March 25, 2021
Google Local Service Ads allow businesses to reach their local markets and communicate their unique value to potential customers. With the economic strain of COVID-19 still persisting in many parts of the world, creating effective advertising campaigns that reach nearby audiences can help businesses survive and thrive in a challenging environment.
In this Complete Guide, we’ll be covering everything you need to know about Google Local Service Ads, such as:
Next, we will be publishing a part-two of this guide that will show you how to get started with Local Service Ads the right way to drive maximum impact for your campaigns!
Local Service Ads is Google’s lead generation platform targeted at helping home service contractors reach customers in their local market. These ads appear at the top of a Google search when a user enters a relevant search term for a particular industry.
For example, if you search “plumber New York,” the Local Service Ad unit will display on the search engine results page (SERP). From there, searchers can contact the business directly and the business will be charged for that call.
However, before businesses can begin generating leads through Local Service Ads, they must establish themselves as Google Guaranteed entities.
Google Guaranteed is a badge awarded by Google verifying that a business has completed the evident background check process and has had their insurance and license verified. We will dive deeper into this later.
If a business is guaranteed by Google, the customers of the business can receive a refund of up to $2,000 for any work they are not satisfied with. This Google assures ad quality and maintains its sterling lead generation reputation.
Google Local Service Ads have a simple display that quickly shows the following features:
Google first launched its Local Service Ad program in 2015 in San Francisco for select businesses serving home service verticals. The program was designed to directly compete against Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor.
The program’s launch allowed users to contact verified local contractors directly from Google Search. This resulted in an enhanced user experience and quicker results for searchers. Once the program proved successful, it was launched in other metropolitan areas such as New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, and many more.
Google only charges businesses for valid leads received through the Local Service Ads program. If a business believes a lead was fraudulent, they can request a refund and it will be issued if Google also deems the lead as fraudulent.
The cost of a lead through the program will vary between location and service area. In our experience across several locations and service areas, the general cost of a lead ranges from $10 to $30.
According to our friends at Google themselves, Local Service Ads offer the following benefits:
The following countries are eligible for the program:
Google is constantly identifying opportunities to expand this program. We can anticipate that, as it gains more popularity, it will open opportunities for businesses in more countries to run Local Service Ads.
Local Service Ads are only available for select categories at this time. These categories mostly involve home services targeted at consumers. Categories in the United States include:
Are you unsure if your business is eligible to run Local Service Ads? Finding out is easy. Just use the Google Eligibility Checker.
Next week, we will be returning with an ultimate guide for actually setting up and running a Local Service Ads campaign. Stay tuned as we dive deeper into the mechanics of building a successful, conversion-driving strategy!
