Full Transcript
Lauren: Okay, so you Google plumber near me, and before the regular ads, before the map, before anything else, there's this row of businesses with star ratings and a green checkmark and a phone number right there. What even are those?
Honor: Welcome to the 805 Web Minute with Lauren and Honor. We make website stuff make sense. Let's get into it.
Honor: Those are Local Services Ads. And they work completely differently from the regular Google Ads most people are familiar with. For a lot of local businesses in SLO County, these might be the best thing Google offers. For others, they aren't even an option.
Lauren: Okay so what makes them different?
Honor: Two big things. First, they sit at the very top of the search results. Above the regular ads, above the map, above everything. When someone searches electrician near me, your Local Services Ad is the first thing they see.
Lauren: That's prime real estate.
Honor: It is. And the second difference is even bigger. You pay per lead, not per click. With regular Google Ads, you get charged every time someone clicks your ad, whether they call you or just poke around your site and leave. With Local Services Ads, you only pay when someone actually contacts you. A phone call, a message, a booking request. That's it.
Lauren: Wait, that sounds way better. What's the catch?
Honor: You give up control. With regular Google Ads, you pick your keywords, write your ad copy, build a landing page, all of that. Local Services Ads are simpler. You tell Google what services you offer and where you work, and Google decides when to show you. You don't write the ad. It's just your business name, your reviews, your hours, and the Google Verified badge.
Lauren: Google Verified. Is that the same as Google Guaranteed? Because I've heard that term a lot.
Honor: Good catch. Google Guaranteed was the old green badge with the money-back guarantee. If a customer had a bad experience, Google would refund them up to a certain amount. That program ended in October 2025. It got replaced with Google Verified, a blue badge, no refund. You still have to pass the same screening though. Background check, license verification, proof of insurance. The bar is the same, they just dropped the guarantee.
Lauren: Okay, big question. Who qualifies for these ads?
Honor: Google has about 70 eligible business categories. Home services is the biggest one. Plumbers, electricians, HVAC, roofers, house cleaners, landscapers, pest control, locksmiths, movers. Also lawyers, dentists, vets, personal trainers, mechanics, tutors. If you're one of those kinds of businesses here in SLO County, you're probably eligible.
Lauren: Who doesn't qualify?
Honor: Retail stores, restaurants, web designers like us, marketing agencies, most professional service firms outside those categories. Google has an eligibility checker on their Local Services Ads page where you can look up your specific business type.
Lauren: Okay so let's say I qualify. What's it actually cost?
Honor: You set a weekly budget and Google charges you per lead until you hit your limit. Real numbers from real businesses. Dog training runs around 30 dollars per lead. Locksmiths around 34. Plumbers around 69. HVAC around 80. Roofers around 162. Personal injury lawyers around 249. Most home services businesses land between 30 and 80 per lead.
Lauren: So I'm paying for the call, not the customer.
Honor: Right. You pay for the lead, not the sale. Some of those calls won't turn into paying jobs. That's on you to close. And one more thing, over 90% of these leads come in as phone calls, not form submissions. So if you don't answer the phone, you're literally paying for leads you're missing. Google even tracks your response time and it affects your ranking.
Lauren: What about bad leads? Someone calls about something you don't do?
Honor: You can flag those through the dashboard and Google credits you back. On average, businesses get about 6 to 7 percent of their spend back in credits for bad leads. Not perfect, but it's something.
Lauren: Any other downsides people should know about?
Honor: A few. You can't choose your keywords, Google decides. You can't write your ad, Google shows what it shows. And your reviews matter more than almost anything for where you rank. A new business with 3 reviews is going to have a tough time competing against one with 150. If your review base is thin, build that up first before spending money on these ads.
Lauren: That's the quick tip for today.
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Honor: There is zero setup fee, no contract, and it is strictly month-to-month, so there is zero risk. We're local here in AG, and we can get your site online in days, not months.
Lauren: Want to see what your site could look like? Go to YouGrow.pro right now, and we'll design three custom mockups for your business, completely free, no strings attached.
Lauren: Thanks for listening, and keep growing.