How leads work

With Local Services Ads, you only pay for leads related to your business or the services you offer. Here’s how it works:

  • Set an average weekly budget based on the average number of leads you want to receive in any given week.
    • Note: You can spend more than your average weekly budget in a given week on your leads, but you’ll never spend more than your monthly max. Your monthly max can be calculated by multiplying your average weekly budget by the average number of weeks in a month. Learn How to edit your budget.
  • Set your bidding mode for the max you’re willing to pay for a lead. Learn How bidding works for Local Services Ads.
  • After setup, you can immediately dispute leads that you believe aren’t valid. Successfully disputed leads will be credited back to you later (United States and Canada only). Learn How to disputing leads.

How you’re charged

You're charged for each valid lead you receive through your Local Services ad. Lead prices may vary depending on your location, the job type, the type of lead, or your bidding mode, but each lead received will count towards your budget.

After you’ve reached your monthly max, your ad won't appear for the remainder of the month (unless you adjust your budget).

You can view how much you've been charged for your leads by going to the "Billing" menu in your leads inbox. Learn more How to pay for Local Services Ads.

Billing for Local Services Ads is managed by Google Ads. Any suspension in your Google Ads account will also suspend your Local Services Ads.

Note: Message leads are priced at 50% of the corresponding phone lead. Booking leads are charged at the same rate as phone leads. Message and booking leads are only available in the United States and Canada.

Valid leads

Note: The ability to dispute charged leads is only available in the United States and Canada.

Valid leads are related to your business or to the services you offer and can occur when customers find your Local Services ad on Google. Valid leads can be generated when:

  • You receive a text message or email from the customer (United States and Canada only)
  • You receive a voicemail from the customer
  • You answer a phone call and speak with the customer
  • You receive a missed call (without a voicemail) and you return the customer’s message with a text message, email, or call where you either speak with the customer or leave a voicemail
  • You receive a booking request from a customer (United States and Canada only)

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When a lead isn’t charged, you’ll find the following note in your account:

Product screenshot of not seeing the “Dispute” option

Disputing invalid leads (United States and Canada only)

The ability to dispute charged leads is only available in the United States and Canada and is up to Google’s discretion. If you receive an invalid charge, you have 30 days to dispute the charge in your account. Credit requests for invalid leads won’t be considered after 30 days. All dispute decisions are final. We can help you determine if a lead may be eligible for a credit.

Before a lead is credited, Google will listen to call recordings to verify that one of the approved reasons below applies. Learn more about Local Services data.

Dispute category Examples
Solicitation
  • Call was from a wrong number.
  • Caller was trying to sell you a product or service.
  • Call was from someone seeking employment at your business.
Spam
  • Call was pre-recorded.
  • Call was otherwise not from a live human.
Location not served
  • The customer communicated their location, the location wasn’t listed on your profile, and you declined the job.
Service not offered
  • The customer communicated their service type, the service wasn’t listed on your profile, and you declined the job.
  • Caller was looking for a physical store, or looking to buy something other than a service (for example, parts).
Duplicate lead
  • The customer called to follow up on an existing lead for the same job within 15 days, and both the leads were charged.

Google also regularly reviews leads, and credits any identified invalid leads. If you can’t find a lead that you want to dispute, it’s possible that it has already been credited or was never charged.

Note:
  • Lead disputes aren't available for health care verticals.
  • Call recordings aren't available for health care verticals.

Examples of valid leads that won’t be credited

Sometimes the way a customer contacts you (or the way you’ve listed services on your profile) can impact your valid leads. If you dispute a lead, it won’t be credited if:

  • A lead was received outside of your business hours.
  • A customer asked for advice to complete a project related to a service you offer.
  • A customer canceled a booking.
  • A customer was researching potential projects or prices related to a service you offer.
  • A customer didn’t respond to your return call or message.
  • You listed a general service type on your profile, but you don’t do a specific type of service.
    • For example, your profile lists that you service water heaters, but you don’t service tankless water heaters.
  • You generally service an area or provide a service, but are temporarily unable or unwilling to provide these services (and they are still listed on your profile).
  • You're in a law vertical, have turned on general lawyer leads, and the lead is for any type of law service, it won't be credited under the dispute type “service not offered”. Opting into general law leads signals that your business is interested in getting law-related leads that don’t indicate a specific service type. Therefore, there will be no option to dispute law-related leads based on a specific law service or job type while opted into general law leads.
Note: If you advertise through a partner affiliate, the above information doesn't apply to you. Learn more about Partner affiliate providers.

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or Call 1-877-824-3983 to get started

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