TL;DR: Google is moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads as a specialized pay-per-lead Performance Max campaign, starting with selected US businesses in August 2026 and Canadian accounts in 2027. Export your historical reports before the move, then verify your budget, targeting, Google Business Profile details, lead routing, and follow-up process after migration.
What should contractors do first?
Download your LSA performance reports as soon as Google sends your migration notice. Your customer lead history will transfer, but historical campaign reports will not, so the 14-day email notice is your export trigger. After migration, expect weekly budgets to become daily averages, manual bidding to disappear, and campaign performance to take up to two weeks to stabilize. The platform is changing, but your ability to keep booking jobs still depends on accurate targeting, a trustworthy online presence, and fast lead follow-up.
Google is not eliminating the program that helps local contractors appear prominently in Search and Maps with a Google Verified badge. It is moving that program into the main Google Ads platform through a specialized Performance Max campaign built for pay-per-lead goals.
According to Google’s official migration guidance, you will still pay for valid leads such as calls and messages rather than ordinary clicks. Your campaigns will remain keywordless and continue showing on Google Search and Google Maps, but the way you manage budgets, bidding, reporting, and customer inquiries will change.
That makes preparation important for any contractor, electrician, plumber, HVAC company, landscaper, roofer, or other small business relying on Google for new work.
When is Google moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads?
The migration is happening in stages rather than all at once:
- August 2026: The first US home and storefront service advertisers begin moving. This includes businesses such as plumbers, HVAC companies, electricians, appliance repair companies, lawn care providers, roofers, pest control companies, movers, and house cleaners.
- Late 2026: Google expands the rollout to more US advertisers, including broader service-area businesses and accounts with custom bidding or booking configurations.
- 2027: Canadian accounts, other non-US accounts, and remaining business categories move to Google Ads.
Google says the account administrator will receive an email approximately 14 days before migration, followed by a reminder seven days later. You may also see a banner in your existing LSA dashboard.
Do not ignore those messages. The first email tells you when to start saving reports and checking your account settings.
What stays the same after the LSA migration?
The parts that made LSAs useful for local businesses are largely staying in place:
- You continue paying for valid leads instead of every click.
- Ads continue appearing on Google Search and Google Maps.
- Campaigns remain keywordless.
- Targeting is based on your services, business information, locations, and selected campaign settings.
- Verified business status transfers automatically when applicable.
- Customer lead history, including contact details, messages, and older call recordings, moves to the Google Ads Leads page.
That means your existing lead generation for trades strategy does not need to be thrown out. You still need to attract high-intent customers, provide a credible reason to choose your company, and respond before another business does.
What changes for contractors after migration?
Do LSA performance reports transfer to Google Ads?
No. Historical LSA performance reports do not transfer to Google Ads.
This includes important information such as:
- Past impressions and lead volume
- Weekly spend
- Cost per lead
- Ad-level performance
- Historical campaign comparisons
- Lead outcomes used for internal reporting
Your customer records will transfer, but the old LSA reporting dashboard will no longer be available after migration. Google says a dedicated download page will be available, but if you need your data immediately, take screenshots of your current reporting views as well.
Save reports in a shared folder and label them by business, service, date range, and location. This gives you a baseline for judging whether the new campaign is performing normally after the move.
How will budgets and bidding work?
LSA budgets currently use an average weekly amount. After migration, Google will convert that figure into an average daily budget by dividing the historical weekly budget by seven.
For example, a $1,400 average weekly budget would become approximately $200 per day. Google Ads then applies its standard monthly budget logic, using roughly 30.4 times the average daily budget as the monthly limit.
Manual bidding is also being deprecated. If you currently control a maximum cost per lead manually, expect Google’s automated bidding system to take over.
Vertical-level Target CPA settings are changing too. If you advertise multiple services under one campaign, Google will use one campaign-level Target CPA rather than separate targets for each service category.
A plumbing company that also advertises HVAC services may want different lead costs for each department. After migration, separate campaigns may be necessary to maintain those different targets. However, splitting campaigns also reduces the amount of conversion data available to each campaign, so do not separate everything automatically. Compare lead volume, close rates, job value, and profitability first.
What does Google Business Profile have to do with the migration?
Your Google Business Profile becomes even more important because Google uses it as the source of truth for core business information.
Business name, physical address, and standard hours sync from your profile into Google Ads. Minor changes may update automatically, but significant changes to your business name, address, or primary category can trigger a verification review.
That review typically takes 24 to 48 hours, and your campaign may temporarily pause.
Before migration, make sure your Google Business Profile includes accurate:
- Business name
- Phone number
- Address or service-area information
- Hours
- Primary category
- Services
- Photos
- Business description
Avoid making major profile edits during migration unless they are necessary. A new address or category change at the wrong time can create an avoidable gap in lead flow.
BBB callouts are also being retired. Google recommends using at least six alternative callouts, such as business hours, accepted payment methods, specialties, emergency service availability, financing options, or warranty information.
