- LSA charges per lead ($25–$75, median $42), sits above all other ads, and requires Google Guaranteed screening.
- Search Ads charge per click ($8–$25), give you control over keywords, copy and landing pages, and work for jobs LSA doesn't cover.
- LSA wins on emergency and "near me" searches. Search wins on replacement, financing and comparison research.
- LSA's weakness is lead quality — you'll pay for junk unless someone disputes it consistently.
- Most contractors should run both, weighted by season.
Every contractor who's looked into Google advertising has hit this fork. Local Services Ads promise pay-per-lead simplicity and the top slot on the page. Search Ads offer control but demand more work and charge whether or not anyone calls.
Framed as either/or, LSA usually wins the argument. Framed accurately, they're doing different jobs.
How each one works
| Local Services Ads | Search Ads | |
|---|---|---|
| You pay for | Leads (calls, messages) | Clicks |
| Typical cost | $25 – $75 | $8 – $25 |
| Position | Above everything | Below LSA, above organic |
| Entry requirement | Google Guaranteed screening | None |
| Keyword control | None | Full |
| Ad copy control | None | Full |
| Landing page | Google-hosted profile | Your site |
| Ranking driven by | Reviews, proximity, responsiveness | Bid × quality score |
The structural difference: with LSA you're renting Google's trust badge and their profile page. With Search you're buying attention and pointing it wherever you want.
What Google Guaranteed involves
LSA isn't something you switch on this afternoon. Google screens you first — business registration, licensing, insurance verification, and background checks on the business and often on technicians. It takes days to weeks depending on how quickly your paperwork comes back.
The payoff is the green checkmark badge and the top slot. The badge does measurable work in a trade where homeowners are actively worried about being ripped off by whoever shows up.
Check that your service categories are covered by LSA in your area, and confirm current requirements directly with Google. Coverage and screening rules differ by country and region and they change. Don't build a channel plan on what an article said — including this one.
Where LSA wins
- Emergency searches. "Furnace repair near me" at 11pm — the person calls the first credible number. LSA is above everything, and the badge closes the trust gap instantly.
- Mobile. LSA's call button is the most prominent thing on a small screen.
- If you have strong reviews. LSA ranks heavily on review volume and rating. Good reviews are worth real money here in a way they aren't in the Search auction.
- Simplicity. No keywords to build, no negatives to maintain, no landing pages. If nobody's managing your account, LSA degrades more gracefully.
Where Search wins
- Replacement and high-ticket work. Someone researching "furnace replacement cost Calgary" wants information, not a phone call. That's a landing page job, and LSA can't send them to one.
- Financing and rebates. "Heat pump rebate Alberta" is a valuable search you can target precisely with Search and not at all with LSA.
- Anything outside LSA's categories. Commercial work, specialised installs, IAQ.
- Control over who you're paying for. Negative keywords let you stop paying for "hvac technician jobs" and "furnace filter home depot." LSA gives you no equivalent lever.
- Remarketing. Someone who read your replacement page and left can be brought back. LSA has no mechanism for this.
The lead quality problem
LSA's pay-per-lead model sounds like it removes risk. It doesn't — it relocates it. You'll be charged for wrong numbers, people outside your service area, callers wanting a part rather than a service call, and competitors doing research.
Google lets you dispute these. The credits are real: on a $4,000/month LSA budget, consistent dispute filing typically recovers $400–$1,300 a month. But it requires someone actually reviewing leads and filing, week after week.
This is worth asking any agency about directly, because almost none of them address it publicly. The question is: "Do you review and rate every lead and dispute what Google misses, or only the ones I flag?" The difference between those two answers can move your effective cost per lead more than any keyword work will.
Running both
The two channels overlap on some searches, and left alone they'll bid against each other — you paying twice to reach the same homeowner. Managed together, the split is straightforward:
| Job type | Primary channel |
|---|---|
| Emergency repair | LSA |
| General repair | LSA + Search |
| System replacement | Search |
| Maintenance plans | Search |
| IAQ / add-ons | Search + remarketing |
| Rebate-driven work | Search |
Weight it by season, too. In deep winter, emergency demand dominates and LSA should take the larger share. In shoulder season, the money is in maintenance plans and early replacement quotes — Search work, on cheaper clicks.
Five questions to ask before you hire anyone
Whether you run this yourself or pay someone, these are the questions that separate an agency doing the work from one collecting a retainer:
- Do you review and dispute every LSA lead, or only the ones I flag? This single line item moves effective cost per lead more than keyword work does.
- How do you stop LSA and Search bidding against each other? If they can't answer, you're paying twice for the same homeowner.
- What happens to my budget during a cold snap? Seasonal pacing is where most of the money is won or lost in this trade.
- What's my cost per booked job, not per lead? If they only report leads, they're reporting the flattering number.
- Who owns the account if I leave? The answer should be you, without a migration project.
If you can only run one
Start with LSA if you have solid reviews, you can pass screening, and nobody in-house is going to manage a Search account properly. It's more forgiving of neglect.
Start with Search if replacements are your margin, you're not eligible or screened yet, or you need to control exactly which searches you appear on.
But treat whichever you pick as the first half. The gap the other one covers doesn't close on its own — it just goes to whoever is running both.
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