What changed: Google is moving existing Local Services Ads campaigns into a specialised Performance Max campaign type with pay-per-lead goals. Your ads remain focused on Google Search and Google Maps, and the pay-per-lead model and keywordless targeting remain. What changes is where you manage the campaign, how the budget and bidding controls are expressed, and where historical performance reports live. Export the old reports and build a comparable baseline before your account moves.
Google says the rollout is phased, account-specific and expected to continue through 2027. I checked the current Google Ads Help documentation on September 15, 2026. This checklist keeps the existing migration answer intact, then adds the measurement work an advertiser or agency needs before and after the change. It is not a promise that every account will migrate on the same date or see the same performance.
The most important distinction is simple: this is not standard, all-network Performance Max. Google describes a specialised pay-per-lead campaign that retains the Local Services Ads operating model in several important ways. Your measurement plan should preserve that distinction too.
What stays the same, and what moves
| Area | Google’s documented position | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Billing model | You continue to pay for valid leads, such as phone calls and messages, rather than ordinary ad clicks. | Keep your definition of a qualified lead and the downstream booked outcome separate from Google’s charged-lead count. |
| Placements | Pay-per-lead campaigns continue to show on Google Search and Google Maps in the same ad positions as before. | Do not assume that the Performance Max name means YouTube, Display or Gmail delivery for this campaign type. |
| Targeting | The campaign remains keywordless and uses service categories, areas and other settings. | Recheck service areas, categories and schedules after migration. |
| Management | Budgets, targeting and customer inquiries move into Google Ads. | Make sure the right administrators, agencies and lead owners can access the new workflows. |
| History | Previous LSA performance reports do not transition to Google Ads, while past customer lead history is expected to transfer. | Export the reports you use for seasonality, client reporting and year-over-year comparison before migration. |
The 2026–2027 migration timeline
- August 2026: Google says the first phase begins for selected U.S. home and storefront service advertisers, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control and moving.
- Late 2026: The rollout expands to broader advertiser groups, including service-area businesses without physical storefronts and accounts with custom bidding or booking configurations.
- 2027: Non-U.S. accounts and remaining business categories transition.
Google says the account administrator receives an email about 14 days before the scheduled migration, followed by a reminder seven days later. Your current Local Services Ads dashboard then redirects to the Google Ads campaign overview after the move. Treat the email, dashboard banner and actual account state as the evidence for your date; a public timeline does not establish an individual account’s eligibility.
Pre-migration checklist: preserve a comparable baseline
1. Save reports before the dashboard redirects
Google says historical impressions, clicks, spend, leads and ad-level performance reports will not move into Google Ads. The documentation says a dedicated download page will be available; if you need the evidence immediately, Google recommends screenshots before migration. Save the export or screenshot with the account, campaign, date range, filters, timezone and service category attached.
The baseline is not only a backup. It is how you avoid declaring success because the new interface reports a different number. For each account or campaign, capture at least:
| Baseline field | Why it matters after migration |
|---|---|
| Reporting window, timezone and account ID | Prevents an apparent change that is really a date or account-scope mismatch. |
| Spend, valid leads and cost per charged lead | Preserves the platform-level comparison without treating it as the business outcome. |
| Qualified leads, booked appointments and completed jobs | Shows whether lead volume turns into the outcome the business actually values. |
| Service category, location and schedule | Lets you separate a campaign-setting change from normal mix or seasonality. |
| Lead routing, status definitions and CRM fields | Provides a reconciliation map when the Leads page replaces the old inbox. |
| Weekly budget, bid controls and category-level economics | Explains what the budget/bidding conversion changed before you judge performance. |
Do not invent a “qualified lead” number from Google’s charged-lead total. The business-side fields need your CRM, call-review process or booking system. If you do not have them, record that measurement debt rather than filling the gap with a platform proxy.
2. Reconcile the settings Google will transfer
Google says it transfers targeted locations, service types, business categories, budget limits, ad schedule and business photos automatically. Capture a pre-migration copy of those settings and assign someone to compare the result in Google Ads. Include booking configurations or custom bidding in the review even when the public documentation does not specify how every configuration will appear.
For an agency, keep one row per client account rather than assuming an MCC-level change date. Record the account administrator who receives the notice, the person who answers calls/messages and the person who owns the CRM reconciliation.
3. Recalculate budget and bidding expectations
Google’s conversion is mechanical: the historical average weekly budget is divided by seven to produce a daily average. The monthly cap is that daily average multiplied by 30.4. Daily spend can fluctuate on high-demand days while the monthly limit remains the documented ceiling.
Manual bidding is no longer supported, and vertical-level Target CPA is replaced by a unified campaign-level Target CPA. If different business categories need separate bidding rules, Google’s documented option is separate campaigns for each vertical. That is a structural decision, not an automatic recommendation. Before splitting, compare category-level lead volume, qualified-lead rate, booked-job rate and customer value. A lower-volume category may lose useful learning signals when isolated.
Do not treat the budget formula as a performance forecast. It tells you how Google expresses the budget after migration; it does not predict cost per qualified lead or booked revenue. DMT’s Google Ads target-bidding checklist provides broader bidding context, but it does not replace this LSA-specific audit.
