Google is making a significant change to how businesses manage Local Services Ads (LSAs). Beginning in August 2026, existing Local Services Ads campaigns will gradually transition from the standalone LSA dashboard into Google Ads as a specialized type of Performance Max campaign with pay-per-lead goals.
The change is designed to bring Local Services Ads into the primary Google Ads platform, allowing businesses and advertisers to manage more of their Google advertising from one location.
However, this isn’t simply a switch from Local Services Ads to a traditional Performance Max campaign. Several of the features that make LSAs unique—including the pay-per-lead model and local Search and Maps placements—will remain in place.
What’s Staying the Same With Local Services Ads?
Despite the move into Google Ads, many of the fundamental features businesses rely on aren’t changing.
Advertisers will continue to pay for valid leads rather than clicks, including eligible phone calls and messages. Campaigns will also remain focused exclusively on local placements within Google Search and Google Maps rather than expanding across YouTube, Gmail, Display, and the other networks commonly associated with standard Performance Max campaigns.
The campaigns will also remain keywordless. Google will continue using information such as your business categories, services, service areas, and other account settings to determine when your ads are eligible to appear.
For consumers searching for local services, the ads themselves should continue appearing in the same locations they do today.
What’s Changing?
The biggest change is where advertisers manage their campaigns.
Once an account has migrated, budgets, targeting settings, leads, customer communications, and other campaign controls will be managed directly through Google Ads rather than the standalone Local Services Ads dashboard.
Google is also introducing several changes to how campaigns are managed.
Weekly budgets will become daily budgets. Google will divide your historical average weekly budget by seven to establish a daily average budget. Monthly spending will remain capped based on the daily average budget multiplied by 30.4.
Manual bidding is going away. Advertisers will no longer be able to manually establish a maximum cost per lead.
Vertical-level Target CPA is also being discontinued. Businesses currently using different Target CPA amounts for multiple service categories within one campaign will receive a unified campaign-level Target CPA. Businesses that want separate bidding strategies may need to create separate campaigns for individual service categories.
Google Business Profile integration becomes even more important. Core information such as your business name, physical address, and standard business hours will sync from your Google Business Profile into Google Ads. Service areas and advertising schedules can still be managed separately within Google Ads.
Google is also discontinuing Better Business Bureau (BBB) callouts. Businesses using them should consider adding other campaign callouts highlighting information such as business hours, specialties, or accepted payment methods.
Local Services Ads Migration Timeline
Google isn’t moving every Local Services Ads account at the same time. Instead, the transition will happen in three primary phases.
August 2026: The first phase begins with select U.S. home and storefront service advertisers, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control, moving services, and other eligible categories.
Late 2026: Google will expand the migration to broader advertiser groups. This will include additional service-area businesses without physical storefronts and accounts using custom bidding or booking configurations.
2027: Non-U.S. advertisers and remaining business categories that weren’t transitioned during 2026 will migrate to Google Ads.
There is no universal migration date for every Local Services Ads account. Google will assign transition dates individually based on its rollout schedule.
How Will You Know When Your Account Is Migrating?
Google will notify the administrator listed on your Local Services Ads profile before the migration takes place.
14-Day Advance Notification: The account administrator will receive an email 14 days before the scheduled migration date. Google will also display warning banners within the existing Local Services Ads dashboard.
7-Day Reminder: A second reminder email will be sent seven days later.
Migration Confirmation: Once the migration has been successfully completed, the account administrator will receive another email confirming the transition.
On the scheduled migration day, advertisers attempting to access their existing LSA dashboard will automatically be redirected to the new campaign overview within Google Ads.
What Information Will Transfer Automatically?
The good news is that businesses shouldn’t need to rebuild their Local Services Ads campaigns from scratch.
Google says it will automatically transfer key campaign settings, including:
- Targeted locations
- Service types and business categories
- Budget limits
- Ad schedules
- Business photos
- Existing verification status
- Historical customer leads and communications
Businesses that have already completed verification will also retain their verified status and Google Verified badge, where applicable.
Past customer leads—including customer contact information, message histories and older call recordings—will also transfer to the new Leads section within Google Ads.
One Important Exception: Historical Performance Reports
This is one of the most important details for current LSA advertisers.
Your historical Local Services Ads performance reports will not transfer into Google Ads.
Historical campaign metrics such as impressions, clicks, weekly spend and previous ad-level performance reports won’t be available in the new campaign dashboard after migration.
Google recommends taking screenshots of important performance reports from the existing Local Services Ads dashboard before your scheduled migration date. Google has also indicated that a dedicated page for downloading historical performance data will become available.
If your business or marketing team relies on historical LSA data for year-over-year reporting, lead-cost analysis or campaign optimization, backing up that information should be a priority before migration.
What Happens Immediately After Migration?
Google says many ads should begin running immediately after the transition, but advertisers should allow up to two weeks for the migration to fully complete and campaign performance to stabilize.
That makes the first few weeks after migration an important period for reviewing campaign settings and performance.
After the transition, advertisers should verify their daily budget, bidding targets, service areas, business categories, ad schedules and lead routing information inside Google Ads.
You’ll also manage customer leads differently. The new Leads section within Google Ads will replace the existing Local Services Ads lead inbox. Advertisers will still be able to review charged leads, identify lead types, submit lead feedback, communicate with customers and download lead information for use in a CRM.
What Should Local Services Ads Advertisers Do Now?
For most businesses, the migration itself will happen automatically. That doesn’t mean advertisers should ignore the transition until it happens.
Before your migration date, we recommend:
- Confirm your account administrator and email address so Google’s migration notifications reach the right person.
- Back up your historical LSA performance data before access to the existing dashboard disappears.
- Review your Google Business Profile for accurate business names, addresses, hours and other important information.
- Document your current budgets, bidding settings, service areas and ad schedules so they can be compared with the migrated campaign.
- Watch for Google’s 14-day migration notification so you know exactly when your account is scheduled to transition.
- Review the campaign immediately after migration to confirm that budgets, targeting, services, lead routing and other settings transferred correctly.
- Monitor performance for at least the first two weeks following the transition while the campaign settles into the new Google Ads environment.
One other important consideration: advertisers currently can’t create new pay-per-lead campaigns directly within Google Ads. Businesses that need additional campaigns or local accounts must continue creating them through Local Services Ads until Google makes campaign creation available within Google Ads.
Preparing for the Future of Local Services Ads
Moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads represents a significant change in campaign management, but it doesn’t mean the LSA advertising model is disappearing.
Businesses will still pay for qualified leads, ads will remain focused on Google Search and Maps, and service-based targeting will continue without traditional keyword management. What’s changing is the platform and some of the controls advertisers use to manage those campaigns.
For businesses currently running Local Services Ads, the biggest priority is preparation. Watch for your 14-day migration email, preserve your historical reporting, and carefully review your campaign once the transition is complete.
Google is rolling out the migration gradually, so don’t be concerned if other businesses move to the new platform before you do. Your account’s notification will provide the specific timeline you need to follow.
For the latest details, including Google’s migration timeline, bidding changes and instructions for managing campaigns after the transition, review the official Google Ads Local Services migration guide.
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