LSA Is Moving to Google Ads: Your October 15 Checklist

What do Local Services Ads advertisers need to do before October 15?

Back up your performance reports, decide whether to split your campaign by trade, and check what your bid will turn into. Google is moving every Local Services Ads (LSA) account into Google Ads, and the emails it sent LSA advertisers in October 2026 name October 15 as the date for two of those jobs. We run LSA ourselves, and this is the checklist we worked through for our own account:

1. Download or screenshot your historical performance reports. They do not move to Google Ads.
2. If you run more than one trade in one campaign with different bids, decide whether to split it into one campaign per trade at g.co/localservices.
3. Work out your future target cost per lead (tCPL). If you bid manually, your highest category bid becomes the campaign target.
4. Check your Google Business Profile. Your ads will pull your name, address, hours and categories from it, and it has to be verified.
5. Fix your call handling. Missed calls can now be charged leads.
6. Make sure the account admin email is read. Your exact migration date arrives by email 14 days ahead.

The rest of this guide explains each step, what changes, and what stays the same. For the bigger picture of LSA versus regular Search ads, see Local Services Ads vs Google Ads.

What exactly is happening to Local Services Ads?

LSA campaigns are being migrated automatically to "a specialized Performance Max campaign type optimized specifically for pay-per-lead goals" inside Google Ads. You keep paying per valid lead, your ads still show only on Google Search and Google Maps in the same positions, and targeting stays keywordless (Google Ads Help: Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals).

Google's published timeline on that page:

• August 2026: select US home and storefront service advertisers, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control and moving.
• Late 2026: broader groups, including service-area businesses without a storefront and accounts with custom bidding or booking setups.
• 2027: non-US accounts and every remaining category. Google's verticals page puts locksmiths, garage door pros and healthcare in this last phase (Google Ads Help: Supported business verticals).

Your own date comes by email: the account admin gets a notice 14 days before migration, a reminder 7 days later, and a confirmation when it is done. Google says to allow up to two weeks after migration for performance to settle.

Where does the October 15 deadline come from?

It comes from Google's emails to LSA advertisers, not from the public Help Center page. The one our account received on October 8, 2026 said to "back up your historical performance reports by October 15" and, if you want separate bids per business category, to "split your account into dedicated campaigns for each business category before October 15." If your email gives a different date, follow your email.

How do you back up your LSA performance reports?

Filter your LSA reports by date range and save them, one period at a time. Google says historical performance reports (impressions, clicks, weekly spend and ad-level reports) will not migrate, while your past leads, message threads and call recordings will. It has promised a download page on the redirect screen, and until then says to take screenshots (Google Ads Help).

What we saved, and why:

• Monthly totals for the last 12 to 24 months: spend, leads, charged leads and cost per lead. This is your baseline for setting a target later.
• The same numbers by category if you run more than one trade. You will need them to decide on a split.
• Your current bids and budget settings. Note each category's bid and your weekly budget, because both are about to be converted.
• Your lead list export, even though leads migrate. A CSV in your own files is cheap insurance.

Should you split your LSA campaign into one campaign per trade?

Split if your trades are worth different amounts to you per lead; keep one campaign if they are not. Google Ads does not support per-category targets, so a multi-category campaign gets one campaign-level target after migration. Google's suggestion for keeping separate bidding rules is separate campaigns, "for example, creating separate campaigns for plumbing and HVAC in Local Services" (Google Ads Help).

How to decide:

• Split when one trade's leads are clearly worth more, for example HVAC replacement work next to small plumbing repairs, and you had different bids for them.
• Keep together when the lead values and close rates are similar. Each split campaign has fewer leads to learn from, and Google advises against setting a target on campaigns with under 15 leads a month (more on that below).
• Do it in Local Services before the deadline. Google says you cannot yet create pay-per-lead campaigns inside Google Ads; new campaigns still start at g.co/localservices.

What will my bid become after the migration?

If you bid manually, your highest category-level bid becomes the campaign-level target cost per lead. That is the wording in Google's email to advertisers, and it does not apply if you already use Maximize Conversions. Manual bidding (setting a maximum cost per lead) is not supported in Google Ads at all, and per-vertical targets are replaced by one campaign target (Google Ads Help).

A simple example with made-up numbers: you bid $75 for HVAC and $50 for plumbing in one campaign. After migration the campaign target is $75 for both, so Google can now aim to pay up to that average for plumbing leads too. If that is not what you want, split the campaign or lower the high bid before your migration date.

After migration, campaigns default to Maximize Conversions. Google's best-practice page says to set a target only if the campaign consistently gets more than 15 leads a month and your cost per lead is higher than you want, because a target "may restrict your ad delivery" (Google Ads Help: Best practices for pay-per-lead goals). We walk through the math in how to set a target cost per lead for Local Services Ads.

What happens to your LSA budget?

