On October 1, 2026, Google began billing some missed Local Services Ads calls, which we covered in yesterday's breakdown. That's one half of a bigger change. The other half is structural: LSA campaigns are being moved into Google Ads as a Performance Max campaign type for pay-per-lead goals. Here's what Google itself says changes, what third-party analysts add, and what's still unknown.
What Stays the Same
Google's own announcement says the billing model, ad placement and keywordless targeting are unchanged: your ads still show on Search and Maps where they did before, and you still pay per valid lead. The change is where you manage the campaign and which controls you get.
The Rollout Timeline
According to Google Ads Help, the migration is phased: select U.S. home and storefront service categories first (from August 2026), broader groups in late 2026, and non-U.S. accounts and remaining categories in 2027. Invoca lists HVAC, plumbing, roofing, electrical, pest control and restoration among the first wave. Whether your account has moved yet depends on your category and region, so check your Google Ads login rather than assuming.
What Actually Changes
| Area | What Google's help page says |
|---|---|
| Bidding | Manual bidding and vertical-level Target CPA are deprecated; a unified campaign-level Target CPA applies |
| Budgets | Weekly budgets convert to daily averages (weekly ÷ 7); monthly spend capped at daily average × 30.4 |
| Reporting | Previous campaign-level performance metrics do not migrate; lead history (contacts, messages, call recordings) does |
| Business details | Core info syncs from your Google Business Profile; significant changes need verification (24–48 hours) |
| Other | BBB callouts no longer supported; allow up to 2 weeks for migration and ramp-up; campaigns may pause temporarily during business verification |
Where Analysts Add Warnings
Invoca, a call-analytics vendor with its own interest in call tracking, points out that Google's "conversions" metric counts charged leads, not booked jobs, so cost-per-lead can look fine while cost-per-booked-job gets worse. It also reports that call answer rates and text response speed feed ad ranking. Treat both as one vendor's reading, not a Google guarantee, and verify in your own account.
A Practical Checklist
- Export before you migrate. Download your LSA performance reports; Google says they won't carry over.
- Re-set budget expectations. Note your weekly budget, divide by 7, and watch the first weeks of daily spend instead of assuming the weekly total behaves the same.
- Pick a bidding target consciously. With manual and vertical-level bidding gone, decide a single campaign-level target, or ask whether splitting service types into separate campaigns makes sense.
- Track booked jobs yourself. Record which charged leads became appointments and revenue in your own system, outside Google's dashboard.
- Close the answer gap. Between per-lead billing for some missed calls and the reported ranking signals, an unanswered or slow-to-text-back lead costs more than it used to. A 24/7 call answering and text-back setup is one way to cover it.
- Check your Business Profile. Hours, service areas and categories sync from it, so errors there now flow into your ads.
What We Don't Know
We have not seen a published, independent comparison of cost-per-booked-job before and after migration, and Google hasn't published when every category will move. Anyone quoting a precise performance change from the migration is guessing. If you're unsure where your account stands, run the free missed-call and Google check and we'll tell you honestly what to fix first.
Related Articles
- Google Will Now Charge for Some Missed LSA Calls
- What a Missed Call Really Costs a Small Business
- Google Ads PPC Guide
Sources: Google Ads Help: Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max, Invoca.
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