Local Services Ads and the Google Verified badge.
Local Services Ads is a separate Google product from Search Ads. It charges per lead rather than per click, shows a listing rather than a written ad, and only admits businesses that pass Google's screening. We handle the screening, the profile it depends on, and the decision about whether it is worth doing where you are.
30-minute video call. No obligation.
The insight
The screening differs by category, and most agencies quote it as if it does not. Dentists, dermatologists, physiotherapists and chiropractors are screened as healthcare providers: two background checks, two insurances, two state licences and National Provider Identifier verification. Vets are screened as a business, with professional liability only and no NPI. HVAC gets a third check that reaches the individual technicians, because Google classes it an urgent category. Pest control gets a business representative check instead.
How it helps you
You appear above the ordinary search results, in the unit customers see first
You pay for a lead, meaning a call or a message, rather than for a click that goes nowhere
The Google Verified badge answers the question your customer is actually asking
Screening is a barrier your competitors also face, and many abandon partway through
Start with a free audit
Before the call we score your Google Business Profile and your website separately and look at who holds your local results today. You keep the assessment either way.
What’s included
An eligibility check before anything else: your category, your country and your profile
The document set assembled for your specific vertical, which is not the same list for a clinic and a trade
Google Business Profile verification, because Local Services Ads cannot run without it
Services and business bio written for how the product actually matches, since there are no keywords
Bid and budget set against a lead, not a click, with your real conversion rate behind it
Review and response-time monitoring, because both are ranking factors here
Monthly reporting on leads, cost per lead and disputed leads
How we do it
Eligibility
We confirm your category is listed, your country is covered, and your profile is verified. If any of the three fails we tell you before you spend anything, and for most of our markets one of them does.
Screening
We assemble the checks your vertical requires, which for a clinic includes provider and practice checks, general liability and malpractice cover, both state licences and NPI verification.
Launch
Services, bio, service area and budget. Where your category allows pre-badge ads we start there; health care categories cannot, so they wait for the full pass.
Run it
Responsiveness is a ranking factor and missed calls count against you, so this becomes an operational conversation as much as a marketing one.
What to expect
Screening is the long pole and it is measured in weeks, not days, because it depends on your insurer and your licensing body rather than on us. Home services categories can run pre-badge ads while they finish. Health care categories cannot, so plan the start date around your slowest document, which is usually the malpractice certificate.
Where it does not run, and what the badge is now called
Local Services Ads operates in eleven countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Australia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates are not among them, which covers three of the five markets we work in.
If an agency has offered to get your New Zealand or Dubai business Google Verified through Local Services Ads, it is describing a product that does not run there. We would rather lose the sale than take it.
The badge naming has also changed and most published material is behind. Google has moved to a single Google Verified badge in place of the former Google Guaranteed and Google Screened split, and the Money Back Guarantee attached to the old guarantee badge has been discontinued, covering only services booked before 7 December 2025.
The category list and the state-level licence structure we work from are the United States versions. For the UK and Ireland we confirm the local category name and document set rather than assuming the American one carries across.
Questions
Is Local Services Ads the same as Google Ads?
No. They are separate products. Local Services Ads charges per lead rather than per click, has no keywords or headlines, appears above the ordinary results, and requires a verified Google Business Profile plus a screening pass before anything runs.
Can we run Local Services Ads in New Zealand, Australia or the UAE?
No. The product operates in eleven countries and none of those three is among them. Anyone offering it in those markets is describing something that does not exist there. Google Search Ads remains the option.
What does Google check before we can run?
It depends on your vertical. A clinic faces a provider check and a practice check, general liability plus malpractice cover, a state practice licence and a state provider licence, and NPI verification. A vet is screened as a business with professional liability only. HVAC adds a check on the technicians you send out.
Is it still called Google Guaranteed or Google Screened?
No. Google has consolidated to a single Google Verified badge, and the Money Back Guarantee attached to the old guarantee badge has been discontinued for services booked after 7 December 2025. Proposals still using the old names were written against a system that no longer exists.
Can we start earning leads while screening finishes?
Only in some categories. Pre-badge ads let a business receive leads after preliminary checks, and they are available to home services and veterinary but not to health care verticals, garage door services or locksmiths. Pre-badge listings also rank below fully badged providers.
What should we bid per lead?
Work from the value of a completed job or course of treatment discounted by your real conversion rate, not from the value of a first appointment. Google recommends the Maximize Leads bid mode as a starting point, and says higher quality profiles may pay lower costs per lead.
Local Services Ads or Google Search Ads
They are different products with different economics, and most businesses that can run both should. This is what actually differs.
| Local Services Ads | Google Search Ads | |
|---|---|---|
| You pay for | A call or a message | A click |
| You write | A bio and a services list | Headlines and descriptions |
| Entry requirement | Licences, insurance, background checks | An account |
| Ranking driven by | Bid and profile quality | Bid and Quality Score |
| Carries a trust badge | Yes, Google Verified | No |
| Runs in AU, NZ, UAE | No | Yes |
Where both are available, Search Ads buys reach and Local Services Ads buys credibility. Where only one is available, the decision makes itself.
Related guides
Dentists · Advertising
What does Google check before a dental practice can run Local Services Ads?
HVAC · Advertising
Why does Google screen HVAC companies harder than other trades?
Vets · Advertising
Is a veterinary practice screened as a business or a healthcare provider?
Physiotherapy · Advertising
How does paying per lead change the maths for a physiotherapy clinic?
Local Services Ads by industry
The method is the same everywhere. What changes is the rules you work inside and the questions your customers ask before they book. These are the fields we know well enough to do both.
Dentists
Dental search is two markets. Emergency patients and planned treatment book differently, and most practices only win one.
Dermatologists
Since September 2025, replying to a positive review counts as a testimonial for higher-risk cosmetic work.
Physiotherapists
Patients search the condition, not the profession, and the word specialist is one you are not allowed to use.
Chiropractors
The same Google review creates opposite obligations in Australia and New Zealand. Most agencies use one playbook for both.
HVAC companies
Optimising your listing is the act that removes the advertising exemption. The licence details have to be right first.
Fertility clinics
A fertility decision takes months, and how you present success rates is enforced by three separate regulators.
Vets
Most guides tell you to pick the Animal Hospital category. In New South Wales that needs a licence.
Pest control companies
Safe for kids and pets is the one thing customers want to hear and the one claim federal law prohibits.
Other services
Google Business Profile
A complete, compliant profile, kept up to date.
Local SEO
Service pages built for the searches the map cannot win.
Answer Engine Optimisation
Pages built so AI answers can quote them.
Generative Engine Optimisation
The details and mentions AI tools draw on.
Google Search Ads
Get to the top of the page while your rankings build.
ChatGPT Ads
Advertise where people ask which business to choose.
Sources
What this page says about platform rules comes from these, not from reporting about them.
Ready to talk about Local Services Ads?
Get your free audit. Your profile and your website scored separately, and the changes that would move you most. If it's a fit, we'll handle the rest.
30-minute video call. No obligation.