Your weekly budget becomes a daily one. Google divides your historical average weekly budget by 7 to get an average daily budget, and caps monthly spend at that daily average times 30.4. Daily spend can run higher on busy days, but the month will not go over the cap (Google Ads Help).

Example: a $700 weekly budget becomes a $100 average daily budget, with a monthly cap of $3,040.

Why does your Google Business Profile matter now?

Because your pay-per-lead campaign runs on it. Every business needs a verified, active Google Business Profile linked to Google Ads, and your business name, address and hours sync one way from the profile (Google Ads Help: Business screening and verification). Google's email to our account said the link is created on your behalf at migration as long as your LSA account is tied to a verified profile.

Before your date:

• Confirm the profile is verified and the name, address, phone, hours and categories are right.
• Add every trade you want to advertise as a category on the profile. The campaign's business categories come from it.
• Avoid big edits to your business name, storefront address or primary category around migration. Google says those trigger a 24 to 48 hour review, during which the campaign may pause.

What else changes after the move?

A handful of smaller changes, per Google's transition page and settings pages:

• Lead inbox moves. Leads live under Goals, then Conversions, then Leads, with charge status, lead type, replies to messages, call recordings, a feedback form and CSV download. Call recordings are kept up to 30 days (Google Ads Help: Goals and leads).
• BBB callouts are gone. Add at least six other structured callouts, such as free estimates.
• Phone calls are a required goal. Messages are optional, and bookings are optional from October 2026.
• Reporting is in Google Ads columns. In your pay-per-lead campaign, Conversions means charged leads and Cost / conv. is your average cost per lead.
• Service areas should be realistic. Google recommends no more than about two hours' drive from your business (Best practices).
• Direct Business Search is a new toggle that shows only your ad on searches for your business name and screens out returning customers (Google Ads Help: Targeting).

What stays the same?

Most of what you care about day to day. You pay only for valid leads, the ads appear in the same places on Search and Maps, targeting is still by service category and area rather than keywords, your settings move over automatically, and your Google Verified badge carries over. Google says insurance and license reverification are not required at migration (Google Ads Help).

One charging rule did change separately, on October 1, 2026: a missed call during your business hours is now a valid lead if the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds (Google: How leads work). Answering, or setting accurate hours, matters more than it did.

Can you still dispute bad leads?

Not the way you used to. Google now assesses leads automatically: invalid ones are not charged, and charged leads are reassessed and may be credited, usually within 30 days. It no longer credits leads for "job type not serviced" or "geo not serviced", so wrong-job calls are a settings problem, not a credit request (Google: Automated lead credits). You can still rate each lead with the feedback survey, and Google says it may occasionally credit leads reported that way.

Where does VibeAds fit?

To be clear, since this is our site: VibeAds builds and manages Google Search campaigns. It does not create, bid or manage Local Services Ads or the pay-per-lead campaigns they are becoming, so do the steps above in Local Services and Google Ads. We are exploring LSA support, including showing LSA leads next to Search results, but there is no date for it.

What VibeAds does today is the Search side: campaigns for your trade and service area, ad copy, landing pages, and call tracking so you know which clicks turned into calls. If you want to add Search next to LSA, see how to split your budget between LSA and Search, how it works and pricing.

Trade guides

• Plumbing: Google Ads for plumbers and the plumbers guide
• HVAC: Google Ads for HVAC and the HVAC companies guide
• Electrical: Google Ads for electricians and keywords, budget and ROI
• Roofing: Google Ads for roofers and the roofers setup guide
• Also: pest control, appliance repair, cleaning, landscaping and moving

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to do anything for my LSA account to migrate?

No. Google migrates the campaign automatically with your existing settings. The work is preparation: save your reports, decide on a category split, check your bid and your Google Business Profile, and read the 14-day notice email when it arrives.

Will my LSA leads and call recordings move to Google Ads?

Yes. Google says past leads, message history and older call recordings transfer to the Leads page in Google Ads. Historical performance reports do not, so download or screenshot them first.

Can I create a new Local Services Ads campaign in Google Ads?

Not yet. Google says pay-per-lead campaigns cannot be created directly in Google Ads at this time, so new campaigns, including category splits, are still set up at g.co/localservices.

Will I lose my Google Verified badge?

No. Google says verified status and the Google Verified badge transfer to Google Ads automatically, and insurance and license reverification are not required for the migration.

Is the new campaign the same as a normal Performance Max campaign?

No. The pay-per-lead version charges per valid lead, serves only on Google Search and Maps, and has no keywords, headlines or videos. Standard Performance Max charges per click and serves across YouTube, Gmail and Display as well.

Does VibeAds manage Local Services Ads?

No. VibeAds manages Google Search campaigns today. LSA support is being explored, with no date, so manage your LSA migration in Local Services and Google Ads.