Local Services Ads in the UK: what tradespeople need to know

What Local Services Ads are

Local Services Ads appear at the very top of Google results for searches such as "plumber near me", above the standard text ads. They show the business name, rating, hours and a badge, and the homeowner contacts the business directly from the ad. Unlike ordinary Google Ads, the business pays per lead (a call or message) rather than per click, and there are no keywords: the ads are matched by service category and service area.

To appear, a business goes through screening. In the UK that has been reported to include identity and background checks through Google's verification partner, proof of public liability insurance and trade-specific registration such as Gas Safe for heating engineers. The role of those accreditations more broadly is covered in accreditation badges as marketing.

The guarantee is gone

For years the format's headline feature was the Google Guaranteed badge, backed by a money-back promise: if a customer was unhappy with work booked through the ad, Google would reimburse them up to a capped amount. Google's own help pages now state that it is discontinuing the Money Back Guarantee. Consumers can still claim for services booked through Local Services Ads before 7 December 2025, within 30 days of the job being completed.

For trades that leaned on "backed by Google" in their pitch, that line no longer applies to new work. The reassurance the badge offered homeowners has shifted from financial protection to verification.

One badge to replace them all

Google says it is replacing its advertiser badges with a single Google Verified badge for all Local Services advertisers. Businesses that already met the verification requirements receive it automatically. New advertisers must pass Local Services screening first. The badge appears on the Local Services profile and may show elsewhere, and verified profiles list the specific checks the business has passed.

Google states that the badge does not affect ad ranking. What it does is make the verifications visible, which puts the trade's own registrations (Gas Safe, NICEIC and the like) in front of the homeowner at the moment of choice.

Reported: a move into Performance Max

In August 2026 trade press reported that Google is moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads as a Performance Max campaign type with pay-per-lead goals. According to those reports the standalone Local Services dashboard would be retired, weekly budgets would become daily budgets, manual bidding options would be phased out in favour of automated bidding, and business details would sync from the Google Business Profile.

The reported timeline puts selected US home services first, from August 2026, with international accounts including the UK in a later phase during 2027. We have not seen a Google announcement setting out UK dates, so treat the schedule as reported rather than confirmed. UK advertisers should expect notification by email ahead of any migration and should export their historical lead reports from the current dashboard before it goes.

What has not changed

• You still pay per lead, not per click, and can dispute leads that are wrong numbers, duplicates or outside your area.
• There are still no keywords; targeting is by service type and area.
• Screening and verification still take time, reported at anything from days to several weeks, so a trade wanting to be live for a seasonal peak needs to start early, as our 12-month trades marketing calendar sets out.
• Your Business Profile still matters, and will matter more if business details sync from it as reported. The recent profile changes are covered in what Google's Business Profile changes mean for tradespeople.

What this means in practice

For a UK trade already running Local Services Ads, the immediate job is housekeeping: check the Verified badge has appeared, check which verifications are listed and whether any are missing, and stop using any "Google Guaranteed" wording in other marketing that implies a money-back promise that no longer exists.

For a trade considering the format, the calculation is the same as for any pay-per-lead channel, worked through in pay per lead, retainer or fixed fee: how trades pay for marketing. The leads are real and the placement is unmatched, but the cost per job depends entirely on how quickly and how well the phone is answered. A pay-per-lead ad that rings an unanswered mobile is the most expensive form of advertising there is.

Watching brief

The direction is consistent with everything else Google has done in local this year: pull the format into its main systems, automate the bidding, lean on the Business Profile as the source of truth and make verification the trust signal rather than a financial guarantee. We will update this piece when Google publishes UK migration dates.

Frequently asked questions