Local Services Ads Are Moving to Google Ads: What Changes in 2026

If you run Local Services Ads for a plumbing, HVAC or roofing business, the dashboard you have used for years is going away. Google is folding Local Services into Google Ads, and the first accounts started moving in August 2026. The ads themselves will look much the same to customers. What changes is everything behind them: where you set budgets, how bidding works, what reports you keep and who gets lead notifications.

This guide covers what Google has published about the move, what it means in practice for a local service business, and the checklist we are working through with Houston-area accounts before they migrate. It is part of our Google Ads management playbook.

What Is Changing With Local Services Ads?

Local Services Ads are becoming a campaign type inside Google Ads: Performance Max with a pay-per-lead goal. Google describes it as “a more integrated, self-service experience inside the Google Ads platform.” Budgets, targeting, lead replies and reporting move into the Google Ads interface, and the separate Local Services dashboard closes. Logging in on or after your migration day takes you to the campaign overview in Google Ads instead.

Your locations, service types, business categories, budget limits, ad schedule and business photos are transferred automatically. Your lead history, including contact details, message threads and call recordings, moves to a new Leads page. Your past performance reports, such as impressions, clicks, weekly spend and ad-level reports, do not.

When Will My Local Services Ads Account Move?

Google emails the account administrator 14 days before migration, sends a final reminder 7 days before and confirms afterwards, with banners in the dashboard as well. If you have not had a notice yet, you have at least two weeks. Google asks advertisers to allow up to two weeks after migration for everything to complete and for performance to settle.

What Stays the Same?

• You pay per valid lead. Calls and messages, not clicks.
• Placement. Ads show on Google Search and Google Maps only, in the same positions as before.
• No keywords. Targeting is still based on your service categories and service areas.
• Verification. Your verified status and Google Verified badge carry over, and insurance and license reverification are no longer required at migration.

What Changes for Budgets, Bidding and Reporting?

Budgets become daily averages

Local Services used weekly budgets. Google Ads uses average daily budgets, so your weekly budget is divided by 7. Monthly spend is then capped at the daily average multiplied by 30.4, the same rule as every other Google Ads campaign. A $350 weekly budget becomes $50 a day, and the most you can be charged in a month is $1,520. Daily spend can run higher on busy days, but the monthly cap holds.

Manual bidding goes away

Manual options such as a maximum cost per lead are no longer supported, and per-vertical Target CPA is replaced by a single campaign-level Target CPA. If you need different bidding for, say, plumbing and drain cleaning, Google’s advice is to run a separate campaign per vertical.

Callouts and assets

BBB callouts are no longer supported. Google asks you to replace them with at least six other structured callouts, such as business hours or payment methods. You can upload up to 100 additional business photos. Headlines, videos and sitelinks do not apply to these campaigns.

Reporting and notifications

In Google Ads you track “Conversions” (the leads you are charged for), “Cost” and “Cost / conv.” Lead notifications move to a single setting, and every account user and direct manager is opted in by default, whatever their old preferences were. At least one person must stay opted in.

Business Profile edits can pause you

Name, address and hours sync one way from your Google Business Profile. Small changes sync within 24 hours. A significant change to your business name, storefront address or primary category triggers a review that typically takes 24 to 48 hours, and the campaign may pause during it. Avoid those edits around your migration date.

How Is It Different From Regular Performance Max?

The name is shared, but the product is not the same. Treat it as Local Services living inside Google Ads, not as a Performance Max campaign you can tune the usual way.

What Happened to Google Guaranteed?

The badge changed before this move. From 20 October 2025, Google replaced the Google Guaranteed, Google Screened and License Verified by Google badges with a single Google Verified badge, and it discontinued the money-back guarantee that came with Google Guaranteed. Businesses that had already passed verification were moved across automatically. The migration to Google Ads keeps that status.

What Should You Do Before Your Account Migrates?

This is the checklist we are using with local service accounts. None of it takes long, and the first item cannot be undone later.

1. Download or screenshot your Local Services reports. Impressions, clicks, weekly spend and ad-level data will not move.
2. Write down your current cost per lead by service and area. It is your baseline for judging the new bidding.
3. Check who is the Admin. Google’s notices go to the account administrator. Make sure that is someone at your business, not a former agency.
4. Decide whether you need separate bids per service. If so, plan one campaign per vertical, because per-vertical Target CPA is going away.
5. Convert your budget. Weekly divided by 7 is the new daily average. Confirm the monthly cap (daily times 30.4) is what you expect to pay.
6. Prepare at least six structured callouts to replace any BBB callout.
7. Freeze big Business Profile edits to name, address or primary category around the migration date.
8. Check who will get lead notifications. Everyone with access is opted in by default after migration.
9. Plan two weeks of patience. Google says to allow up to two weeks for the migration to finish and performance to stabilize before making big changes.

Should You Still Run Search Ads Alongside?

For most home service businesses, yes, with tracking on both. Local Services gives you a verified badge and pay-per-lead pricing, but no keyword control: Google decides which searches match your categories. Search campaigns let you go after specific jobs, such as emergency calls or a single high-value service, and choose exactly which areas and hours to cover.

The comparison that matters is cost per lead from each, measured the same way. After migration both sit in the same Google Ads account, which makes that comparison easier than it has ever been. Our Sugar Land and Katy pages show how we split budgets between the two for local service businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions