2025 Guide to Google Local Service Ads

So, what exactly are Local Service Ads?

You’ve probably seen them. Someone in Kelowna has a burst pipe and frantically searches for a plumber. Right at the tippy-top of the search results, before anything else, they see a few local, trusted pros with a little green "Google Guaranteed" checkmark. That’s an LSA.

In simple terms, Local Service Ads (LSAs) are Google's premium ad spots, placed right at the very top of the search results page. They’re designed to connect homeowners with reliable local service providers… fast.

Making Sense of Local Service Ads

Let's dig a little deeper. You’re probably familiar with traditional Google Ads – those are the text links that show up just below the LSA block. They run on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis, which means you get charged every time someone clicks, whether they're a serious buyer or just kicking tires.

Local Service Ads completely change the game.

They were built specifically for service businesses—think electricians in Vernon, roofers in Kamloops, or cleaners in Penticton. And here’s the biggest difference: you only pay when a potential customer actually calls or messages you directly through the ad. It’s a pay-per-lead model, and for a small business owner watching their budget, that’s a massive advantage.

The Power of the Green Checkmark

That little green "Google Guaranteed" badge isn't just for show; it's a huge trust signal. To earn it, Google puts your business through a screening process, which includes background checks and verifying your licenses and insurance.

For the customer, this checkmark is a mental shortcut. It signals that Google has already done the homework on you, making them feel much more comfortable choosing your business over some random name on the list.

It’s the digital version of a glowing recommendation from a trusted neighbour. This built-in credibility helps you stand out and connects you with homeowners who are ready to make a hiring decision. You’re no longer just another name in a long list—you’re a pre-vetted, top choice.

Built for Local, Built for Action

Everything about LSAs is geared towards one thing: generating immediate, local leads. They put your business name, review rating, and a call button front and centre, removing all the friction for a customer who needs to get in touch. This is a far cry from a traditional ad that just sends traffic to your website and hopes for the best.

Here’s a quick look at the key differences that matter for a small business owner's budget and goals.

Local Service Ads vs Traditional Google Ads

Feature	Local Service Ads	Traditional Google Ads
Payment Model	Pay-per-lead (you pay for calls/messages)	Pay-per-click (you pay for website visits)
Placement	Very top of search results	Below LSAs and organic results
Key Differentiator	Google Guaranteed badge builds trust	Relies on ad copy and landing pages
Targeting	Hyper-local service areas and job types	Broad keywords, demographics, interests
Goal	Generate immediate calls and messages	Drive website traffic, brand awareness
Setup	Requires screening and background checks	Keyword research and campaign building

As you can see, LSAs are laser-focused on getting your phone to ring with qualified leads, while traditional ads serve a broader purpose.

Think about how this works in practice:

Hyper-Local Targeting: Your ads only appear to customers in the specific postal codes you serve. Whether it’s West Kelowna, the Mission, or all the way out to Peachland, you control exactly where you show up.
Direct Connection: The primary goal is to get a customer on the phone. With a single tap, they can call you directly from the search results—no need to even visit your site.
Foundation of Trust: The whole system is built on your business’s reputation. This is why having a well-maintained Google Business Profile and a steady stream of positive reviews are so critical. (If your profile needs a tune-up, our guide for small businesses on Google My Business is a great place to start).

The results really do speak for themselves. For example, a real estate agent in California shared that they saw a 50% increase in leads while simultaneously cutting their lead acquisition costs in half after making the switch to LSAs. You can read more about these findings on Kennedy Marketing Pro. For any service business looking for a predictable flow of high-quality leads, it’s hard to ignore that kind of impact.

Why LSAs Are a Game-Changer for Okanagan Businesses

Okay, so we’ve covered what Local Service Ads are. But why should a roofer in Vernon or a landscaper in Penticton really care? It’s a fair question. You're already juggling a million things, and the last thing you need is another complicated marketing tool on your plate.

Here's the simple answer: LSAs were built for you. They’re designed from the ground up to solve the biggest headaches that Okanagan service businesses face when trying to find new customers online.

You Get the Best Spot in Town

Think of the Google search results page like prime real estate. Getting that top spot is like having your storefront on the busiest corner of Bernard Avenue in Kelowna—everyone sees you first.

Local Service Ads sit above everything else. We're talking above the traditional pay-per-click ads and even above the standard organic search results. When a homeowner in West Kelowna has a burst pipe and frantically searches for a plumber, your business is the very first thing they see. This premium placement means you’re one of the top options.

