The short version
- Local Services Ads (LSA): pay per lead, top-of-page placement, Google Guaranteed badge. Less control, but lower risk and a strong trust signal.
- Google Search Ads: pay per click, full control over keywords, ad copy, and landing pages. More skill required, more upside when managed well.
- Most contractors should run both — they occupy different real estate on the same results page, so together they capture more of the demand.
- If you can only run one: start with LSA for pure service work; start with Google Ads if high-ticket projects are your focus.
Search for "plumber near me" and the results page is a stack of paid real estate before a single organic result appears: Local Services Ads at the very top, standard search ads beneath them, then the map pack. The contractors winning that page usually aren't choosing between LSA and Google Ads — they're running both. But the two programs work so differently that you need to understand each before splitting budget.
How Local Services Ads work
LSA is Google's pay-per-lead program for home services. You don't pick keywords or write ads — you build a profile, pass Google's screening and background checks to earn the "Google Guaranteed" badge, set a weekly budget, and Google shows your business for relevant searches in your area. You're charged when a homeowner actually calls or messages you, not when they click.
Lead prices vary by trade and market, but most contractor LSA leads land somewhere between $25 and $90. Rankings within LSA are driven heavily by review count and rating, responsiveness to leads, and proximity — which means the program quietly rewards the same fundamentals that make a business good to hire.
The fine print most contractors miss
You'll be billed for some junk — solicitors, wrong numbers, out-of-area calls — unless you dispute invalid leads, and disputes need to happen consistently. Answer rate matters too: letting LSA calls ring out tanks your ranking. Treat LSA like a phone-answering commitment, not a set-and-forget ad.
How Google Search Ads work
Standard Google Ads is pay-per-click with full control. You choose exact keywords ("water heater replacement cost," "emergency electrician"), write the ads, build the landing pages, and set bids by campaign. Clicks for contractor keywords commonly run $15–$50+ in competitive metros, and a campaign converting at 10–20% turns that into leads in the $75–$250 range depending on trade and intent.
That sounds more expensive than LSA — and per lead, it often is. What you're buying is control and reach. LSA only triggers for a limited set of service categories; Google Ads lets you own high-value project searches LSA never touches, qualify leads with your landing page, run call-only ads after hours, and scale spend without waiting for Google's lead allocation.
Head to head
| Local Services Ads | Google Search Ads | |
|---|---|---|
| You pay for | Leads (calls/messages) | Clicks |
| Placement | Very top of results | Below LSA, above organic |
| Control | Low — Google decides matching | High — keywords, copy, pages |
| Trust signal | Google Guaranteed badge | Your ad copy and site |
| Best for | Emergency & standard service calls | High-ticket projects, scale, control |
| Typical lead cost | ~$25–$90 | ~$75–$250 (intent-dependent) |
| Main risk | Junk leads if undisputed; ranking drops if calls go unanswered | Wasted spend if poorly managed |
Why "both" usually wins
The strongest argument for running both is simple geometry: they occupy different slots on the same results page. A homeowner who scrolls past the LSA block sees the search ads next. Showing up in both positions roughly doubles your share of the page for the same search — and the trades are a zero-sum fight for a fixed amount of local demand.
The channels also cover each other's blind spots. LSA produces cheap, reliable service-call volume but can't be scaled on command and skips project keywords entirely. Google Ads scales with budget and owns the project searches — "repipe cost," "EV charger installation," "hail damage roof inspection" — where the big tickets live.
If you can only start with one
Pick based on your business model. Mostly service calls and emergency work — drain clearing, AC repair, breaker problems? Start with LSA: lower risk, faster setup, pay-per-lead pricing. Chasing $5,000+ projects — replacements, repipes, reroofs, panel upgrades? Start with Google Ads, because those searches barely exist inside LSA, and a well-built campaign with qualifying landing pages will out-earn it.
Either way, the channel only performs as well as what happens after the phone rings. The follow-up systems in our full lead generation playbook apply to every lead source — and the benchmarks in our cost-per-lead guide will tell you whether your numbers are healthy. We manage both channels as one system for HVAC, plumbing, roofing, and electrical clients.