Google is moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads. What changes for contractors in bidding, budgets and reports, and how to protect your lead flow.
The move started in August 2026 and reaches more advertisers in late 2026. Here is what changes, what stays the same and what to do before your account moves.
Key facts
No. Google is moving existing Local Services Ads campaigns into Google Ads automatically, as a new campaign type called Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals, according to Google Ads Help.
The name sounds like a bigger change than it is. Standard Performance Max campaigns run across YouTube, Gmail and other Google sites and charge per click. This version stays on Search and Maps, needs no keywords and keeps pay-per-lead billing.
Google announced the move on July 20, 2026, as Search Engine Journal reported.
Google is moving accounts in three phases:
| When | Who moves |
|---|---|
| August 2026 | Selected US home and storefront service advertisers: 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 | Accounts outside the US and any categories not moved in 2026 |
Many contractors run service-area businesses without a storefront, a group Google placed in late 2026. The account administrator gets an email 14 days before the move and a reminder 7 days later. On the day of the move, the old dashboard sends you straight to Google Ads.
Google applies these changes automatically on the day your account moves.
Google divides your average weekly budget by 7 to set a daily budget. Your monthly spend is capped at that daily budget times 30.4, so a busy day can cost more without raising your monthly total.
Manual bidding goes away. If you set different cost-per-lead targets for different services, Google replaces them with one target for the whole campaign. To keep separate targets, for example for plumbing and HVAC, you need a separate campaign for each service.
Separate campaigns give you more control, but each one has less data for Google's bidding to learn from, as Search Engine Journal points out. Weigh that before you split a small campaign.
Past impressions, clicks, weekly spend and ad-level reports do not move to Google Ads. Your lead history does: customer contacts, message history and call recordings all show up on the new Leads page.
Your business name, address and hours now sync from your Google Business Profile. A big change to your name, address or main category triggers a review that usually takes 24 to 48 hours, and your campaign may pause while it runs.
Google no longer supports Better Business Bureau callouts and asks for at least 6 other callouts instead, such as hours, specialties or payment methods.
Google says to allow up to two weeks after the move for performance to get back to stable levels. With one target per campaign and no maximum cost per lead, you also control less of what each lead costs.
That makes this a good time to judge every lead source by what it turns into, not by the price of a lead. This guide on how to choose a lead provider covers the questions to ask.
If Local Services Ads bring in most of your calls, a second source keeps your schedule full while the new campaigns settle. homeyou PRO, which publishes Everyday Contractor, offers pay-per-call and pay-per-lead by trade, and it runs alongside Google rather than replacing it.
The move changes the controls, not where homeowners find you. Save your reports, set your targets on purpose and give the new campaigns two weeks before you judge them.
Not yet. Google says new campaigns with pay-per-lead goals cannot be created in Google Ads for now. You still set them up through Google's Local Services site, and creation in Google Ads will come later.
On the Leads page in Google Ads, under Goals, then Conversions. It replaces the Local Services Ads inbox and keeps the charged status, the lead type, the lead feedback form and the option to download leads for your CRM.
All account users and direct managers are opted in by default. Each person can turn them off, but at least one user has to stay opted in.
Yes. In Google Ads you can change the phone number your call and message leads are routed to, and the change applies right away.
Yes. Google lists dedicated support for advertisers moving from Local Services Ads at +1-844-205-0011, Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 8 PM Eastern.
Everyday Contractor is homeyou's publication for the people who run home service companies.