The Google Guarantee Builds Instant Trust

We’ve all felt that moment of hesitation before hiring someone new. Are they reliable? Will they do a good job? The Google Guaranteed badge helps your customers jump that hurdle in a split second.

Because Google has already run background checks and verified your business, that little green checkmark acts as a powerful stamp of approval. It signals to potential customers that you're a legitimate, trusted professional. This is a massive advantage for overcoming that initial doubt and giving them the confidence to pick up the phone.

You’re not just telling them you’re trustworthy; Google is backing you up. That simple signal can be the deciding factor that makes a customer choose you.

This is especially critical in trades where trust is everything, like home repairs, renovations, or electrical work.

You Only Pay for Real Opportunities

This is the big one. For years, digital advertising could feel like a roll of the dice. You pour money into ads, get a bunch of clicks, but you have no real way of knowing if those clicks are from serious customers or just tire-kickers. Your budget could vanish with no clear return. I've been there… it's frustrating.

Local Service Ads completely flip that model on its head.

The pay-per-lead system means you only open your wallet when a qualified customer actually contacts you through the ad. You aren't wasting money on curious clicks or accidental taps from people who aren't serious. You are paying for a tangible connection—a phone call or a message from someone who actively needs what you offer.

This changes everything for your budget. We’ve seen it time and again with clients who were burned out on traditional online ads. One of our partners, a local electrician in the Okanagan, was tired of paying for clicks that just sent traffic to his website with no guarantee of calls.

After switching to LSAs, his advertising costs became predictable. He could set a weekly budget based on how many new jobs he could handle, knowing every dollar spent was directly tied to a potential new client. It turned his marketing from a hopeful gamble into a smart, measurable investment that brought in a steady stream of work.

How to Get the Google Guaranteed Badge

That little green checkmark next to your business name? It's a powerful thing. It’s a badge of trust you have to earn. Think of it as Google telling a potential customer in Kelowna, “Hey, we’ve checked this company out. They’re legit.”

Getting the badge might sound a bit intimidating, but it's really just a series of straightforward steps. We’ll walk through it together, breaking it down into manageable chunks. It’s all about proving you’re a professional, reliable business—which, of course, you already are.

The Verification Breakdown

The whole point of the Google Guarantee is to build a platform of trusted professionals. This connects you with customers who feel confident and are ready to hire someone they can rely on. To make that happen, Google needs to verify a few key things about your business.

First up is the business-level background check. Google partners with a third-party company to run a check on your business itself. They’re simply looking for any major red flags in your company’s history.

Next comes the owner background check. This is a personal check on you, the business owner. Again, they’re just making sure everything is above board. It’s a standard procedure for building this kind of trust.

For certain industries, particularly those where employees enter a customer’s home, Google may also require employee background checks. This applies to any of your team members who will be providing services directly to customers.

Here's a quick visual of what the setup process looks like from your end.

As you can see, the dashboard is designed to be user-friendly, guiding you through each step from defining your service area to setting your budget.

Gathering Your Paperwork

Beyond the background checks, you’ll need to provide some important documents to prove your business is properly set up. This is where having your ducks in a row beforehand can save you a ton of time.

You will need to submit proof of your general liability insurance. Google will ask for your insurance certificate to confirm you have adequate coverage for the work you do. They typically require a specific minimum amount, which varies by industry, so be sure to check the current requirements for your field.

You’ll also need to provide your business licence and any trade-specific licences. For an electrician in Vernon or a plumber in Penticton, this means showing your provincial trade qualifications. Google verifies these to ensure you’re legally allowed to perform the services you’re advertising.

It feels like a bit of homework, but each step is designed to protect both the customer and you. A fully verified profile weeds out the unqualified competition and puts your professional business at the front of the line.

Here’s a simple checklist to help you get organized before you even start the application:

Business Registration Details: Your official business name, address, and registration number.
Owner Information: Your full legal name and date of birth for the background check.
Insurance Certificate: A current copy of your general liability insurance policy.
Professional Licences: Copies of any required provincial or municipal licences for your trade.

Having all this ready makes the process so much smoother. The verification can take some time—from a few days to a couple of weeks—so patience is key. And if you run into any snags, having an experienced partner can make all the difference. While we aren't lawyers, we are certified by Google to manage Adwords accounts and can help guide you through the technical parts of the setup process. It's just one of the ways we work alongside our clients to get things done right.

