Local Services Ads is moving into Google Ads

Local Services Ads is leaving its own standalone dashboard and moving inside Google Ads, and the first wave of accounts is already being switched over this month. If you run a plumbing, HVAC, cleaning, or similar service business off those pay-per-lead ads, this is a change to plan for now, not after the email arrives.

Google has run Local Services Ads as a separate product for years: its own login, its own dashboard, a pay-per-lead model built around phone calls, messages, and bookings instead of clicks. That product is being absorbed into Google Ads under the Performance Max label. The core mechanics stay the same on paper. Where the account lives, how the budget is entered, and which controls still exist are all changing.

What's changing in Local Services Ads

• Campaign management moves from the standalone Local Services dashboard into the regular Google Ads interface
• Ads still appear only on Search and Maps, and campaigns stay keywordless, pulling from your Google Business Profile
• You still pay for qualified leads, calls, messages, and bookings, not clicks
• Historical performance reports do not carry over to the new account
• Manual bidding and vertical-level Target CPA are dropped once you're migrated

Which service businesses go first

The initial rollout in August 2026 targets home and storefront service categories in the US: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control, and moving. Service-area businesses without a storefront, and accounts running custom setups, follow later this year. Everything outside the US comes in 2027.

What to do before your account moves

1. 1

   Download your lead history now

   Export call, message, and booking reports from the current Local Services dashboard. That history does not transfer to Google Ads.

2. 2

   Watch for the migration notice

   Google sends a notice 14 days before an account moves and a reminder 7 days out. Make sure whoever owns the Google Business Profile login is watching that inbox, not just whoever manages the ad spend.

3. 3

   Redo your budget as a daily number

   Your weekly budget gets divided by seven to set a daily average, and monthly spend is capped at that daily figure times 30.4. If you've been thinking in round weekly numbers, check what that actually converts to.

4. 4

   Clean up your Google Business Profile

   Campaigns stay keywordless and pull directly from your profile: service area, hours, reviews, photos. Whatever is out of date there shows up in the ad.

The part worth planning for

None of this is optional and none of it needs a decision from you beyond preparation. The accounts move on Google's schedule, in phases, with two email warnings, and the businesses that come out ahead are the ones who pull their lead reports and fix their budget math before the notice lands, not after. If you want a hand auditing what your Local Services account looks like before it moves, or setting up a simple report that captures lead data outside Google so a platform migration never costs you your own history again, I'm glad to look at your setup.