesses use them: the lead arrives pre-qualified and you only pay when it does.

What is actually changing

Local Services Ads keep working the way your customers see them. They still appear at the top of Google Search and on Maps, still show your reviews, and still charge you per lead rather than per click. The change is on your side of the screen.

Instead of a standalone product with its own login, Local Services Ads become a Performance Max campaign with a pay-per-lead goal, running inside your Google Ads account next to everything else. Same ad, same placements, same billing model, new home.

What changes in how you spend and bid

Three settings you rely on today work differently once you are inside Google Ads.

• A daily budget replaces the weekly budget. Today you set an average weekly amount. After the move you set an average daily budget, the same way every other Google Ads campaign works.
• One target cost per lead, not one per service. Today you can set a different target for each service category. After the move, Google works from a single campaign-level target across all your categories. The per-service targets go away.
• Manual bidding is gone. If you set your own bids today, that option disappears. Bidding runs on Google's automated target, so your target cost per lead becomes the main lever you control.

If two services need very different lead costs, one blended target can quietly overspend on the cheap service and starve the expensive one. Decide whether they belong in separate campaigns before the switch, not after.

What moves with you, and what you can lose

Most of your setup travels automatically. Your existing budget, settings and creative assets carry over to the new campaign. A few things do not.

• Your reporting history does not transfer. Historical performance reports stay behind when the account migrates. Download everything you may want, month by month, before your migration date. Once it is gone, it is gone.
• Lead and call management moves into Google Ads. The separate Local Services inbox is replaced by lead management inside Google Ads, so the place you answer and track leads changes.
• Your Business Profile drives your details live. Business information and photos sync in real time from your Google Business Profile. You update them there now, not in a separate ad setting, so a stale or thin profile shows up directly in your ads.
• BBB callouts are dropped. Better Business Bureau callouts are no longer supported. Google recommends replacing them with at least six other callouts, so refresh that list before the change removes them for you.

The timeline, and why it matters more outside the US

This is a phased rollout, and where you operate decides when it reaches you.

• Early August 2026: a small group of US advertisers moves first, in pet care, home services, wellness and education.
• Through 2027: the remaining US categories follow, then accounts outside the US.

Google gives each account a 14-day notice before migration, then a 7-day reminder. That is your entire window to download reports and prepare, so treat the notice as the trigger to act, not the moment to start thinking.

If you advertise in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland or another eligible market outside the US, your migration is a 2027 event. That sounds far away, and that is the advantage. You get to watch the US changeover, see what breaks, and walk into your own migration already knowing the answer. Advertisers who wait for the 14-day notice will be reacting to it. You do not have to be.

What to do now, before the notice arrives

Four moves, none of which require you to wait for Google.

• Export your reporting history now, and keep exporting monthly. When the notice lands you may have only two weeks, and your busy months are the ones you will miss most.
• Map your cost per lead by service. If two services have very different economics, decide whether they should become separate campaigns before a single blended target is applied to them.
• Refresh your callouts. Line up at least six strong callouts that do not depend on BBB, so nothing looks empty when it is removed.
• Clean up your Google Business Profile. It becomes the live source for your business details and photos, so treat it as ad creative, not an afterthought.

The billing model that made Local Services Ads attractive, paying only for real leads, stays. The controls around it are what change. Prepare the four items above and the move becomes an afternoon of admin instead of a month of lost data and guesswork.