Local Services Ads Are Moving Into Google Ads

Google is retiring the standalone Local Services Ads dashboard. Your LSA campaigns are being moved into the main Google Ads platform as a Performance Max campaign type built for pay per lead goals, and the first wave started this month.

That first wave is US home and storefront service advertisers, specifically plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control, and moving. Broader groups follow in late 2026, and non US accounts move in 2027. Everyone migrates eventually.

You get 14 days notice by email, a banner in your dashboard, and a reminder at 7 days. There is one thing you have to do in that window, and most coverage of this is burying it.

Download your reports before your migration date

Your historical performance reports do not carry over. Past impressions, clicks, weekly spend, and ad level performance are all gone once you migrate, and on transition day the LSA dashboard stops loading and redirects you to Google Ads.

Your lead history does carry over. Contact details, message threads, and older call recordings all move into the new Lead Manager. It's the performance reporting that disappears.

So when that 14 day email lands, export everything. Year over year seasonality, your historical cost per lead by category, your booking rate trends. That's the data you use to set budgets next spring, and there is no getting it back afterward.

The Performance Max name is not what you think

Seeing Performance Max attached to your LSA campaigns is alarming if you've been burned by it before. This is a different animal.

These campaigns serve only on Google Search and Google Maps, in the same positions as before. They stay keywordless, pulling from your service categories and areas. You still pay per valid lead rather than per click. No YouTube, no Gmail, no Display. Standard Performance Max features like headlines, videos, and sitelinks do not apply here.

Our position on Performance Max hasn't changed. But this is a billing and interface change wearing a Performance Max label, not the network expansion that usually causes problems.

Your Google Business Profile now controls your campaign

This one is an operational hazard, not a strategy problem.

Business name, address, and hours sync one direction from your Google Business Profile into Google Ads, on a daily sync. Minor changes flow through within 24 hours. But significant edits to your business name, storefront address, or primary category trigger a verification review, and your campaign can pause for 24 to 48 hours while that happens.

So if someone in your office decides to add a city name to your GBP business name in June, you might lose two days of your best leads at peak season. Lock down who has edit access to your Google Business Profile before you migrate, and treat GBP changes as a campaign level decision from here on.

Service areas, ad schedules, and photos are pre-populated from GBP but can be customized independently in Google Ads, so those you can still control separately.

Smaller things worth handling

• Your weekly budget converts to a daily average by dividing by 7. Monthly spend is capped at your daily budget times 30.4, so your total doesn't change, but daily spend will fluctuate more than you're used to.
• Better Business Bureau callouts are no longer supported. Go to your campaign's assets tab and pick at least six other structured callouts, like business hours, specialties, or accepted payment methods.
• Verification carries over automatically, including your Google Verified badge. Insurance and licence reverification aren't required.
• Allow up to two weeks after migration for performance to stabilize. Do not make changes during that window. Panic optimizing through a ramp period is how you turn a two week dip into a two month one.

The Lead Manager lives under Goals, then Conversions, then Leads. Same charged status, same lead types, same dispute feedback form, same CSV export. If you're pushing LSA leads into a CRM, verify that export still lines up with your call tracking setup after you migrate, because that's where attribution quietly breaks.

What this actually means

Consolidation. Google has spent the last two years pulling everything into one surface, which was the throughline at Google Marketing Live too, and LSAs were the last major holdout.

The upside is real. LSA and Search performance in one place means you can finally see blended cost per lead across both channels and shift budget between them with actual numbers instead of guesswork. That makes return on ad spend measurable across your whole Google presence for the first time.

The downside is that a channel that was simple enough for an owner to manage alone is now inside an interface that isn't. If you're running LSAs yourself, the learning curve just got steeper.

Frequently Asked Questions

When are Local Services Ads moving to Google Ads?

The first phase began in August 2026 for US home and storefront service advertisers including plumbing, HVAC, roofing, lawn care, pest control, and moving. Broader groups migrate in late 2026, and non US accounts in 2027.

Will my LSA leads and reviews carry over to Google Ads?

Your lead history transfers, including contact details, message threads, and call recordings. Your verification status and Google Verified badge carry over too. Historical performance reports do not, so download those before your migration date.

Do Local Services Ads still work the same way after the migration?

Yes from the customer's side. Ads serve in the same positions on Google Search and Maps, targeting stays keywordless and based on your service categories and areas, and you still pay per valid lead rather than per click.

Should I do anything before my LSA account migrates?

Export your historical performance reports, restrict who can edit your Google Business Profile, and plan replacement callouts now that BBB callouts are unsupported. Then leave the account alone for two weeks after migration while performance stabilizes.

Get Your Local Services Ads Migration Handled

Take your service business to new heights with Google Ads and LSA management under one roof. Reach out to us today.