To Market We Go | Who Ya Gonna Call?
Things Fall Apart
I’ve had my fair share of repair people visit the house for the past two weeks. Luckily, I already had a trusted relationship with most of them. But who do you call if you don’t know a plumber, a roofer, an appliance repair guy, etc.? You can Google, “plumbers near me” and you will notice, above the ads, Google Guaranteed service providers. Those are the ones you’re gonna call.
Google Local Services Ads (LSAs)
When you see that green checkmark, you can rest assured that Google has vetted this business and may reimburse you, if you are not satisfied with the work, up to a certain amount.
Is Your Business Google Guaranteed?
Google started this back in 2015 under the name Home Services Ads and it has now morphed into LSAs. You also may see a Google Screened badge as well.
I just went through the process of getting a law firm client Google Screened. At this time, only companies that provide professional services including law, financial planning, and real estate are eligible for the badge.
The bad news is that this is not a free service. Setting up your business profile is free but there is a multi-step verification process that was quite cumbersome. The good news is that when customers see that green checkmark you get leads because it shows you are credible and you can be trusted. The other helpful part is that, unlike Google Ads, the LSAs are created by Google based on the info gathered when you set up your profile, such as - your city, hours, and phone number. You don’t have to dream up a catchy ad with keyword specific headlines and descriptions.
How Much Do LSAs Cost?
It really depends on your budget. You only pay when a customer calls you directly from the ad. On their homepage, they let you estimate your budget based on the number of leads you’d like per week. I’m curious to see how the law firm will benefit from these ads.
Insider Tip
If you already have a Google Ads account running, set up your LSA profile with a different Gmail account. Google gets confused when you have these separate entities using the same Gmail email. I didn’t see any warnings about this when I set things up, but in speaking to Google Support Specialists this was unanimously recommended.
Get Started
If you’d like to see if your local business qualifies for Google Guaranteed or Google Screening, click the blue button below.
Get In Touch
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of setting up Google Local Service Ads yourself, drop me a line and we can talk about how I can help you.
Photo by Martin Widenka on Unsplash