What Local Services Ads are
When you Google “plumber near me” or “AC repair,” the first search result isn’t what you might expect: a few businesses with a phone number, star rating, and a green checkmark. These are called Local Services Ads and they show up right at the top of the results.
However, there is a significant departure in the way businesses are billed for Local Services Ads. Whereas Google Search ads only bill for clicks regardless if that traffic calls you or not, the Local Services Ads bill you every time a customer gets in contact with you about a job. This means no more pay-per-click ads, but rather pay-per-lead ads. When a consumer taps on your listing and calls or contacts you through the Google messaging feature, you can bet this action is what gets you billed.
The green badge: Google Guaranteed
It’s the Google Guaranteed. It’s not just handed out. A screening is performed. Google verifies you’re licensed, that your insurance is active, and that background checks have been run for the owner and the employees. You’ll want to start the process now and don’t wait for those leads to start flowing.
The badge proves itself to anxious customers. Imagine you are about to open your front door to a stranger. No one can tell if they are for real or not. The green check mark means that Google has verified you are legitimate. Google also protects jobs that get booked through your ad to the maximum coverage amount, in case the customer is not happy. All you have to do when you are choosing a professional to contact is make a choice and that badge will mean a lot to the customer.
How you pay, and how you rank
You establish your own weekly budget on the number of leads you want, and Google then charges you per lead. It differs from trade to trade, and it differs from place to place, so I cannot give you a quote. Whether or not you will appear within the box depends on a number of variables:
- Your review score and how many reviews you have
- How close you are to the customer who's searching
- How fast you respond. Google watches whether you actually answer
- Your hours, and whether you're open when people are searching
There is a purpose for responsiveness to rank there, which it really does twice: it ranks your company, and it also is a deciding factor on who gets the job. Missed calls, and you get pushed down the ladder. Answer promptly, and you move ahead.
Not every lead you see in the results is a real job; you will have to contend with the occasional wrong number, some spam, and jobs that are actually three towns away. Google lets you dispute any leads you find not to be legitimate, and will actually credit you if they concur with your decision to dispute. Review your leads on a weekly basis and dispute anything that seems suspicious or not useful so that you only end up paying for the real jobs.
The part that decides whether it pays
You know, no one mentions this when selling you the Local Services Ads. Sure, it’s great when those leads go right to you. But that is until you answer your phone. A call comes in at 2:00, you catch it on your voicemail, and by 2:05 the customer is calling another company. You’re still on the hook for your ad costs.
“A missed call on a lead you paid for is money you spent and threw in the bin.
But the ad only gets you halfway there. The other half is a system that catches every lead, lets you text back in seconds, and chases the ones you couldn’t close on the first ring. Here is where ToolbagCRM steps in. Two-way SMS, a customer file on every call, scheduling that makes a lead a booked job, all before they go cold. One price for every tech in the field and hand in the office, so chasing leads never costs you more.
Start the license, insurance, and background checks well before the leads start coming in.
Review count and score drive your spot in the box. Ask every happy customer for one.
Responsiveness sets your rank, and it wins the job. Have a way to catch every call and text back fast.
Flag wrong numbers and out-of-area calls every week so you only pay for real leads.