The Short Version
TL;DR
→LSAs become a Google Ads campaign: Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals. Existing campaigns migrate automatically. The ads keep running; where you manage them, and how they get optimized, is what changes.
→Home-service trades are in the first wave: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control, and moving.
→What makes LSAs work stays (Search + Maps only, pay-per-lead, GBP targeting, Verified badge). Manual per-service bidding is gone. Historical LSA data does not transfer — export it before you migrate.
This Week’s Briefing: LSA Moves Into Google Ads
01 — The News
Your LSA dashboard is going away. LSAs become a Google Ads campaign.
Google is folding Local Services Ads into Google Ads as a new campaign type: Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals. The standalone LSA dashboard is being retired, and your existing pay-per-lead campaigns migrate automatically. The ads keep running. Where you manage them, and how they get optimized, is what changes.
Sources: Search Engine Land — LSAs Come to Google Ads via Performance Max
02 — The Timeline
Home-service trades are in the first wave.
Phase 1 covers US home and storefront services: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control, and moving. Service-area businesses and custom-bidding accounts follow in late 2026, and everyone else in 2027. The migration is automatic, so if your trade is on that list, this is weeks away, not someday.
Sources: Google Ads Help — LSA Transition to Performance Max
03 — Don’t Panic
What makes LSAs work is staying. This is not YouTube ads.
Despite the “Performance Max” name, these ads still appear only on Google Search and Maps, not YouTube, Gmail, or Display. Pay-per-lead billing stays. The keywordless targeting that pulls from your Google Business Profile stays. Your Google Verified badge, review count, and lead-quality signals all carry over. The reasons LSAs generate leads are not changing.
Sources: 99Calls — What Contractors Need to Know
From the team at DUO
Here is the part that matters most. Once Google runs your LSAs on one automated target, the only way to steer it is the data you feed it, and that is exactly what the last few issues built toward. We don’t count leads. We count booked jobs, so we feed Google booked-job values, not lead totals, and keep your cost per booked job in view straight through the migration. If you would rather not fly the transition blind, we will handle it.
Have DUO handle the migration →04 — What Actually Changes
Manual, per-service bidding is gone. Google optimizes the whole account.
Three real changes. Management moves into the Google Ads platform, so budget, bidding, lead review, and dispute handling all live there now. Manual per-job bid targets disappear in favor of one automated campaign-level target CPA and daily budgets. If you bid more for HVAC replacements than for routine maintenance today, that lever is going away.
Sources: PPC Land — Google Folds LSAs Into Google Ads
05 — Do This First
Your historical LSA data does not transfer. Export it before you migrate.
This is the one that stings. Lead history, monthly cost and CPL by service, dispute records, and every performance chart stay behind in the old dashboard and vanish after migration. Download all of it to a spreadsheet now, confirm you have a Google Ads account, and note your current cost per lead and budget as a baseline. If an agency runs your LSAs, make sure they have already pulled it.
Sources: PPC Land — Historical Reports Cut in Migration
Do this today (before the dashboard disappears)
- ☐Export your full LSA history now: lead records, monthly CPL by service, disputes, benchmarks. It is gone after migration.
- ☐Confirm you have an active Google Ads account. Google needs one to migrate your campaigns.
- ☐Write down your current cost per lead and monthly budget as a baseline to judge the new automated bidding against.
