If your Local Services Ads have been running for a while and you’re looking for ways to improve results, check out these best practices to ensure that your ad is set up to reach the right customers and showcase what makes your business unique.
On this page
- Expand your job types and service areas
- Encourage past customers to review your business
- Maximize leads with bidding
- Use high-quality photos in your ad
- Opt in to new features
Expand your job types and service areas
Select all job types you perform and set your service areas broadly. For example, your whole county, rather than specific postal codes.
Encourage past customers to review your business
We recommend 5 or more reviews. Depending on your business type, your business may need 5 reviews to show. Learn how to Understand the screening and verification process.
To collect customer reviews, you can use the vanity link in your account or, if you have an existing Business Profile, you can link your Business Profile reviews to your Local Services account in your Business Verification tab under "Customer Reviews." If you don't find your Business Profile, contact support. Learn more about Local Services Ads reviews.
Maximize leads with bidding
Select “Maximize Leads” instead of the “Max Per Lead” bidding strategy to automatically optimize your budget. Learn How bidding works for Local Services Ads.
Use high-quality photos in your ad
Including high-quality photos in an ad can help you stand out on Google and get more leads. When you add images to your Local Services Ads profile, you give potential customers a peek into your business so they know who you are and what to expect. These could be photos of your team, work, or equipment. Learn more about Local Services Ads photos guidelines.
Opt in to new features
- Opt in to message leads to connect with customers via text. Message leads typically cost less than phone leads. Enabling message and/or booking leads means there are more ways for customers to reach you, which can increase the likelihood of receiving a lead, especially during nights and weekends when you can’t answer the phone, or when consumers want to reach out to you but don't expect to hear back immediately. In fact, many customers today prefer messaging and direct booking over calling. For message leads, your average response time may be displayed in your ad, and quick response times can drive greater consumer engagement on your ad. How likely your ad is to result in a lead is one factor in the Local Services Ads auction. Learn how to Manage leads and jobs.
- Opt in to direct business search to reach more customers. When someone searches for your brand or business directly on Google, your Local Services Ad will be eligible to appear. Your ad will be the only Local Services ad to appear in the results, and you'll only be charged for leads from new customers. Learn more About direct business search.
- If you use an integrated CRM partner, opt in to the Local Services Ads booking feature to allow consumers to book directly through your Local Services ad. Learn how to Schedule a booking with a Local Service provider.