What should be on your pre-move LSA checklist?
1. Export your historical data
Download every report you may need for future comparison. Include at least the past 12 months of performance if available.
Save:
- Leads by week or month
- Spend and cost per lead
- Lead types
- Service categories
- Location performance
- Lead quality notes
- Ad or profile performance views
Take screenshots if the downloadable reports are not available yet.
2. Snapshot your current settings
Record your existing:
- Weekly budget
- Manual bidding or cost-per-lead settings
- Service categories
- Service areas
- Ad schedule
- Business photos
- Callout information
- Booking settings
- Lead-routing phone number
- Message and email configuration
This creates a simple before-and-after comparison when the account appears in Google Ads.
3. Confirm who receives new leads
Check that calls and messages still route to the right person or department. A campaign can be technically active while leads quietly go to an old phone number, an unattended inbox, or an employee who no longer handles sales.
This is one of the most practical contractor marketing tips: marketing only works when someone owns the next step.
4. Monitor the administrator email
Make sure the account administrator’s email address is current and monitored. The migration notice, reminder, and completion message may all go to that inbox.
If an agency manages your advertising, confirm that both the business owner and marketing team know the migration date.
What should you check after your campaign moves?
Once your account appears in Google Ads, review the new campaign instead of assuming every setting transferred perfectly.
Check:
- Average daily budget: Confirm the new amount matches your intended monthly spend.
- Service areas: Make sure the campaign is not targeting towns you do not serve or excluding profitable areas.
- Business categories: Confirm the right services are active.
- Ad schedule: Check that ads run when your team can answer.
- Call routing: Test the phone number yourself.
- Message leads: Send a test inquiry and confirm where it appears.
- Leads page: Learn where to find and download customer inquiries in Google Ads.
- Callouts and photos: Replace retired BBB callouts with useful trust-building information.
- Google Business Profile: Confirm that the synced name, address, phone number, and hours are correct.
Google says campaign performance may take up to two weeks to stabilize. Avoid making several major changes at once during that period. Watch lead quality, cost per lead, booked estimates, and actual sales rather than reacting to one slow day.
How can contractors protect their schedule while Google adjusts?
The migration is a platform change, not a complete marketing strategy. Your best protection is a balanced system that does not rely on one Google placement.
A strong digital marketing for trades system should include:
- Conversion-focused landing pages: Give each major service a clear page with relevant proof, service areas, FAQs, and an obvious call to action.
- A review engine: Recent, specific reviews help homeowners feel safer choosing you. This matters because customers often use reviews as a shortcut for judging competence before they call.
- Google Business Profile management: Keep services, hours, photos, categories, and contact details accurate.
- CRM follow-up: Track every lead from first contact to estimate, booked job, lost opportunity, and completed sale.
- Social media marketing: Show completed work, explain common problems, introduce your team, and stay familiar between urgent searches.
- Fast response systems: Call, text, or reply as quickly as possible when a new lead arrives.
This is where psychology matters. A homeowner choosing an electrician, plumber, landscaper, or renovation company wants to feel emotionally safe and confident that the business knows what it is doing. Clear information, strong reviews, professional photos, and fast communication reduce uncertainty. That confidence can matter just as much as your ad position.
Speed still decides who books the job. A lead that arrives through Google Ads is not a booked customer until someone answers, qualifies the opportunity, and schedules the next step.
How can you get more leads as a contractor during the transition?
Use the migration as an opportunity to measure what actually creates revenue.
Do not judge your account only by impressions or raw lead count. Compare:
- Valid leads
- Qualified leads
- Estimates booked
- Jobs won
- Average job value
- Close rate
- Cost per booked job
- Revenue generated
A campaign that produces fewer but better leads may be more profitable than one producing a larger number of low-quality inquiries. That principle applies whether you are running Google Ads for contractors, managing social media, or improving your website.
If your LSA campaign is moving soon, prepare the account now rather than waiting for migration day.
Book a migration and lead-generation review
Google’s LSA migration does not have to interrupt your schedule. With the right reports saved, settings documented, lead routing tested, and follow-up process in place, you can move into Google Ads with a clearer view of what is working.
Funky Moose Digital helps contractors and small businesses turn advertising into qualified leads, booked appointments, and paying customers. Book a call to review your migration checklist and build a marketing system that does more than generate clicks.
Key Takeaways
- Local Services Ads are moving into Google Ads as specialized pay-per-lead Performance Max campaigns.
- Historical LSA performance reports will not transfer, so export them and take screenshots before migration.
- Weekly budgets will become average daily budgets, manual bidding will be deprecated, and Target CPA will apply at the campaign level.
- Google Business Profile information feeds the new campaign, so keep your business details accurate and avoid unnecessary major edits during migration.
- Fast response times, trustworthy reviews, strong landing pages, CRM follow-up, and accurate reporting still decide who turns a lead into a booked job.