Setting Up Your First LSA Campaign

So, you’ve earned the Google Guaranteed badge and you’re ready to roll. Now for the fun part—getting your first campaign up and running.

It might seem intimidating, but the process is surprisingly straightforward. Google designed this to be much simpler than a traditional ad campaign. Think of it less like launching a rocket and more like building a really effective online storefront for your services.

Let’s walk through exactly what you need to do, step by step. No jargon, just the essentials to get your phone ringing.

Building Your Business Profile

First things first, you'll create your business profile. This is the snapshot potential customers will see at the very top of Google, so you want to get it right. This is where you'll plug in your business name, phone number, and hours of operation.

You’ll also select the specific job types you offer. It pays to be precise here. If you're a plumber in Kelowna, for instance, you can choose specific services like "drain cleaning," "faucet repair," or "water heater installation." This tells Google exactly which searches your ad should appear for, making sure you get matched with the right customers.

Defining Your Service Area and Schedule

This is where Local Service Ads truly shine for Okanagan businesses. You get to draw a virtual fence around the areas you serve, right down to the specific postal codes.

Want to stick to just West Kelowna and Peachland? No problem. Only want to take jobs in Vernon and Lake Country? You can do that, too. This stops you from getting calls from someone in Kamloops when you have no plans to drive that far for a job. It puts you in complete control.

You also get to set your ad schedule, which is a simple but powerful feature.

Want calls only during business hours? You can set your ads to run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.
Offer 24/7 emergency services? Feel free to keep your ads running around the clock to catch those late-night calls.

This ensures you’re only getting leads when you're actually available to handle them. No more waking up to missed calls from 10 p.m. on a Saturday… unless that’s exactly what you want.

Setting a Budget You Can Control

One of the biggest anxieties for small business owners is a runaway ad budget. LSAs solve this with a simple weekly budget cap. You tell Google the maximum number of leads you’d like to receive in an average week, and it will suggest a budget based on that goal.

You’re in the driver’s seat. You can start small, see how it goes, and adjust your budget up or down at any time. If you get swamped with work and need to pause everything, you can do that with a single click.

This model gives you a level of cost control and predictability that’s hard to find elsewhere. You’re deciding what your ad spend will be.

Speaking of performance, it's helpful to know what's possible. Recent benchmarks show that in competitive home services sectors, advertisers see an average click-through rate of around 6.37%. This just goes to show how effective they can be at grabbing a customer's attention.

Once your profile, service area, and budget are locked in, you’re ready to launch. Your ad will go live, and you'll start appearing at the top of Google for relevant searches in your area. The whole setup is designed to be a one-and-done process that you can fine-tune later, making it incredibly accessible for busy business owners.

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the setup, don’t worry. We help our partners get their campaigns launched and optimized all the time, making sure every detail is perfect from day one.

Managing Your Campaign for Long-Term Success

Alright, your ad is live. You’ve navigated the verification process, set up your profile, and hit the launch button. That's a huge step, but the work isn't over. This is where the real magic happens—the part that turns local service ads into a consistent stream of high-quality leads.

Think of it like tending a garden. You can’t just plant the seeds and walk away expecting a great harvest. You need to water, weed, and give it consistent attention. The same principle applies here. Small, regular tweaks are what separate the campaigns that sputter out from the ones that become a reliable pillar of your business.

Be Quick on the Draw

If you take only one piece of advice from this guide, let it be this: answer your phone. A lead from an LSA isn't someone casually browsing. They have a problem, and they're looking to hire someone now.

If that call goes to voicemail, they won't wait for a callback. They'll simply move on to the next business on the list. Every missed call is a missed opportunity, plain and simple. Google tracks your response rate, and businesses that are quick to answer are often rewarded with better visibility.

Harness the Power of Reviews

Your customer reviews are the lifeblood of your Local Service Ad. Your star rating is one of the first things a potential customer sees, and it's a massive trust signal. A high rating backed by a healthy number of reviews is your best bet for standing out.

Google knows how important this is, so your review score heavily influences your ad's ranking. Thankfully, they make asking for reviews incredibly simple.

Your LSA dashboard has a built-in feature to send a review request link straight to your customers' phones or inboxes. It takes just a moment and directs them exactly where they need to go to leave their feedback.

