By Luis Johnson, founder of Lunere Digital. Published
A Google Local Services Ads alternative is worth looking at for one reason: LSA charges you for contact, not for an appointment. Google's own help pages put it plainly. You pay for valid leads, and a valid lead includes a missed call where the caller stayed on the line more than 20 seconds, a voicemail, a text or an email. None of those is a homeowner on your calendar.
LSA is still the best of the pay-per-contact channels, and I'll say that in front of anyone. The credit system is automatic, the intent is high because the homeowner searched, and you control a weekly budget. What it doesn't do is fill a diary at a steady rate, and that's the job I'm built for.
The short version
- Google says you're charged for each valid lead, and lead prices vary by location, job type, lead type and bidding mode.
- A missed call counts as a valid lead if the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds during your business hours.
- Charged leads are reassessed over a 30-day window and credits are applied automatically if a lead is judged poor quality, duplicate or invalid.
- Google states it no longer supports credits for leads marked job type not serviced or geo not serviced.
- A follow-up from the same customer inside 15 days isn't charged again. After 15 days of silence, a new contact is a new lead.
Google's own rules, as published
These come from the Local Services Help article on how leads work, which is the page Google keeps current. I'm quoting the rules rather than a price, because the price moves by market and nobody can publish yours honestly.
Google Local Services Ads, in their own words
Read off their own page. Terms change, so confirm anything you are about to rely on.
- What you pay for
- Google says you pay for valid leads and that each lead received counts towards your budget. Prices vary by location, job type, lead type and bidding mode.
- What counts as a lead
- An answered call, a missed call during business hours where the caller stays on more than 20 seconds, a text, an email, a voicemail, or a booking request.
- Sharing
- Nothing in the help pages promises exclusivity. Several advertisers appear in the same unit, and message lead pricing openly factors in whether the customer has contacted other Local Services advertisers.
- Credits
- Leads judged invalid or low quality aren't charged from the outset. Charged leads are reassessed over 30 days and credited automatically if found poor quality, duplicate or invalid.
- Credit limits
- Google says it no longer supports credits for job type not serviced or geo not serviced, and that automatic credits are unavailable in the European Economic Area.
- Repeat contact
- Follow-up calls or messages from the same number or address inside 15 days aren't charged again. After 15 days of no activity, the next contact is a new lead.
- Budget and cancellation
- You set an average weekly budget and a monthly max. Once the monthly max is reached the ad stops showing. Billing runs through Google Ads and you pause from the Local Services inbox.
Why a 20-second missed call is the whole problem
Read that rule again and picture a Tuesday. Your office line rings while your one person is on another call. It rings 25 seconds, the homeowner gives up, and you've been charged. You now own a callback, not a customer, and the homeowner is already dialling whoever is second in the list.
Google isn't hiding this. It's written on the help page and it's a fair rule for a pay-per-contact product. But it tells you exactly where the leak in your month is, and it's not the cost per lead. It's the gap between a contact and a kept appointment, which is the part no pay-per-contact vendor is paid to close.
| Local Services Ads | Per booked inspection | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing event | A valid contact, including a 20-second missed call | A dated slot the homeowner chose |
| Who answers first | You, or nobody | A text at 60 seconds and a call at five minutes, if he hasn't booked himself |
| Qualifying | On the call, after the charge | On the form, before a calendar appears |
| Bad contact | Automatic credit inside a 30-day review, with stated exclusions | Reported inside 72 hours and taken off, no questions asked |
| Exclusivity | Not promised | One shop, never resold |
| Spend control | Average weekly budget and a monthly max | You fund ads on your own card and pay per booking on top |
| Where it runs | Google search results | Ads to homeowners, pointed at your own landing page |
When Local Services Ads is the better buy
When Google Local Services Ads is the better buy
- Somebody in your market is typing foundation repair near me today. LSA puts you above the map pack for that search and nothing I do intercepts a person already looking for you by name of trade.
- You have a real office. If calls get answered inside three rings between 8 and 6, the 20-second rule almost never bites you and the channel is clean.
- You want the Google screened badge. For a homeowner nervous about structural work, a background-checked badge next to your name does quiet work your ads can't.
- Your credit rate is good. Some shops get a steady trickle of automatic credits and their real cost per answered call is far below the headline price.
- You want spend that stops dead. The monthly max is a hard ceiling, which makes LSA easy to run alongside anything else without a surprise.
- Emergency work. Water in a basement after a storm is a search, not a scroll, and search wins that moment every time.
Can I still dispute a bad LSA lead?
Google moved to automatic crediting. Its help pages say low quality, duplicate and invalid leads are credited automatically inside a 30-day reassessment window, and you can leave feedback on a lead, but credits for job type not serviced and geo not serviced are no longer supported.
Does LSA give me an exclusive lead?
No, and it doesn't claim to. Its own documentation says message lead pricing takes into account whether the customer has contacted other Local Services advertisers.
Should I turn LSA off if I switch to per-inspection pricing?
I'd not. They catch different people. LSA catches the homeowner already searching, and ads to homeowners catch the one who has been staring at a stair-step crack for six months and blaming the weather.
How is the booking different from a booking lead in LSA?
An LSA booking request is a contact that may or may not land. On my side the slot only exists after the homeowner has answered four qualifying questions and chosen a time your estimator can keep.
Pull your last 30 days of LSA charge statuses before the call and we will read them together.
Book My Strategy CallSources
- LSA charges for valid leads, counts a 20-second missed call as one, reassesses leads over 30 days with automatic credits, and no longer credits job type not serviced or geo not serviced. Google Local Services Help, How leads work.
- Charged leads may be credited automatically when later judged low quality, and credits are unavailable for some verticals and regions. Google Local Services Help, About Automated lead credits.
Read next
- Lunere vs Google Local Services AdsLunere vs Google Local Services Ads for foundation shops: catching the homeowner who already searched against reaching the one who hasn't searched yet.
- Shared vs Exclusive Leads for Foundation RepairShared vs exclusive leads for foundation repair, by how many shops call the same homeowner, what each really costs you per signed job, and which one to buy.
- Foundation Repair Lead Generation Companies, RankedEleven places a US foundation repair contractor can buy work from today, ranked by what one signed job costs. Last, with sources.
- How These Comparisons Are ResearchedWhere the numbers on the comparison pages come from, how vendors are picked and ranked, how often it's rechecked, and the conflict of interest in all of it.