# Google Ads vs Local Services Ads: Which One Should a Contractor Run First?

> Google Ads vs Local Services Ads for contractors: what each one charges for, which leads convert better, what you control, and the order to turn them on when the budget is tight.

Canonical: https://webnwell.com/blog/google-ads-vs-local-services-ads/


Two boxes at the top of the same search page. Two completely different products. Contractors keep getting told to pick one, so let's just answer the questions the way they come up on calls.

## What am I actually paying for in each?

In Local Services Ads, a lead. A homeowner calls or messages you through the ad, and that's the billable event. In regular Google Ads, a click, whether it becomes a call or bounces in five seconds.

That one difference drives almost everything else, including who each product suits.


## Why can't I just start LSA today?

Because you get screened for it. License checks, insurance, background checks, and however long Google's queue takes. Regular ads start the same afternoon. This asymmetry matters for planning: the slow one should be applied for first, precisely because it's slow.

## Which produces better leads?

Different leads, not better ones.

LSA wins the panic search. Water in the basement at nine at night, and she calls the first name with a badge and good reviews. No website visit, no comparison. The badge does the persuading, which is the whole story of [the green box](/blog/local-services-ads-foundation-repair/).

Search ads win the considered job. The homeowner budgeting a $14,000 pier project opens four tabs and reads. She needs your photos, your warranty, your financing, and none of that exists inside an LSA unit. It lives on [a page you built](/blog/landing-pages-foundation-contractors/), which only search ads can send her to.

Search ads also win by default for anything LSA has no category for: specialty work, commercial, unusual services.


## So which do I turn on first?

Neither. First comes the free thing: a properly filled Google Business Profile with recent photos and a live review habit, because it feeds the map pack and your future LSA rank at the same time. The details are in [foundation repair SEO](/blog/foundation-repair-seo/), and skipping this step raises the price of everything below.

Then apply for LSA today, because the queue is the queue whether you're ready or not.

Then run search ads while you wait. One tight campaign, exact and phrase match, negatives cleaned weekly. Beyond the leads themselves, the search terms report teaches you what your market types before you spend anywhere else. Setup walkthrough [here](/blog/google-ads-for-foundation-repair/).

When LSA approves you, run both. The companies eating your market own the whole column of that results page, not one box in it.


## How should I split the budget?

Under about a thousand a month: don't split. One channel, usually search ads, because you can see what's happening and adjust while you learn.

Between one and three thousand: both, with the majority going wherever your [cost per signed job](/blog/cost-per-lead-vs-cost-per-job/) is lower. Not cost per lead. Cost per job. Those columns disagree more often than you'd think.

Above that, let the monthly numbers move the split and stop treating it as a permanent decision. Anyone who quotes you a universal ratio hasn't looked at your market.

## What are the mistakes everyone makes?

The big one is treating LSA as the whole plan. It caps out at a few slots, gives you no control of your message, and offers no page to explain why you're better, so once you've taken all the leads your market's box produces, growth has to come from the layer underneath. Second is judging LSA leads by price instead of close rate, which the napkin math above already handles. Third is letting LSA calls ring out; Google tracks pickup and quietly shows you less when you miss, so the same mistake bills you twice, once in the lost job and again in reduced visibility. Fourth is pointing search ads at the homepage. The homepage answers questions nobody asked, while the one question she did ask sits three clicks away, and most homeowners spend those clicks on your competitor instead.

## Verdict?

Profile first because it's free. LSA application today because it's slow. Search ads this week because they're fast. Both together as soon as Google lets you.

Which box wins in your specific city depends on how contested the badge slots are and what clicks cost there, and that's checkable: the [free market audit](/foundation-basement-marketing/) maps your actual page, both boxes included, before you commit a dollar.