Google Local Services Ads, and what happened to Google Guaranteed.

Google Local Services Ads are the row of local businesses at the very top of a Google search, and you pay for each lead they send you instead of each click.

They can work well for a plumber or an HVAC shop that answers the phone. Google has also changed a lot of the rules since 2024, including the badge most owners still call Google Guaranteed, so this page goes through what is true today, with the dates.

What Local Services Ads are.

Search "furnace repair Edmonton" or "roofer near me" on a phone and the first thing you often see is a short row of sponsored local businesses with a star rating and a call button. Those are Local Services Ads, and Google's own ad page says they appear at the top of the page.

The difference from a regular Google search ad is what you pay for. A regular search ad charges you each time someone clicks it, whether they call you or not. A Local Services Ad charges you for a lead, according to Google's help page on how leads work, and a lead is a customer who calls or messages you through the ad. You set an average weekly budget, Google turns it into a monthly cap, and once you hit the cap your ad stops showing until next month.

Google does not post lead prices. The price changes with the job and the area, and Google says a message lead is usually cheaper than a phone lead, though not always.

What counts as a lead changed on October 1, 2026. A call you answer has always counted. Now a missed call during your business hours also counts if the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds, and a call that rolls to voicemail or a recorded greeting counts the same way. Google takes your business hours from your Google Business Profile, the box with your hours and reviews on Google Maps and beside search results. A plumber whose profile says open 24 hours, with ads running all night, pays for the 3 am call he sleeps through.

One rule works in your favour. Once a customer has been charged as a lead, more calls or messages from the same number are not charged again, as long as there has been contact within the last 15 days.

What happened to Google Guaranteed.

For years these ads carried a green check and the words Google Guaranteed, or Google Screened in some categories. On October 20, 2025, Google retired both, along with License Verified by Google, and replaced them with one badge called Google Verified.

The money-back guarantee went with it. Under the old program a homeowner who was unhappy with the work could ask Google to reimburse them. Google ended that, and its help page on the new badge says homeowners could only claim for jobs booked through the ads before December 7, 2025, within 30 days of the work being finished. For anything booked since, there is no refund from Google behind the badge.

What the badge means now is that the business passed Google's screening, and the profile lists the checks it passed. Google also says it shows the badge when it predicts it will help the customer decide, so it does not appear on every ad. If an article tells you the badge covers the homeowner up to a dollar amount, it was written before October 2025.

Shops that had already passed screening did not have to reapply. Google moved them to the new badge automatically and says the change did not affect where ads rank.

How to qualify.

Every business that runs these ads goes through Google's screening first. Google's requirements page says it takes about three to four weeks on average after you send your documents. You need a verified Google Business Profile before you can start, which is one more reason to get your profile in order first.

What Google checks depends on your trade and where you work. For a plumber, an electrician or an HVAC shop in Canada, the same page lists these:

• A background check on the business and on the owner.
• A check on the service professionals who go into customers' homes.
• A business licence at the provincial level, where local law requires one.
• General liability and professional liability insurance.

Roofing is on Google's list for Canada as well, with the business and owner checks but without the check on each technician. In the US the licence check is at the state level. Whether ads are open for your trade in your city is a separate question, and Google checks it against your trade and address when you sign up.

Google can ask you to redo a check later. If you don't, it can pause your ads or take the badge away, so keep your insurance certificate current on file. New advertisers can run ads while screening is still in progress, but those ads rank below shops that have finished.

Bad leads and credits.

You used to be able to dispute a bad lead by hand and get the money back. Since mid-2024, Google does it automatically. It reviews charged leads for 30 days and credits the ones it decides were duplicates or poor quality. Each lead in your inbox shows one of four statuses: Charged, Not charged, In review or Credited.

Two kinds of lead that owners expect a credit for no longer get one: a call for a job you don't do, and a call from outside your service area. A roofer who gets a call about a furnace pays for it. Google's advice is to narrow the services and areas you pick, and it admits that costs you some leads.

What you have left is a feedback survey on each lead. Google says it uses the answers to improve lead quality, and it sometimes gives a credit for filling it in. It takes a few seconds per lead.

The cheapest fix is to answer the phone. A missed call during business hours can now cost you a lead, and missed calls also count against your responsiveness, which Google uses to decide where your ad ranks.

Are they worth it for a trade shop.

They can be, if someone answers the phone and the profile behind the ad is in good shape. Google ranks these ads on your bid and on how likely the ad is to produce a lead. Most of the second part comes from the same things that make a Google Business Profile work: your rating, how many reviews you have, how fast you answer and photos of real jobs. Google says good photos can even lower your cost per lead.

That makes them a better fit for some shops than others. A plumber in Calgary with plenty of recent reviews and someone on the phones all day is the shop these ads are built for. A two-truck HVAC outfit that lets the phone ring out during installs pays for some of those missed calls and ranks lower because of them.

Watch the monthly cap too. A roofer in Denver can spend the month's budget in the week after a hailstorm, and then the ad disappears until the first of the next month unless he raises it.

The part that doesn't change is that the ad stops the day you stop paying, while your Google Business Profile and your reviews keep working. If you are weighing these ads against lead services, I cover what you get from those in paid leads and what you're buying.

For most shops my order is to fix the profile first, because the ads rank on it anyway, and then decide on ads with real numbers in front of you. The strategy tells you which to spend on first for your trade and your town. If it points to the ongoing work instead, that is monthly SEO, and it takes at least six to nine months, and sometimes longer, before it shows in your rankings.