When Local Services Ads are not getting leads, the cause is almost always one of seven things: the ad is off or outside its ad schedule, the business hours say you are closed, the monthly budget cap has been hit, the bid mode is set too low to win auctions, job types or service areas are switched off or drawn too tight, the profile is stuck in verification or paused after a missed review, or missed calls and slow replies have dragged down your ranking. You find which one in the Local Services Ads dashboard under Profile & budget and Reports, then fix one layer at a time, starting with whether the ad can serve at all.
Local Services Ads (LSA) charge per lead and rank in an auction. If you are new to the format, our explainer on what LSA is in marketing covers the basics. For contractors running LSA next to Search, see our Google Ads for contractors work. Below is the order we troubleshoot in.
How Google ranks Local Services Ads.
Google's current help page on ad rankings lists six inputs to the LSA auction. Some you set once, some you earn every week.
- Bid: the most you are willing to pay for a lead. Google recommends Maximize leads.
- Likelihood of a lead: largely responsiveness. Google states plainly that missed calls may hurt your responsiveness.
- Search context: the service or job the customer searched, plus time and the customer's location. This is where proximity to the searcher comes in.
- Relevance: how well your selected services and business bio match the search.
- Lead channels: turning on message leads and, where available, booking leads gives customers more ways to reach you.
- Profile quality: your rating, number of reviews, average response time, high-quality images and the verification checks you have completed. Google says higher quality profiles may rank higher and may also pay less per lead.
Business hours are less a score than a gate: Google's troubleshooting page says that outside your hours, or when listed as not accepting customers, the ad will not show with its badge. Google's ranking page does not list complaints by name at the time of writing, so we treat reviews and verification standing as where complaints show up.
The seven causes we find most often.
- Ad toggled off or ad schedule too narrow: the ad status in Profile & budget is off, or the Ad schedule card only covers a few hours a week.
- Business hours say closed: hours come from your Google Business Profile, and if they are wrong or show you as not taking customers, the ad does not serve with a badge during those times.
- Monthly budget cap reached: weekly budget is an average, and once the monthly max is spent the ad stops for the rest of the month.
- Bid too low: Max per lead set below what competitors pay, so you rarely win the auction.
- Job types or service areas switched off: a high-value job type is toggled off, or service areas are a handful of ZIP codes instead of whole counties.
- Profile or verification problem: a background check, license, insurance or Business Profile step is incomplete, or a follow-up review was missed and the ads were paused.
- Weak responsiveness and reviews: missed calls, slow message replies and few reviews pull you down the ranking even when everything else is set.
Budget, bidding mode and weekly limits.
At the time of writing, Google's bidding page lists three bid modes in the LSA dashboard. Maximize leads lets Google set the bid to get the most leads for your budget, and Google recommends it. Target cost per lead is automated with an optional target you set near what you expect to pay. Max per lead is manual and caps what you will pay for any single lead.
Max per lead is the setting we see starve accounts most often, because a stale cap prices you out of competitive searches. Google recommends a budget of at least 10 leads per week and says the model needs about 2 weeks to learn after a change, so do not judge a new bid mode on three days of data. You change both in the lead inbox: open the menu, select Profile & budget, click the edit icon on the Budget section, choose how you want to bid, click Next, set the budget and save.
The weekly budget is an average. Google says you can spend more than it in a given week, but the monthly max (weekly average times the average weeks in a month) is the limit, and once you hit it the ad will not appear for the rest of the month. A busy first half followed by two silent weeks is the classic sign.
Service areas and job types.
Google's performance tips: select every job type you perform and set service areas broadly, such as a whole county rather than postal codes. In the dashboard, open Profile & budget, click the pencil on the Job types card, expand each industry and check that the jobs you want are toggled on. One trap: turning off every job type does not stop leads on the overall category. To stop leads entirely you pause the ad.
On the Service areas card, read the Exclude these service areas list too. A forgotten slow-season exclusion is a common reason a good suburb goes dark.
