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Local Services AdsLocal Services Ads sit above every other result on Google, with a Google Verified badge next to your name and your review score on show. You don’t pay for clicks. You pay when someone rings or messages you through the ad. I check you qualify, get you through Google’s checks and keep the account working week to week.
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Local Services Ads
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Google Analytics 4A short video from me on what you get and how it works.
Prefer to read? Everything in the video is covered below.
Search for a plumber or a cleaner in Liverpool and you’ll often see a row of businesses right at the top with a badge and a review score beside each one. Those are Local Services Ads. They sit above the normal Google Ads and above the map, so they’re the first thing people see.
The big difference is how you pay. Normal Google Ads charge you every time someone clicks, whether they get in touch or not. With Local Services Ads you’re charged when a customer contacts you through the ad by ringing or messaging. If a lead is clearly junk you can dispute it.
They’re not open to everyone. Google only allows certain types of business, mostly home services like plumbers, electricians, locksmiths and cleaners, plus some professional services. The list changes and varies by country, so the first thing I do is check whether your trade qualifies.
Local trades with a good run of Google reviews and someone who answers the phone quickly. Where you show in these ads leans heavily on reviews and how fast you reply, so a business that already does both tends to do well from the start.
Everything from checking you qualify to keeping the leads coming once you’re live.
I check your trade can run these ads in your area before you spend any time on paperwork.
I guide you through Google’s checks. In the UK that means your business registration, insurance and any licences your trade needs.
Services, service area, hours and photos set to match the work you actually want.
A weekly budget set to the number of jobs you can take, so you’re not paying for leads you can’t get to.
I go through your leads and dispute the ones that shouldn’t have been charged.
Leads counted next to your SEO and ads in your live reporting portal.
With normal ads you can outbid the competition. Local Services Ads don’t work like that. Google looks mostly at how close you are to the person searching, your review score and how many reviews you have, how quickly you reply and whether you’re open when they search.
So a lot of my work here happens away from the ad itself. I help you build a steady flow of reviews through your Google Business Profile and make sure missed calls and messages get picked up quickly. If your hours say you’re open, Google expects you to answer.
If your trade qualifies, I’d usually run both. Local Services Ads catch people who want someone now and trust the badge. Normal PPC campaigns give you control over which searches you appear for, what the ad says and which page people land on.
Neither one replaces SEO. Ads stop the moment you stop paying. Ranking on the map and in the normal results keeps bringing in calls for free once it’s built. I’ve written about how paid and organic traffic work together if you want the longer version. For the full picture on costs, the badge and rankings, read my guide to Google Local Services Ads explained.
From checking you qualify to leads landing on your phone.
Your trade, your area and whether your reviews are strong enough to compete with who’s already there.
Business registration, insurance and licences sent to Google, and your profile built while the checks run.
Budget, hours and disputes handled every week, with your leads in the live reporting portal.
These trades can usually run Local Services Ads in the UK. Google’s list does change, so I’ll confirm yours before we start.
Fill this in and I’ll check whether your trade can run Local Services Ads in your area, and how your reviews stack up against the businesses already showing there.
Find out if the top spot is open to you.
Rather message? WhatsApp me on 07463 631121 or call 0151 402 0925.
Tap a question to open it.
You set a weekly budget with Google and pay for each lead, not each click. What a lead costs depends on your trade and where you work.
Google sets the price of a lead and it varies a lot. An emergency locksmith in the city centre won’t pay the same as a cleaner in Maghull. The weekly budget means you never spend more than you planned, and you can pause whenever you’re fully booked.
My fee for setting it up and running it depends on how much work your account needs. WhatsApp me with your trade and area and I’ll give you a straight figure. If you’re already on an SEO campaign with me, say so and we’ll talk about adding it.
It’s the badge Google shows on businesses that have passed its checks for Local Services Ads.
Google used to run separate Google Guaranteed and Google Screened badges and has moved to a single Google Verified badge. In the UK the checks cover your business registration and insurance, plus licences where your trade needs them. The badge tells people Google has looked at you before putting you at the top of the page. That’s a big part of why people will ring a business they’ve never heard of.
Mostly home and local services do. I’ll check your trade before you fill in any paperwork.
Google’s UK list covers trades like plumbers, electricians, locksmiths, roofers, cleaners and heating engineers, along with some professional services such as estate agents and solicitors. It changes every so often and isn’t the same in every country. If yours isn’t on it, a normal Google Ads campaign does a similar job, and I’ll tell you that straight rather than waste your time.
Usually a few weeks, and most of that is waiting on Google’s checks.
The profile and budget take me a day or two. The rest is Google checking your documents, which depends on your trade and how quickly the paperwork goes in. Having your insurance certificate and company details ready speeds things up a lot. If you need calls before then, I can get normal search ads running in the meantime.
You can dispute leads that shouldn’t count, and Google can credit them back.
Wrong numbers, sales calls and jobs well outside your area are the usual culprits. I go through your leads each week and dispute the ones that qualify. Google decides each one, so not every dispute goes through. Checking regularly still stops you paying for rubbish without ever noticing.
Reviews are one of the main things Google uses to decide who shows first, and your score is right there on the ad.
Two businesses the same distance away with the same hours will usually be separated by their reviews. More reviews and a higher score push you up the list. They also do the selling for you, because people compare scores before they tap. That’s why I help clients ask every happy customer for a review through their Business Profile. It helps your map rankings at the same time.
You do. It’s set up in your name and I’m added as a manager you can remove.
That’s the same for everything I set up. If you ever stop working with me, the account, the badge and your lead history all stay with your business. I’d rather you stayed because the leads keep coming, which is why I work 30 day rolling.
Yes. Your leads sit in your live reporting portal next to your SEO and normal ads.
Each call and message comes through Google with the date, the type of job and the area. I pull those into your live reporting portal so you can compare them with your paid clicks and the free enquiries you get from Google. If you mark which leads turned into jobs, we can work out what each job actually cost you. That’s the number that tells you whether to spend more or less.
