Local service ads (LSA) help service-based businesses (e.g., plumbers, electricians) connect directly with potential customers looking for local providers. Leads come in as phone calls and messages sent through the ad.
Verifying local service ads
Before LSAs can run, Google requires a verification process to confirm the business is legitimate.
This may include documentation such as:
Business license and tax information
Insurance details
Background checks (for certain industries)
Note: Fluency cannot assist with the verification process.
Connecting LSAs to Fluency
Once verified, LSAs are linked to a Google Ads Customer ID (CID) but managed in a separate LSA dashboard.
Key things to know:
The Profile and Budget tab is the most helpful section in the dashboard.
The dashboard does not include a change history log, which can make troubleshooting more difficult.
Providing your Fluency advertising engineer with partner access to the dashboard helps with support and troubleshooting.
The CID serves as the unique identifier that Fluency uses to ingest and report on LSA account data.
LSA campaigns must be created in Google and then reverse-synced into Fluency for management and reporting.
Managing LSAs in Fluency
In Fluency, you can manage these key settings:
Budgets | Monthly budgets, pacing strategies, overspend protection |
Campaigns | Status, geos, bidding, and ad scheduling |
Reporting | Standard metrics in Data Explorer |
Understanding LSA budgets
LSAs use a monthly maximum budget, which sets the total amount Google can spend in a month. Unlike Search campaigns (which may spend up to two times the daily budget), LSAs manage pacing differently.
Here’s how it works:
Google automatically manages daily and weekly pacing but enforces the monthly maximum limit.
You may spend more than the average weekly amount, but spend will never exceed the monthly limit.
Spend can fluctuate throughout the month, sometimes using the entire budget within a few days if lead volume is high.
Managing pacing
An even pacing strategy tends to perform best. However, when leads are limited in some markets, you may consider temporarily “inflating” your budget to gain volume. This helps maintain steady pacing while ensuring the total monthly spend stays within your target.
Example:
Set a monthly budget to $10,000 in Fluency.
Select fixed daily pacing to guide spend.
Add budget-level overspend protection.
Configuring local service ads
Update LSAs under campaign settings in Manage:
Go to Manage (globe icon) in the left menu.
Select Accounts.
Click on an account in the list.
Go to the Campaigns tab.
Click on a local services campaign.
Go to Campaign Settings near the top.
Select the target icon.
Navigate through the settings and select your preferences. Example: Under Bidding, you can set a maximum bid for various industries. Select Manual CPA, and then set a maximum bid for each industry.
Click Save.
You cannot add or remove industries for an LSA ad in Fluency. This must be done within Google. However, within the campaign settings for an LSA in Fluency, you can view which industries a campaign is associated with.