Business hours and paused ads.
In Profile & budget, check three cards: Business Hours (you are open and accepting customers), Ad schedule (the days and times you intend to run) and the ad status toggle (On). Google also points to Change history under the Campaigns menu for unexpected status or budget changes, and the bell icon in Google Ads for billing alerts.
Hours and schedule also affect what you pay. Google counts a missed call as a valid lead only when the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds during business hours, and if your ad schedule differs from your hours, unanswered calls are charged only when they fall inside both.
Profile status and verification problems.
Ads cannot appear until the business passes screening and verification. Depending on category, that covers background checks, Business Profile ownership, business registration, the business representative, insurance and licenses. Google re-evaluates advertisers over time and may request a follow-up review. Its verification page warns that failing to complete one can mean losing the badge, a pause on ads or account suspension.
Since October 20, 2025, the older Google Guaranteed, Google Screened and License Verified badges have been replaced by one Google Verified badge. Google says the badge change does not affect ranking. If a profile still shows pending steps, or an expired insurance certificate, fix that before you touch bids.
Missed calls and responsiveness.
Google says missed calls may hurt responsiveness, that a consistently fast response time can improve ranking, and that average response time may show in your ad. Route LSA calls to a line someone answers during posted hours and reply to message leads within minutes. Google says message leads typically cost less than phone leads. If you are charged for junk calls in the meantime, see how to dispute a Local Services Ads lead.
Reviews belong here too. Google recommends at least 5, and rating and review count feed profile quality.
How to check performance in the LSA dashboard.
Open the lead inbox, select the menu and choose Reports. Reports show charged leads (filterable by category or direct business search), the split between calls, messages and bookings, total charges, lead spend by type and lead credits received. The Budget spent card shows whether the monthly cap ended your month early. If your account has migrated, the equivalent numbers live in Google Ads as Conversions, Cost and Cost / conv., and the lead inbox moves to Goals, Conversions, Leads.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No leads at all, no alerts | Ad toggled off or schedule empty | Turn the ad On and widen the Ad schedule in Profile & budget |
| Leads stop mid-month | Monthly max reached | Check Budget spent in Reports, raise the weekly budget |
| Leads only at odd hours or not at all after 5pm | Business hours or ad schedule too narrow | Fix hours in Google Business Profile and align the Ad schedule |
| Very few leads on a healthy budget | Max per lead cap too low | Switch to Maximize leads and allow about 2 weeks |
| Leads for the wrong jobs, none for the ones you want | Job types toggled off | Toggle on the right job types under Job types |
| Ads paused or badge missing | Verification step incomplete or follow-up review missed | Complete the pending checks and update license or insurance |
| Leads slide over weeks with no setting change | Missed calls and slow replies | Answer during posted hours, reply to messages fast, collect reviews |
Why are my Local Services Ads not showing?
Check the ad is On, the Ad schedule covers the time, and Business Hours show you open. Then check Budget spent in Reports for a used-up monthly max, account or billing alerts, and pending verification steps.
Does Max per lead hurt Local Services Ads lead volume?
It can. A low Max per lead cap loses competitive auctions. Google recommends Maximize leads and says the model needs about 2 weeks to learn. Migrated Performance Max accounts lose manual max cost per lead bidding.
Do missed calls affect Local Services Ads ranking?
Yes. Google says missed calls may hurt responsiveness, which feeds the auction. A missed call can also be charged if the caller holds more than 20 seconds during business hours.
Can I spend more than my weekly LSA budget?
In a given week, yes. The weekly budget is an average. The limit is the monthly max, roughly the weekly budget times the average weeks in a month, and once it is reached the ad stops for the rest of the month.
Does the Google Verified badge change my ranking?
Google says the switch to the Google Verified badge on October 20, 2025 does not affect ranking. Verification still matters, though: ads cannot run until screening is complete, and a missed follow-up review can pause ads.