For businesses that provide a localized service in their community, the aptly-named Local Services Ads are an important aspect of their online advertising.

These ads are a specific type shown to users searching for services within their region on Google. This could be home services like roofing and plumbing services, or professional services like local lawyers or bookkeepers.

If your business falls under this category, Local Services Ads allow you to show in search results with text and a small graphic of your service. Alongside this, users will see the option to call or message your business directly from the ad, making getting in contact and even booking appointments easier.

Image Source: SEMrush.com

How should you use these ads? And why, actually, should you use them?

To understand how best to utilize these, you have to identify which people these ads capture. The use of Local Services Ads is quite a “low-funnel” tactic — that is, they’re capturing users who are deep (or low, depending on your verbiage) in the conversion funnel, which means these people have gone past just being aware of and considering these services, and instead are actively searching for your service.

Considering this, Local Services Ads are most effective when they’re supplementing an existing paid advertising campaign of yours. This more general campaign can be used to raise awareness and consideration for your services, subsequently broadening your potential user base, while the Local Services Ads target users that have shown particular interest in your business after the initial campaign exposure.

Intuitively, these two campaigns work well together to both increase your base and increase the interest level for a larger portion of them.

There are also more general benefits here, too.

Most obvious here is that Google is the most common way people locate and purchase services from small businesses. So naturally, you want to have as much of a presence there as possible — and the more informative and helpful that presence is, the better. Local Services Ads help both increase that presence generally and inform users better about how you can benefit them.

And of course, just like all PPC marketing, your business only pays when someone is presented and interacts with your ads. If someone sees your Local Services Ad but doesn’t reach out to your business through that ad, you don’t pay.

Image Source: SEMrush.com

Setting up Local Services Ads

The first step here is to sign up as a service provider, which you do by submitting your business information to Google.

From there, you’ll get verified by Google. This step requires a background check of your business; at minimum, that means the company owners and key stakeholders, but can include more as well such as your employee and subcontractor pool.

Once Google screens and verifies you, you’ll set your ad budget and continue on similarly to other search ad processes by setting the rest of the details. Google walks you through these steps as you go, so it’s quite intuitive and easy-to-use.

After you’re set up and have passed their verification process, Google also provides the Google Guarantee for your services.

Image Source: SEMrush.com

This certification comes with a badge that lets users know that, should they ever be dissatisfied with your services after hiring through a Local Services ad, Google will reimburse them up to $2,000 USD. (Their reimbursement limits vary depending on currency, but generally they’re somewhere around that much, given currency value, purchasing power, etc.)

Reimbursement through the Google Guarantee is solely decided at Google’s discretion, but it helps provide a greater level of confidence for users when choosing your business through Local Services Ads. Along with the ease of access Local Services Ads provide, the Google Guarantee is a major benefit for this reason.

Overall, Google’s Local Services Ads minimize users’ barriers to contacting you, increase your visibility towards those who’ve expressed interest, and provide reassurance and confidence for potential customers. All together, it helps build trust while reaching those who require your help the most.