If you run a home service business, you have probably seen two very different kinds of Google ads competing for your budget: Local Service Ads (LSAs) and traditional Google Ads. They look similar but work in almost opposite ways.
Local Service Ads: pay per lead
LSAs sit at the very top of the results, above everything else, with the Google Guaranteed badge. You are charged per lead, not per click, so every dollar maps to a real phone call or message. Ranking is driven by your reviews, response time, proximity, and profile completeness, not by bidding wars.
Google Ads: pay per click
Traditional Google Ads sit just below LSAs. You bid on keywords and pay each time someone clicks, whether or not they contact you. In exchange you get more control over exactly which searches you show for and where you send that traffic.
Which should you use?
For most contractors the honest answer is both, in the right order:
- Start with LSAs if you qualify. Pay-per-lead economics and the trust badge make them the highest-intent, lowest-risk way to turn on calls.
- Layer in Google Ads to capture searches LSAs do not cover, promote specific services, or scale beyond your LSA lead volume.
- Let SEO compound underneath both. Ads stop the moment you stop paying; SEO builds a lead channel that keeps producing and lowers your blended cost per lead over time.
The bottom line
LSAs and Google Ads are not either/or. LSAs capture the cheapest, highest-intent leads; Google Ads add control and reach; SEO makes the whole mix cheaper over time. We help you set up and manage all three, measured on cost per lead, not clicks.