Local Services Ads are moving into Google Ads: what UK businesses need to know

What is happening

Google is turning Local Services Ads into what it calls Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals, managed inside Google Ads. The separate Local Services Ads dashboard closes for each account on the day it moves.

Google is moving accounts in phases:

• August 2026: selected home and shop-front service advertisers in the United States.
• Late 2026: US service-area businesses without shop fronts, and accounts with custom bidding or booking set-ups.
• 2027: accounts outside the United States, including the UK, and the remaining categories.

Google has not published a UK date. When your turn comes, the account administrator receives an email 14 days before the move, with banners in the dashboard. A final reminder follows 7 days later, and another email confirms when the move is complete.

What stays the same

• You still pay for valid leads, such as calls and messages, not for clicks.
• Your ads still appear only on Google Search and Google Maps, in the same positions.
• There are still no keywords. Your ads are targeted by your service categories and areas.
• Your verified status and Google Verified badge carry over, and Google says insurance and licence reverification are no longer required.
• Your past lead history moves across.

What changes

• Where you manage it. After the move, logging in to the old dashboard takes you to Google Ads instead. Leads appear on the Leads page in Google Ads, under Goals and then Conversions, and you can change the phone number that calls and messages go to.
• Budgets. Your average weekly budget is divided by seven to give an average daily budget, and monthly spend is capped at the daily budget multiplied by 30.4.
• Bidding. Manual bidding, such as setting a maximum cost per lead, is no longer available. A single Target CPA applies to the whole campaign instead of a separate target for each category. If you want different targets for different services, they need separate campaigns.
• Reports. Your Local Services Ads performance reports do not move to Google Ads. Lead history does; reporting history does not.
• Business details. Your business name, address and opening hours come from your Google Business Profile, in one direction only. Significant changes to the name or address trigger a review that usually takes 24 to 48 hours, and the campaign may pause while it happens.
• Callouts. Google recommends adding at least six structured callouts to the campaign.

The worries we hear, and the honest answers

“Will I lose my Google Verified badge?”

No. Google says existing verified status and the badge carry over. You should not have to go through the insurance and licence checks again because of the move.

“Will my leads dry up while it moves?”

There may be a dip. Reports from the first US accounts to move suggest performance can take up to two weeks to settle. The bigger avoidable risk is a pause: if your business name or address changes significantly around the time of the move, the review can stop your ads for a day or two. Do not make big profile changes in the weeks before your date.

How we help: we plan the switch around your quiet and busy periods where we can, keep profile changes away from the move, and watch the first fortnight closely rather than reacting to a few slow days.

“What happens to my reports and history?”

Your leads come across. Your performance reports do not, and once the dashboard closes you cannot go back for them. If you want to compare before and after, the 14 days’ notice is the window to save them.

How we help: when your notice arrives we export your reports by month, service and area, and keep them alongside your new campaign reporting so the comparison stays possible.

“Will I end up paying more?”

Not automatically. Your budget converts from weekly to daily, and the monthly cap still limits what you can be charged. Spend can move around from day to day, so a busy Monday may cost more than a quiet Sunday, within the same monthly ceiling.

The real risk is the single Target CPA. If, say, emergency repairs and full installations share one campaign and one target, the campaign can drift towards whichever leads are cheapest to win, not the ones most valuable to you.

How we help: we split services with very different job values into their own campaigns, set each target from what a lead is actually worth to you, and check where the budget is going every week after the move.

“I am used to setting my own cost per lead.”

That control goes. Google’s automated bidding takes over, working towards the Target CPA you set. It can work well, but only if the target is realistic and the leads it learns from are the right ones.

How we help: we set targets from your real job values and close rates, then adjust them as the lead data builds up, instead of leaving the defaults in place.

“Google Ads looks far more complicated.”

It is a much bigger platform than the Local Services Ads dashboard, with settings that do not apply to pay-per-lead campaigns sitting next to ones that do. It is easy to change the wrong thing.

How we help: we manage the campaign for you, and send you a plain-English monthly report, so you only need to deal with the leads.

“What if I miss Google’s email?”

The notice goes to the account administrator. If that is a former employee, an old agency or an inbox nobody reads, the first you hear of the move may be the dashboard closing.

How we help: we check who the administrators are now, make sure the notice will reach someone who acts on it, and put your migration on our calendar the day it lands.

“Are my business details right?”

After the move, your Google Business Profile is the source of your name, address and hours. Out-of-date hours or a wrong address will carry straight into your ads.

How we help: we review your Google Business Profile well before the move, fix what is wrong while there is time for any review to finish, and set up the structured callouts Google recommends.

“Will calls still reach the right phone?”

They should, but it is worth checking. The number that calls and messages go to is set in Google Ads after the move, and any call tracking needs checking at the same time.

How we help: we make test calls and send test messages after the move, confirm where each one lands, and check that your tracking still records them.

A checklist for your 14 days

1. Confirm who receives Google’s emails for your account.
2. Export your performance reports by month, service and area.
3. Work out your new daily budget (weekly divided by seven) and monthly cap (daily multiplied by 30.4).
4. Decide which services need their own campaign and Target CPA.
5. Check your Google Business Profile name, address and hours, and avoid big changes close to the move.
6. Prepare at least six structured callouts.
7. After the move, check budget, Target CPA, categories, areas, schedule, the lead phone number and photos.
8. Allow a couple of weeks for performance to settle before judging the result.

How iLeads helps

For clients whose Local Services Ads we manage, we handle the whole move: watching for the notice, saving your history, setting up the new campaign structure and targets, reviewing your Google Business Profile, checking that calls reach you, and watching the first weeks closely. You keep ownership of everything throughout.

If you run Local Services Ads yourself and would like a hand before your notice arrives, see Local Services Ads management or request a campaign review.