Make asking for a review a standard part of your job-completion process. Once the work is done and you have a happy customer, just ask. Most people are more than willing to help out, especially when you make it that easy for them.

Manage Your Leads to Get Better Ones

The LSA dashboard is more than just a place to track your spending; it’s a tool to train Google's algorithm. For every lead that comes in, you have the option to mark it as "booked."

Every time you do this, you’re sending a powerful signal back to Google that says, "This was a perfect match! Find me more customers just like this one."

Over time, this feedback loop helps the system learn what a valuable lead looks like for your specific business, making your ad spend far more efficient. Properly tracking this data also gives you a crystal-clear picture of your true return on investment. If you're interested in taking your data analysis skills even further, our guide on how to use Google Analytics to delight your users is a great next step.

By consistently staying on top of these three key areas—your response time, your reviews, and your lead tracking—you’re building a powerful, sustainable system for growing your business. These are the habits that unlock the true, long-term power of local service ads.

Answering Your Top Questions About LSAs

We’ve covered a lot of ground, and if you’re like most business owners we chat with, your head is probably buzzing with a few questions. That’s a good thing. It means you’re already thinking about how LSAs could work for your business right here in the Okanagan.

So, let's pull up a chair and tackle some of the most common questions we get about local service ads. I'll keep the answers clear and simple, with no fluff.

How Much Do Local Service Ads Cost?

This is almost always the first question, and for good reason. The answer is one of the best parts about LSAs: you don't pay for clicks, and you don’t pay for views. You only pay when a potential customer actually contacts you.

That’s right—you pay a set fee per lead. A "lead" is a real person calling or messaging you directly through your ad. You’re paying for a genuine connection.

The exact cost for each lead changes based on your industry and location. A plumbing lead in downtown Kelowna, for example, will likely have a different price than a house cleaning lead out in Penticton. The key, though, is that the cost is predictable.

You simply set a weekly budget based on how many leads you can comfortably handle. Google will aim to get you leads within that budget and will never spend more than your monthly maximum. This puts you in the driver's seat of your ad spend.

What Happens If I Get a Bad Lead?

It happens. Sometimes you get a spam call, a wrong number, or a request for a service you don’t even offer. The good news is that Google is pretty fair about this, and you don’t have to pay for junk leads.

If a lead isn't legitimate, you can dispute it right from your LSA dashboard.

You just find the lead in your log, mark it for a credit, and select a valid reason. As long as it's a legitimate dispute, Google reviews it and credits the cost right back to your account.

This is a huge safety net. It makes the pay-per-lead system so valuable for small business owners because it ensures you're only paying for real opportunities.

How Does Google Rank Local Service Ads?

Here’s another way LSAs are different. It's not a bidding war where the business with the deepest pockets automatically wins. Instead, your ranking in that top LSA block is based on factors that reward quality and great service.

Here's what really matters:

Your Reputation: The number and quality of your customer reviews are huge. Consistently great reviews tell Google you’re a top provider that people trust.
Your Responsiveness: How quickly do you answer calls and reply to messages? A fast response time is rewarded. Nobody wants to wait.
Your Business Hours: If a customer is searching during your open hours, you're more likely to show up. Simple as that.
Your Proximity: Google will always try to connect a customer with a professional who is nearby and can get the job done quickly.
Your Complaint History: Any serious or repeated complaints filed against your business can definitely hurt your ranking.

At its core, the system is designed to reward the businesses that provide the best, most reliable service to their customers.

Can I Run LSAs and Regular Google Ads Together?

Absolutely, and it’s often a very smart strategy. Think of them as two different tools in your marketing toolbox, each with its own specific job.

Local Service Ads are fantastic for capturing what we call "high-intent" customers. These are the people who have a problem right now and are ready to hire someone. They’re searching for a solution.

Regular Google Ads, on the other hand, are much more flexible. You can use them to build general brand awareness across the Okanagan, target customers who are still in the research phase, or promote a special offer.

Running both at the same time means you can appear in multiple places on the search results page. This boosts your overall visibility and lets you connect with different types of customers at different stages of their journey. They really do work together beautifully to create a powerful local marketing presence.

If getting your phone to ring with more of the right kind of customers sounds like a good plan, we can help you make it happen. At Navigator Multimedia, we work with businesses across the Okanagan to build marketing systems that just… work. Let's chat about how we can turn your online presence into your best source of new business. Learn more at https://navigator.ca.