Your average weekly budget determines the number of leads you’d like to receive in any given week. At some point, you may want to increase or decrease your budget to change how many leads you receive.
You can change your budget at any time and as many times as you like.
To change your budget:
- Sign in to your Local Services Ads account.
- Click the menu at the top.
- Click Profile & budget.
- Click the pencil icon on the “Budget” card.
- Edit your budget as needed.
- Click Save.
How budgets work
Your average weekly budget is your target spend. Local Services Ads will attempt to deliver a number of leads based on your average weekly budget to you each week. In some weeks you may spend less than your average weekly budget, and in others you may exceed it based on demand for your business.
Your monthly max is the maximum you can spend in a given month. You will never exceed your monthly max, which is calculated based on your weekly budget and the average number of days in a month. The exact formula for the monthly max is average weekly budget x 30.4 ÷ 7. Once you have hit your monthly max, your ad will no longer appear for the remainder of the month unless you adjust your budget.
What happens when you change your budget
When you change your average weekly budget, your monthly max will be updated and you’ll become re-eligible to pay for leads from your ads based on the number of days left in the month regardless of how much you’ve spent so far this month.
Example
Suppose you update your average weekly budget from $100 to $140 on January 18. Your monthly max will update from $434.29 (100 x 30.4 ÷ 7) to $608 (140 x 30.4 ÷ 7). However, since there are 14 days left in the month, you will become eligible to spend $280 (140 x 14 ÷ 7) for the remaining days in January.
Alternatively, suppose you decrease your average weekly budget from $100 to $70 on January 18. Your monthly max will decrease to $304 (70 x 30.4 ÷ 7). Since there are 14 days left in the month, you will immediately become eligible to spend an additional $140 (70 x 14 ÷ 7) for the remaining days in January.
Change your budget with Google Ads API
You can also access your Local Services campaign through the Google Ads API to edit your budget. In the Google Ads API, your budget will be calculated daily instead of weekly. The overall budget will not differ. For example, if your weekly budget is $70 in your Local Services Ads account, your daily budget will be $10 ($70 ÷ 7) in the Google Ads API.
Learn more about Local Services campaign types in the Google Ads API