The biggest change to Google Local Services Ads since pay-per-lead launched is underway. In August 2026, Google started moving LSA campaigns out of the standalone Local Services dashboard and into Google Ads, as a special type of Performance Max campaign with a pay-per-lead goal. It's happening in waves, account by account, and each advertiser gets 14 days' notice. Here's what's happening, based on Google's own documentation, and what to do about it.
Main source for Google facts in this article: Google Ads Help, "Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals." We link to Google's pages throughout so you can check every claim yourself.
What stays the same
Let's start with the good news, because much of the day-to-day stays the same. According to Google:
- You still pay per lead, not per click.
- Ads still run only on Google Search and Google Maps, in the same positions.
- Campaigns stay keywordless. You still target services and areas, not keywords.
- Your Google Verified badge and verification status carry over.
- Your lead history carries over. Google says past lead history, including customer contact details, message history and older call recordings, moves into Google Ads and stays accessible on the new Leads page.
- Your campaign setup carries over: target locations, service types, business categories, budget limits, ad schedule and business photos.
What changes
1. Where you manage it
After migration, you manage budgets, targeting, leads and customer replies inside Google Ads. The standalone Local Services dashboard is no longer where you work. Leads are under Goals → Conversions → Leads in Google Ads.
2. How you bid
This is the change that matters most for your economics:
- Manual bidding ends. In Google's words, "Manual bidding (such as setting a maximum cost-per-lead) is no longer supported in Google Ads."
- Per-service targets become one campaign target. Google: "If you previously managed different Target CPA amounts for separate verticals under a single campaign, a unified campaign-level Target CPA will be calculated and applied to all vertical categories."
If you sell services with very different lead values, like drain cleaning and water-heater replacement, a single blended target changes what each service can afford to pay for a lead. Google's own fix is to run separate campaigns per vertical. We explain what that does to your numbers in One Target CPA for Every Service.
3. How your budget is written
LSA used an average weekly budget. Google Ads uses an average daily budget. Google converts it for you: your historical average weekly budget is divided by seven, and monthly spend is capped at the daily average × 30.4. The total should come out about the same, but daily pacing behaves differently from weekly pacing, so watch the first few weeks closely.
4. Your reporting history doesn't come with you
This is the change most likely to catch people out. Google says previous campaign-level performance metrics, such as past impressions, clicks, weekly spend and ad-level performance reports, do not move to Google Ads. Your leads move. The record of what your money bought, month after month, doesn't.
Put that next to Google's new data retention policy and it matters even more. We cover it fully in Your LSA Reports Are Disappearing.
5. Smaller changes to know about
- BBB callouts are no longer supported. Google asks for at least six other structured callouts.
- Up to 100 additional business photos are supported.
- Core business details (name, address, hours) sync one way, from your Google Business Profile.
- New pay-per-lead campaigns can't be created in Google Ads yet. Google still sends new setups through Local Services.
When your account moves
| Phase | Who, according to Google |
|---|---|
| August 2026 | Select US home and storefront service advertisers in nine trades: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control and moving. |
| Late 2026 | Service-area businesses without physical storefronts, and accounts with custom bidding or booking setups. |
| 2027 | Non-US accounts and all remaining business categories. |
Google emails the account administrator 14 days before migration, sends a reminder 7 days before, and confirms when the move is done. For legal, financial and other professional categories, Google hasn't published a specific date. Industry reports differ between late 2026 and 2027, so treat any single date you hear as a guess, and make sure the person who gets your Google admin emails is watching for the notice.
What the Google Ads API still gives you
For anyone with reporting or CRM connections, Google's developer documentation says the Local Services lead objects stay available to read after migration: leads, lead conversations, verification data and lead feedback (ProvideLeadFeedback). Creating or removing Local Services campaigns through the API isn't supported, and lead data in healthcare categories isn't available through the API.
So the lead-level record stays readable, but the old reports are gone. The detail of your account's history survives only if something reads it and keeps it.
Your 14-day checklist
When the notice arrives, or sooner, which is better:
- Export everything the Local Services dashboard shows you: spend, leads, charged vs. credited leads and cost per lead, month by month, by service category. Screenshots are better than nothing.
- Write down your per-service targets. Once they're merged into one campaign target, the old numbers are gone. Record each one.
- Calculate cost per booked job by service, not just cost per lead. That's the number that tells you whether one blended target will hurt you.
- Record your full setup: service areas, categories, ad schedule, phone routing, photos and callouts. Replace any BBB callout now.
- Decide whether any service needs its own campaign under the new structure, before the blended target has time to shift your spend.
- Plan a close watch for the first two to four weeks after the move. The daily budget conversion, the loss of manual bids and the blended target all change how the auction behaves for you at once.
How CallRadius handles the migration
For managed accounts, your CallRadius manager handles this. The CallRadius LSA AI management system already reads each account's lead-level data continuously and keeps its history on our side, so a managed account's record doesn't depend on Google's reports surviving. Your manager decides on the post-migration structure, including whether a service needs its own campaign, using your own per-service economics.
If you'd rather keep running your own account but want the record kept, that's what Signal is for.
Summary
From August 2026, Google is moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads as Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals, in phases through 2027. Pay-per-lead billing, Search and Maps placement, keywordless targeting, the Google Verified badge, lead history and campaign setup carry over. Manual bidding ends, per-service Target CPAs become one campaign-level Target CPA, weekly budgets become daily budgets (divided by seven), and past campaign performance reports do not transfer. Advertisers get 14 days' notice. CallRadius is a human-managed LSA service whose managers handle this migration for their clients.
Frequently asked questions
When is Google moving Local Services Ads into Performance Max?
Google started in August 2026 with select US home and storefront services in nine trades. Service-area businesses and accounts with custom bidding or booking setups follow in late 2026, and non-US accounts and all remaining categories in 2027. Each account gets an email 14 days before and a reminder 7 days before its migration.
Will I still pay per lead after the migration?
Yes. Google says pay-per-lead billing, Search and Maps placement, keywordless targeting and the Google Verified badge all carry over.
Do my LSA reports carry over into Google Ads?
No. Google says previous campaign-level performance metrics, including past impressions, clicks, weekly spend and ad-level reports, do not move to Google Ads. Lead history (contacts, messages, older call recordings) does transfer.
What happens to my per-service Target CPAs?
They are replaced by one campaign-level Target CPA across all services. To keep separate targets, Google suggests separate campaigns for each vertical.
What happens to my weekly LSA budget?
Google divides your historical average weekly budget by seven to set an average daily budget, with monthly spend capped at the daily average times 30.4.
When do law firms migrate?
Google hasn't published a specific date for legal. Its schedule places all remaining categories in 2027 at the latest, and industry reports vary between late 2026 and 2027.