Local Services Ads charge you for a lead (a call, message or booking request), and Google builds the ad itself after it has checked your business. Google Ads Search charges per click, and you write the ad. Plumbers, electricians, HVAC companies, roofers and pest control companies in Central Florida can all run Local Services. Whether it's worth it depends on whether Google actually shows the Local Services block on your own searches, and that is something you can check instead of guessing.
What is the difference between Local Services Ads and Google Ads?
They are two different products with different rules. With Local Services Ads, Google says you "pay only for leads related to your business and the services you offer," and its product page says the ads appear at the top of the page. There are no keywords to choose and no ad copy to write. With Google Ads Search campaigns, you pick the searches, write the ads and pay when someone clicks.
| Local Services Ads | Google Ads (Search) | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Per lead: a call, message or booking request | Per click on the ad |
| What you set | A weekly budget and the most you will pay for a lead | A budget, keywords and a maximum bid per click |
| Where it shows | A block Google puts at the top of the results, on Search and Maps | Above, beside or below the results, ordered by Ad Rank |
| Who writes the ad | Google builds it from your profile | You (or your agency) write it |
| Before it can run | Business registration, ID, background, license and insurance checks | No Local Services screening; ads go through normal Google Ads review |
| Who can run it | Only businesses in eligible categories | Almost any business |
| Best fit | Trades whose money searches show the block | Searches where the block does not show, and every other job type |
Each row comes from the Google pages linked in the sections below. Swipe sideways on a phone to see both columns.
One change is under way. Google is moving Local Services campaigns into a Performance Max campaign type built for pay-per-lead goals, managed inside Google Ads. The first phase started in August 2026 with select US home-service advertisers, and Google names plumbing, HVAC and electrical among them. Billing stays per lead, and the ads keep showing on Google Search and Maps in the same positions. So the table above still holds. Only the dashboard changes.
How do you pay for each?
Local Services Ads: a charge per lead
Google's page on how leads work is specific about what counts. You are charged for:
- a call you answer, or a call back where you speak with the customer
- a missed call during business hours where the caller stayed on the line more than 20 seconds
- a text message, email or voicemail
- a booking request
You are not charged for calls under 20 seconds that you missed, callers who hang up at an automated menu, spam, or a repeat contact from the same number or email within 15 days of a charged lead. You set an average weekly budget, Google keeps you under a monthly maximum, and you set the most you will pay for one lead. Google says lead prices vary by location, job type, lead type and bidding mode, and it publishes no price list. Anyone quoting you a fixed Orlando cost per lead is quoting their own accounts, not Google.
If a lead turns out to be junk, Google gives automatic credits for low-quality leads. It no longer credits leads for a job type you don't do or an area you don't serve, so your job types and service area have to be set correctly from day one. Our Local Services management watches every lead and flags the bad ones for that reason.
Google Ads: a charge per click
Search ads use cost-per-click bidding. You pay when someone clicks, whether they call or not, and your maximum bid is the most you'll typically pay for a click. Where the ad lands on the page, and whether it shows at all, is decided in each auction by Ad Rank, which weighs your bid, the quality of the ad and landing page, and the competition. That makes the landing page and the search terms as much a part of the cost as the bid.
Which Central Florida trades are eligible?
All five trades this article is for are on Google's US list of home services categories. Three of them go through an extra layer of screening.
For electrician, plumbing and HVAC, Google adds background checks on the service professionals themselves, on top of the business and owner checks. Florida also gets a few categories Google lists as available only in California and Florida, including drain expert and home insulation. If your trade isn't on the list at all, Google's own advice on the product page is short: "try Google Ads."
When does the Local Services block show at the top of a phone search, and when doesn't it?
Eligible doesn't mean visible. Google decides per search whether to show the block, and being in an eligible category is no promise it will. So before we offer Local Services to a client, we measure it. Once a month we run three of the business's own money searches as an iPhone search from the business's location: the trade plus "near me," the trade plus the city, and a search the business already gets traffic from in Search Console. We record whether the Local Services block appears in the results and whose businesses are in it.
Searches where the Local Services block appeared, mobile check run November 1, 2026 from each business's location
On November 1, 2026, the block showed on none of the six searches we ran for our two Central Florida clients. Six searches prove nothing about Orlando as a whole, and we don't offer them as a market statistic. They show why we check: you can't tell from a category list whether the block will be on your searches. Our check records whether the block is there, not its exact position, so for placement we go by Google's own description: when it shows, it sits at the top of the page.
What this means for you. If the block doesn't show on your money searches, Local Services can't send you many leads no matter how well the profile is set up. If it does show and three competitors are in it, that is the strongest case for Local Services there is. Search your trade on your phone, from your shop, before you spend anything.
What does Google Verified involve now that Screened and Guaranteed are gone?
Google Guaranteed and Google Screened are the older badge names you may still see quoted. Google now gives all Local Services advertisers a single Google Verified badge, and it is discontinuing the Money Back Guarantee that came with the old Guaranteed badge. Customers can still claim on eligible bookings made before December 7, 2025. Existing advertisers who finished verification earn the new badge automatically.
The checks themselves are on Google's screening and verification page, and they are the owner's job. Google screens the business, not its agency.
- Business registration. Google checks a D-U-N-S number, or a Secretary of State registration, an EIN or a Department of Revenue registration if you can't get one. A new D-U-N-S number can take up to 30 days.
- Identity check. The business representative uploads an unexpired government photo ID for a check run by Evident.
- Background checks. The business, its owners and the field workers who do the core services. Google says there is no charge for them and no credit check.
- Licenses. State licenses for the business and owners where Google can check them, and you must also hold any county and city licenses that apply.
- Insurance. A certificate meeting the minimum for your category, showing a policy number and valid for at least 14 days after you submit it.
- Business Profile. Linking and verifying it can take up to 24 hours to show as done.
A failed background check means a 30-day wait before reapplying, and 180 days if the second try fails. Get the paperwork right the first time.
When should you run both?
The two don't compete for the same slot, so running both isn't paying twice. Local Services covers the searches where Google shows its block. Search ads cover the rest. Here is how we decide.
For a shared budget, Local Services first is our default. A lead charge is easier to judge than a click, because you can hold it up against a job. Search spend earns its place when the conversion tracking can show which clicks turned into calls.
Where does organic local SEO fit?
Under both. Google says plainly that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking; map results rest on relevance, distance and prominence, and reviews and complete business details feed into them. The same Business Profile also feeds your Local Services ad, since Google builds the ad from it. And the website your Search ads land on is the one organic search judges.
The map pack and organic results cost nothing per click and keep working when an ad budget runs out for the month. That is why we run local SEO every week underneath any ad spend. If you want to know where your own site starts, what our free audits find on Orlando service-business websites shows the problems we see most on Central Florida trade sites, sorted by which ones cost calls.