Google Local Services Ads vs. Google Search Ads: Key Differences Every Business Must Know!

In this episode, we dive into the key differences between Google Local Service Ads and Google Search Ads, specifically for home service companies. Discover how Google Local Service Ads charge you per lead, connecting you directly with potential customers, versus Google Search Ads, which operate on a pay-per-click basis, charging you for every click without guaranteeing a call or form submission.

We’ll break down how each ad type works, their unique benefits, and why understanding these distinctions is crucial for optimizing your marketing strategy. Whether you're new to Google Ads or looking to refine your approach, this episode will help you make informed decisions to get the most out of your advertising investment. Tune in to learn more!

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If you're interested in taking your Home Services business to the next level, online, visit LeadNurtureClose.com today and learn more about our services, and download our free Internet Marketing Checklist for home service contractors, discover what you can improve for your business online.  Also checkout our Marketing & Automation CRM

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:46

Today I wanted to talk about the difference between Google Local Service Ads and Google Search Ads, specifically for the home service companies. Google Local Service Ads charge you per lead, meaning you're only billed when a potential customer actually contacts your business directly from the Google Local Service Ad. In contrast, google Search Ads operate on a pay-per-click basis. Google search ads operate on a pay-per-click basis, so you're charged for every click. That happens on your ad Doesn't guarantee a call or a form submission, so it's literally every time somebody sees your ad and clicks on your ad you get charged. Versus the Google local service ads, you get charged when a lead contacts you Two different things. So the biggest advantage with that Google local service ads is they connect you directly with a potential customer, usually on the phone. There is an option for leads to reach out via messages, essentially like receiving a direct text from someone when they're interested in your service from your Google service ad. So there's two unique, different types of Google ads, and understanding these differences is crucial for optimizing your marketing strategy and ensuring that you're getting the most out of your investment. I'm going to show you here the difference on my screen. Let's go ahead and dive into that. So, in this particular scenario here. I have a Google pulled up and I typed in landscape design Inglewood, co, for Colorado, and you can see right here the very first result. It says sponsored, so you know it's an ad. A lot of people consumers might miss that and that's what Google wants, because they're trying to drive revenue for their business through the ads. And this particular here is part of the Google local service ads, or Google guaranteed, as you see right here, so that it is a pay per lead, meaning if a consumer does a search and this shows up and they click on, get the phone number or message that's going to connect the lead with the business and then the business is then charged for the lead. This is part of the pay per lead model. You see, it looks a lot like the Google Maps down here, so a consumer might think it's a map for their local area and go ahead and click on one of these. And that's the whole point is Google's rewarding the advertisers by putting them kind of first and foremost and trying to entice the consumer to go to these. So this is a great way to get top of page. It's a pay per lead basis, but it's a really good way to get leads coming into your business.

Speaker 1: 3:06

And then, if you scroll down a little further, you'll see these are the three maps. None of these are sponsored or paid. And then you have your organic. So, on the contrary, we have the other version, which is Google pay-per-click. So you see here plumber repair Elk Grove. So you see a sponsored still, but this one does not look like a maps listing. This is actually just looks more like a Google organic results.

Speaker 1: 3:31

So the end consumer a lot of times they may or may not know this is an ad, but a lot of times they still. As long as the ad is enticing and it speaks to them, they'll go ahead and click on it. And then the business will get charged the minute somebody clicks on it. It's a charge to them. They don't get charged the minute, but it counts as a charge. So it's pay-per-click Doesn't guarantee that when I click this ad that I'm actually going to fill out a form or place a call to the business. So it's a numbers game. So many clicks before it actually converts to a lead. And so pay-per-click is a different model and the pay-per-click is also based off what other businesses are willing to spend it's. You know you're up against other businesses and you're doing it on a bid basis. So versus, the pay per lead is just, you know, an actual lead charge. So a little bit different between the two.

Speaker 1: 4:19

Now, if I scroll down a little farther, you'll see there's three sponsored pay-per-click ads here. This one is an organic, this one happens to be Yelp. Sometimes there's an organic listing here, sometimes there's not. And then we have our maps listing and then, oh, look at that, you see another sponsored in the map. So you have your three organic maps, which is what you usually expect to see.