4. Confirm Google Business Profile ownership
Google says the business name, physical address and standard hours sync one way from Google Business Profile to Google Ads. Minor changes may sync within 24 hours. Significant changes to the name, storefront address or primary category can trigger a verification review that typically takes 24 to 48 hours and may temporarily pause the campaign.
Update core business details in Google Business Profile, not by trying to override them in Google Ads. Service areas and ad schedules can be adjusted independently after migration. Save the pre-migration profile state so a later change has an attributable owner and date.
5. Replace unsupported callouts and preserve lead ownership
Google says Better Business Bureau callouts are no longer supported and recommends selecting at least six other structured callouts, such as business hours, specialties or accepted payment methods. Record who handles calls, messages and bookings, then confirm the lead destination before the first post-migration shift.
What to audit after the campaign moves
The first post-migration review should be a reconciliation, not an optimization sprint. Open the new campaign and compare the actual settings with the saved baseline:
- Confirm the campaign name, pay-per-lead goal, locations, service categories, schedule, daily average budget and target.
- Open Goals → Conversions → Leads and verify the expected lead types, status labels and download options.
- Download a controlled sample and reconcile it with the CRM’s required fields. Check that phone routing, message permissions and ownership still work.
- Record the migration date and compare like-for-like windows. Keep the service category, location, schedule and timezone consistent.
- Review qualified leads, appointments, booked jobs and revenue separately from charged leads.
- Document any missing history, changed definitions, routing failure or account-access issue before making a bid or budget decision.
Google says many ads may start running immediately but recommends allowing up to two weeks for the migration process to complete and performance to ramp back to stable levels. That is an observation window, not a promise that every account needs exactly two weeks. Use it to collect comparable evidence and resolve setup issues; do not call a platform-wide win or failure from an early anecdote.
Where the lead workflow lives after migration
In Google Ads, go to Goals → Conversions → Leads. Google says this replaces the Local Services Ads lead inbox and retains lead status, lead type, feedback and download options for CRM import. Message leads can be opened and answered from the communication panel.
Run one controlled lead handoff before you assume the workflow is complete:
- Choose a known test or recent lead whose permitted details can be reconciled.
- Confirm the lead appears with the expected type and status.
- Check that the phone, message or booking route reaches the person who owns response.
- Download the record and map it to the CRM fields used for qualification.
- Record any difference in timestamps, identifiers or status semantics before comparing totals.
If an agency or internal tool pulls lead evidence through an API, keep that integration review separate from the UI migration. DMT’s Google Ads API migration guide covers versioned API dependencies; it does not confirm that a reader’s LSA lead export or CRM mapping works.
Do not confuse this with standard Performance Max
| Question | Pay-per-lead campaign after LSA migration | Standard Performance Max |
|---|---|---|
| What is charged? | Valid leads such as calls, messages or bookings. | Google describes standard Performance Max as click-based; a click is not the same as a qualified lead. |
| Where can it serve? | Google Search and Google Maps. | Broader Google ad networks, including YouTube, Gmail and Display. |
| Keyword management? | Keywordless, based on service categories, areas and campaign/profile settings. | Different campaign controls and asset requirements apply. |
| Creation path? | Google says new pay-per-lead campaigns cannot yet be created directly in Google Ads; use the Local Services entry point. | Standard Performance Max has its own creation and setup flow. |
The name can make a migrated campaign look more familiar than it is. Community discussions are useful for spotting questions about access, reporting and lead quality, but they are mixed anecdotes rather than proof that every account behaves the same way. Verify your own settings and downstream outcomes.
Frequently asked questions
Will my old LSA reports appear in Google Ads?
No. Google says previous campaign-level performance metrics, including past impressions, clicks, spend and ad-level reports, will not migrate. Google says a download page will be available; if you need the history immediately, save reports or screenshots before the dashboard redirects.
Will my past customer leads carry over?
Google says past customer lead history, including contact details, message history and older call recordings, will transfer to the new Leads page. Treat that as platform documentation, then verify the fields and permissions in your own account before relying on the history for CRM reporting.
Did my Local Services Ads become a normal Performance Max campaign?
No. Google describes a specialised Performance Max campaign with pay-per-lead goals. It keeps Search and Maps placements, valid-lead billing and keywordless targeting. Standard Performance Max has a different network and charging model.
Can I keep separate Target CPA values for each service vertical?
Google says vertical-level Target CPA is deprecated and a unified campaign-level Target CPA is calculated. Its documented way to preserve separate bidding rules is to use separate campaigns for separate verticals. Decide with category-level economics and volume, not the interface label alone.
How quickly should I judge performance after migration?
Google says to allow up to two weeks for the process and performance to stabilize. Use a like-for-like baseline and check qualified outcomes during that period, but do not infer a universal performance change from one account, one category or one early lead.
What happens to non-U.S. accounts?
Google’s current timeline places non-U.S. accounts and remaining categories in the 2027 phase, but it does not establish an individual country or account date. Follow the account administrator notice and dashboard banner.
Official sources and related DMT guides
- Google Ads Help: Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals
- Search Engine Journal: Google Local Services Ads are moving to PMax — what to check first
- Search Engine Journal: Google Ads automation and measurement context
- DMT: Google Ads target-bidding checklist
- DMT: Google Ads measurement stack
- DMT: lead and CRM reconciliation guide
