From Past to Present: The LSA Evolution

Since its inception, Local Services Ads, or LSA for short has quickly become become a hallmark advertising platform for helping Google bring trust to transactions within its paid advertising ecosystem. This newer platform helps facilitate the best answer from an advertiser who is responsive, reputable, and close to the searcher. Advertisers can also dispute invalid leads for a full credit.

Supporting calls, messages, and bookings within its transaction layer, LSA helps connect prospects to thoroughly trusted and vetted home & professional services providers.

In addition to advertisers having to undergo background, license, and insurance checks, LSA ads sport a sleek green badge of trust and a pay-per-lead pricing model within an open-bidded marketplace. 

LSA results even populate at the very top of the page, above Google Ads, Maps, & Organic search. LSAs excitingly ditch complex key words in favor of simple job types & categories. An example search to trigger these ads is “Plumber near me.”

An example of an LSA-supported query triggering results for Google Guaranteed advertisers.

Since the beginning, we’ve excitedly watched this Platform slowly mature into a more organized & more cohesive iteration. Simple flat rates for leads was replaced by a bidding system, in which advertisers can decide between bid modes and determine how much they’re willing to pay for a lead.

A new type of lead known as a message lead as well as a booking feature also joined LSA’s transaction layer, giving consumers more options in terms of how they chose to connect & communicate with LSA advertisers.

Professional Services, or Google Screened ads also majorly changed the landscape for Lawyers, Realtors, Financial Planners, and Tax specialists. For example, Lawyers in particular have 17 different categories of law that they can choose to advertise for! 

An example of an LSA-supported query triggering results for Google Screened advertisers.

Brand New Google Guaranteed & Screened Categories!

LSA has been relatively quiet for quite some time now. All of this changed today when Google released many new Verticals, or categories available nationwide!

These new categories add exciting possibilities to both the Guaranteed & Screened side of the equation. 

Focus areas include expansion to: home services, general contractor work, animal-care, health & fitness, education services, daycare services, snow removal, and more! In total, LSA receives 23 new categories which means a strong opportunity to become an early-adopter and enjoy first-mover’s advantage in new markets all across the country.

Here are just a few of the categories that may pique your interest:

• Home Inspectors
• General Contractors & Handymen 
• Pool Contractors & Pool Cleaning
• Multiple Pet Verticals
• Multiple Health & Fitness Verticals
• Child Care

& so much more! We are so excited to bring our clients and soon-to-be clients into the LSA layer, supporting them with our industry-leading product methodology, dynamic bidding, and so much more.