Speaker 1: 4:38

But there's an ad one here and this is a part of the pay-per-click or the search, the Google search ads. So this is a pay-per-click. If I click this, then it's charging the business for the click. It's not part of the local service ads, although it kind of looks similar. You'll see this here is under the Google guarantee. This is a Google local service ad. This is a pay per lead model here. If you come back over here, this is part of the pay per click, the Google search model, right here. So Google again is trying to entice the consumer to oh, this is a map and click on it because it's in the first position, but this is a an advertiser that's paying to be in that first position. So this is why it's really important for Google ads, google local service ads, google search ads, the pay-per-click any of them for for you to be part of your marketing strategy, because it's a great way to get some market share and getting up there somewhat quickly. Yes, it's pay to play, it is a paid advertising strategy, but it is a great way to capture the market share, depending upon what your goals are.

Speaker 1: 5:38

If you scroll down here, you'll see this is now part of the organic listings, but there's usually ads sometimes presented after all of the organic listings, as you see right here sponsored, sponsored, sponsored. So, depending upon how your campaigns are structured and set up and what you're willing to spend in your budget, and all that because you're competing against everybody else that's going after the same keywords as part of the Google search ads will depend on where you show up. You do still get clicks from here. You don't necessarily always have to be in the first position and in fact, sometimes there's strategies behind. You know where consumers are clicking and so sometimes you can put yourself in different positions and still get a pretty good result by paying less.

Speaker 1: 6:18

But the point of this particular video here is to make sure that you understand there is a difference between Google local service ads and Google search ads or pay-per-click. There's a difference in how the leads come to you and there's a difference on how you're charged. Which one do you do? I recommend both. If you have the budget Again, it's putting yourself out in front of the consumers that are looking for you, and so if it's matching your particular keywords, that's going to acquire the customers that you're wanting to get, then you want to make sure you're putting yourself everywhere. Again, this is a pay per lead model, so it doesn't mean every lead is going to convert into an actual customer, but you're skipping a step by already getting them as a lead, and so you're paying a little bit higher of a price to get the lead versus going through the clicks to try to get them to convert to a lead. So it's kind of very similar. It's just like kind of you know, one's click to a lead and then you're trying to convert so many clicks or click to a pay-per-click. Is that charge for a click? And then you're trying to convert so many clicks or click to a pay-per-click. Is it charged for a click and then so many clicks to become a lead versus a pay-per-lead. You're already getting that call. Now you know there's still a numbers game for converting those to sales on both scenarios.

Speaker 1: 7:26

But again, as you see, the placement is different and it's to a consumer. You know, maybe they're used to liking the maps and getting from the maps and Google will vary this. So it depends on the market. So sometimes it may not pull up a Google local service ad like this. As you see here. This one didn't. There is no Google local service ad here, but there is here. So, depending upon the market, depending upon a lot of different factors, google will put things in different places and they test things out in different markets. So it's not always exactly the same layout and look of this, but the concept is the same.

Speaker 1: 8:00

Also, the Google Guaranteed or the Google Local Service ads have requirements behind it. You have to become verified with Google, meaning they do like a background check and they do a insurance check. There's steps that you have to do in order to even become a verified advertiser to be in part of the pay-per-lead or Google local service ads. So my recommendation is, if you can do both, get in the Google local service ads because, again, it doesn't show up for every keyword and so for those keywords you want to be as part of the pay-per-click, like in this. So you want to be able to try to be in both mediums and capture as much market share from both places as you can.

Speaker 1: 8:35

So it's important to make sure you're taking your paid ads budget and strategically putting them across the places and again, it's going to depend on your budget and your goals and how much of a gap that you're trying to get from point A to point B, and these are just two different ways in the Google ad space to try to get there. So hopefully this helps, hopefully this gives you an idea between the two, and if you are interested in how to even get started on either one or both, we would love to help. Feel free to reach out. We can have a conversation and connect. Feel free to connect with our YouTube channel or other podcasts or wherever you're watching or listening to this. We do put out a lot of educational content, not only around Google ads and paid ads, but pretty much anything digital marketing as well as business and anything to kind of help your home service company grow and go to the next level. Again, I'm Don Franklin with Leaner to Close Web Marketing. Until next time, have a blessed day.