Digital Advertising / Local Services Ads (LSA)
The top of Google, paid per lead.
Local Services Ads sit above everything — above the regular ads, above the map. You pay per lead, not per click, and Google ranks you on reviews and responsiveness, not just budget. We run the whole unit: the profile, the reviews, the disputes, and the spend.
What's included in Local Services Ads (LSA)
Profile setup and Google screening
LSAs start with a gate: Google verifies your license, insurance, and background checks before you can run, then awards the Google Screened or Google Guaranteed badge. We carry you through the whole process — the paperwork, the verification steps, the categories — so the profile goes live correctly the first time.
What ships
- Full LSA profile build: services, service areas, hours, photos
- License, insurance, and background-check verification managed end to end
- Google Screened / Google Guaranteed badge secured for your category
Review momentum, because rankings demand it
LSA ranking runs heavily on your review count, review recency, and rating — not just your budget. A competitor with steadier reviews outranks a bigger spender. We build the asking into your workflow so every finished job becomes a request, at the moment customers are happiest.
What ships
- Review requests automated at job completion, by text and email
- Reviews routed to the profile where they move your LSA ranking
- Monthly review-velocity tracking against the competitors above and below you
Lead handling and dispute management
You pay per lead — so a wrong number, a spam call, or someone outside your service area is money out the door unless someone disputes it. We review the lead log, file disputes on invalid leads, and chase the credits. Unmanaged LSA accounts quietly pay for junk; managed ones don't.
What ships
- Every lead reviewed and categorized — real, junk, or disputable
- Disputes filed on invalid leads and credits tracked to your account
- Lead log reporting: what you paid for, what was real, what came back
Responsiveness, protected
Google measures how fast and how often you answer LSA calls, and ranks you accordingly — a missed call hurts twice, once as a lost job and again as a demotion. We monitor your answer performance and flag the gaps; if calls keep slipping, our AI front desk can answer in seconds, around the clock.
What ships
- Answer-rate and response monitoring with plain-English alerts
- Booking flow tightened so answered calls become scheduled jobs
- Optional AI front desk to catch the calls your crew can't
Budget and bid management
We set the weekly budget around your capacity — how many jobs you can actually take — and tune bids by job type, so the budget chases your most profitable work instead of whatever calls first. Budget follows results here the same as in every campaign we run.
What ships
- Weekly budget set to your real capacity and adjusted seasonally
- Bidding tuned toward your highest-value job types
- Monthly report led by booked jobs and cost per lead — and what changes next
How it works
The call
Fifteen minutes. What trades and job types you want more of, your service area, and your capacity. We confirm your category qualifies for LSAs and scope the budget.
Verification and build
We run the screening process — license, insurance, background checks — and build the profile while it clears. Verification timelines are Google's, not ours; most profiles are live within weeks, and we tell you where yours stands the whole way.
Live and managed
Leads start, and so does the management: disputes filed weekly, reviews building, bids tuned to your best job types. The monthly report shows leads, booked jobs, credits recovered, and cost per real lead.
Why Spec Social for Local Services Ads
LSAs look simple — set a budget, get calls — which is exactly why most accounts underperform. The ranking is earned through reviews and answer rates, and the economics are protected through disputes nobody files. We manage all three levers, not just the budget slider, because the budget slider is the only one that doesn't need a professional.
LSAs also work best as part of a system, not as a standalone line item. The same review engine lifts your map-pack ranking, the same answer discipline feeds every channel, and regular Google Ads catch the searches LSAs don't cover. Because we run the whole surface under one retainer, the pieces reinforce each other instead of being billed separately.
And the account is yours — the profile, the badge, the review history, the lead log. Lead spend goes straight to Google with no markup, and we're month to month.
Pricing
Local Services Ads management is included in retainers from $2,500 a month — scoped to your trades and service area on the discovery call.
- Month to month.
- Lead spend stays yours — paid straight to Google, no markup.
- You own the profile, the badge, the reviews, and the lead history.
Questions, answered.
What are Local Services Ads, and how are they different from Google Ads?
Local Services Ads are the units at the very top of Google for local service searches — above the regular ads and the map. You pay per lead (a call or message) instead of per click, and you need to pass Google's screening to run them. Regular Google Ads auction on keywords and budget; LSAs rank on reviews, answer rate, and proximity too. Most local businesses do best running both.
What counts as a lead, and do I pay for junk calls?
Google charges for calls and messages it considers genuine leads — but spam, solicitors, wrong numbers, and out-of-area requests slip through constantly. Those are disputable, and disputing them is a core part of our management: we review the lead log, file the disputes, and track the credits back to your account.
Does my business qualify for LSAs?
Google supports a defined list of categories — most home services and trades (plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, garage doors, cleaning), plus a growing set of professional services. You'll also need valid licensing and insurance for your trade. We confirm your category and requirements on the discovery call before anything is scoped.
Can you guarantee the top spot?
No — and anyone who does is ignoring how LSAs work. Google ranks LSAs on reviews, responsiveness, proximity to the searcher, and budget, and the searcher's location alone reshuffles the results. What we control is every input you can actually move: review velocity, answer rate, profile quality, and bidding. The monthly report shows where you ranked and what it produced.
How fast do leads start?
Once Google's verification clears — typically a few weeks, driven by their background-check and licensing review — leads can start almost immediately, because you're paying per lead rather than waiting on rankings. Building the review base that earns a durable top position takes months; we're upfront about which phase you're in.
How much does LSA management cost?
It's included in Spec Social retainers, which start at $2,500 a month — lead spend is separate and goes straight to Google. The exact retainer depends on your trades, service area, and whether we're running LSAs alongside your other campaigns; you'll have the number by the end of the discovery call.