Google is moving Local Services Ads (LSA) into Google Ads, where they become Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals. Google's supported verticals page says the move widens to broader advertiser groups in late 2026. Each account's admin hears about the move date by email ahead of time. This guide skips the move itself and covers what running the campaign looks like week to week once your account has moved. For the steps before and right after your date, see our Local Services Ads migration checklist. For how pay-per-lead ads differ from regular Search ads, see Google Ads vs Local Services Ads. We checked each Google help page cited here on October 16, 2026; Google doesn't post a revision date on any of them.
Where your leads land and how to work them
Your leads live on one page. Google's transition page tells you to "navigate to the ‘Goals’ dropdown, click Conversions, and select Leads." Google says this page keeps the features LSA users already know, including a "charged" status and the lead type for each contact.
For text and email leads, you don't need to leave Google Ads to answer. Google says, "You can read and reply to text messages or emails directly from within Google Ads." The same page offers "a lead feedback form and the ability to download your leads to import into your own CRM."
Speed matters more than it might seem. Google's best-practices page says that because phone calls are a required goal for this campaign type, "your responsiveness is a primary driver of your ad performance and local rankings." Google adds that "answering calls promptly during your targeted hours, reducing missed calls, and returning any missed connections immediately helps keep your profile competitive in local auctions." In a busy cooling or heating season, that makes whoever answers the phone part of how the ad performs.
The three columns that tell you what you spent
Google points advertisers to three columns. Conversions shows "the total number of leads for which you're charged." Cost is your total ad spend. Cost / conv. is your average cost per lead.
Read them together. A higher Cost with steady Conversions means each lead got more expensive. More Conversions at a steady Cost / conv. means you bought more leads at the same average price. Keep in mind that a conversion here is a charged lead, not a booked job. The last section covers how to connect the two.
How bidding works: one target per campaign
Per-category bidding goes away in Google Ads. Google's transition page says, "Google Ads doesn't support vertical-level Target CPA bidding." In its place, each campaign gets a single target that covers all of its categories. Google spells CPA out as "cost-per-action" and calls Target CPA "an automated bid strategy."
If one target for everything doesn't fit your business, Google's answer is to split it. The page says you can keep separate rules "by setting up separate campaigns for each vertical." An HVAC company that also lists plumbing, for example, could run plumbing as its own campaign with its own target.
Google's best-practices page adds a caution for campaigns that get few leads. That page doesn't say how its advice applies to a moved campaign that already has a calculated target. It says, "The Maximize Conversions strategy is selected by default to get as many leads as possible within your budget." It also says to "Only set a Target CPA after campaign creation if your campaign is consistently receiving more than 15 leads per month" and your cost per lead "is higher than you would like."
How the daily budget and the monthly cap behave
Google sets your budget as a daily average. For moved accounts, Google says your historical weekly average budget "is automatically divided by 7 to determine your daily average budget."
That average is not a hard ceiling for each day. Google says, "Daily spend may fluctuate on high-demand days, but your monthly billing will not exceed this limit." The limit is your daily average multiplied by 30.4, "the average number of days in a month." A heat wave can push spend above the average on a single day, but Google says your monthly billing won't go over the cap.
Budget changes go in Settings under the Campaigns menu. That screen also holds your bidding, locations and service types.
Lead types: calls, messages and bookings
Google's pay-per-lead page lists three ways a customer can reach you through the ad.
| Lead type | Status on Google's page |
|---|---|
| Direct phone calls | Required |
| Text messages or emails | Optional |
| Bookings | Optional, available starting in October 2026 |
From Google Ads Help, "About pay-per-lead goals for Performance Max campaigns."
Calls are not optional, so someone needs to answer the phone during the hours your ad runs. For call leads, Google says you are "only charged for valid, qualified phone leads that meet minimum call duration requirements." If you turn on message leads, Google's best-practices page says to "Respond to messages in a timely manner if opted into receiving message leads." Before you switch on bookings, make sure your team can keep the appointments that customers book through the ad.
Callouts, photos and asset optimization
Google says to "Select up to 6 callouts per category (such as ‘free estimates’) to highlight business specialties." Google's examples include business hours, specialties and accepted payment methods. You manage callouts and photos under Assets in the Campaigns menu.
Google's pay-per-lead page lists your founding year as another asset. It says the year is "Sourced from business profile details, and fully editable in Google Ads."
One setting is worth checking. Google says asset optimization "allows Google Ads to automatically scan your linked business website to generate relevant and high-performing ad assets." If you would rather choose every asset yourself, Google says "you can opt out of this feature at any time by turning off Asset optimization in your campaign settings."
Lead emails, pausing and resuming
Lead email alerts sit on the "Notifications" page under "Admin." Each user can turn their own alerts off. Google adds that your account "requires at least one active user to remain opted in to receive lead emails at all times."
Pausing is quick. Google says, "You can temporarily stop receiving leads at any time." Open Settings in the Campaigns menu, select the campaign and "toggle the campaign status to Paused." When you're ready again, Google says, "To resume receiving leads, toggle the status back to Enabled." A full schedule, a crew shortage or a holiday week are all reasons you might pause.
Running pay-per-lead next to Search and Performance Max
A pay-per-lead campaign doesn't have to be your only Google ad. Unlike Search campaigns, it has no keywords. Google says, "keyword targeting is not offered for campaigns with pay-per-lead goals." You choose locations, service types, an ad schedule and between 1 and 10 business categories.
Google's pay-per-lead page suggests running these campaigns "alongside Search, Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns." Our comparison of Google Ads and Local Services Ads walks through how the two differ.
Starting a new pay-per-lead campaign
The Google Ads interface can manage a moved campaign, but Google's transition page says new pay-per-lead campaigns can't be built directly in Google Ads at this time. It adds, "If you need to set up additional campaigns or local accounts, continue to visit g.co/localservices."
That matters for the split-campaign approach above. A second campaign for a separate category still begins at g.co/localservices.
Judging results by booked jobs
The Conversions column counts leads you paid for. It doesn't tell you which ones turned into installs or repair calls. To see that, download your leads from the Leads page into the system where you track jobs. Then compare charged leads with the work that came from them.
The same page includes a lead feedback form. The Google pages we read don't say what that form does, or how lead disputes and credits work after the move, so check with Google before you count on getting a credit.