Google Local Service Ads (GLSA) - FAQLast updated on 09/09/2022

Yes, this allows your businesses to benefit from Google’s powerful endorsement. Mostly, customers trust Google’s recommendation.

You can see your status about the Google Guarantee process in your Google dashboard, also you receive email notifications throughout the process of getting the google guarantee.

Yes, Local Services platform has strict policies about the background check of your employees, contractors, and sub-contractors ensuring your workers comply with these policies to get Google Guarantee. Learn more about the Local Services platform policies.

Share this update with Google directly so that Google completes the background check for your new team member. Reach out to Google support to learn more about how to submit the details for your new technician.

Booking Local Services Ads is available nationwide in the United States. To learn more, see Manage leads and jobs.

Yes, please contact Google for sales/onboarding at: 1-833-272-1444 and for live support: 1-650-260-5700. You can submit your issue via our Contact Us form.

Background check providers are prohibited from sharing individual or company background check information with any party other than the individual or company whose background was checked. Google receives notification from background check providers that a company is (or isn’t) eligible for the Local Services Ads platform, but Google doesn’t see the specific background check information of any individual worker or company. You can’t share the results of any individual worker’s background check with Google. To learn more, see Background checks.

Please work directly with your background check provider to make updates:

• Pinkerton: pes.disputes@pinkerton.com or (800) 635-1649, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm Eastern.

• Evident: You can contact Evident support.

After your company is approved to use the Local Services platform, your company will be subject to periodic recertification checks. Where permitted by local law, these checks are conducted by your background check provider without requesting any further information from you. If you are requested to provide updated information during the recertification process, we recommend you to respond as quickly as possible within the time requested.

Once you have been Google Guaranteed, submit your updated insurance document.

Google covers all the background checks costs.

For each worker, the background check includes inquiries about Social Security number validity and criminal history (including cross-checks against national sex offender and terrorist/sanctions registries). For some services (for example, electricians in many states), worker-level checks can also include licensing requirements. At the company level, the process also includes professional license and insurance verifications, as well as civil litigation history (including judgments and liens from federal and state courts). More information on background checks can be found here.

Local Services Ads and Google Ads share some similarities, as both ad services allow you to login with the same Google account, and you can view charges and billing information for both products together. But there are also some differences, as you will control your Local Services Ads budget and the ad settings, separately. Another difference is that you are paying for the leads in Local Services Ads but you are paying for clicks on Google Ads.

You’ll be able to differentiate between charges for Ads which are calculated per clicks and the Local Services Ads charges calculated per leads. If you share billing settings, then you can view charges and billing information for both products together.

Local Services Ads is available throughout the United States and Canada, with the exception of Quebec. However, instant booking is currently only available in the United States. More information on how to reach customers with a service area in your ad can be found here.

The leads cost may vary depending on the business category and location. For more information check out the cost estimate tool on the Local Services Ads website.

You’re charged when someone submits the form, or if a call is answered. You can dispute the charges internally through your Google portal.

Yes, we support multi-location businesses. Note that while you can have more than one Local Services Ads account and location, each location needs to have its own address and be verified by our team. Contact Google support for help setting up multiple location accounts.

In the event that a spam activity takes place, you can reach out to Google to dispute those leads and to receive a credit. In the event that the spam activity persists, Google can take steps to prevent this from happening, for instance by blocking phone numbers from calling you, or changing the phone number in your ad. If an advertiser is found to be spamming a competitor with false leads, this can be grounds for removal from the platform. Learn more about disputing leads and our policies.

Google typically processes lead disputes within one week and sends you an email notifying you of the outcome of your dispute. Due to the preventive measures we are taking to protect the health of the dispute specialists in light of COVID-19, this process can be temporarily delayed. Learn more about disputing leads.

There are few factors that can improve your ad ranking, these include your review score, the number of reviews you receive, and your responsiveness to customer inquiries and requests. Learn more about ad ranking.

Google attempts to spread out the leads you receive over time. This is to prevent you from spending your entire budget early in the budget period. If your ad is generating leads more quickly than your budget can accommodate, you can see your ranking affected or your ad paused temporarily in order to more evenly spread out your leads.

Valid leads are related to your business or to the services you offer. More details on invalid leads can be found here.

To offer a good experience to customers with booking leads, be sure to limit canceling and rescheduling appointments.

You can ask for a review from customers through any of the options listed here. You can, also, use ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro Reputation Management product to manage your online reputation and reviews.

To upload photos on your Local Services Ads profile, go to your Local Services Ads dashboard, on the Profile > Budget tab.

Yes, you can port your GMB reviews to your Local Services Ads profile in the onboarding and account creation processes. If your reviews are not linked, reach out to Google support.

Reschedules could impact a customers ranking, particularly if a reschedule prompts a poor review. Reviews are one of the factors that impact the customer’s ranking.

In October 2020, Google is transitioning to an auction pricing model instead of the fixed price model and are rolling this out by geography. To learn more, see here.

Yes, you can set one budget for all Local Services Ads products including calls, instant booking, and messaged leads.

You can report issues with fraudulent businesses in Google Maps or Google My Business by submitting a Business Redressal Complaint Form to the Google Maps team directly.

Google My Business is a free and easy-to-use tool for businesses and organizations to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. With your Google My Business account, you can see and connect with your customers, post updates to your profile, and see how customers are interacting with your business on Google.

You can miss out leads if your capacity and schedule are not managed well in ServiceTitan. To ensure your capacity and schedule are set up correctly:

• Make sure you set up your arrival window business hours correctly, your business hours subtract the booked jobs forms depending on the business units assigned to the job type. Then it sends the availability of business hours per business unit to Google every time your schedule changes. To learn more, see Set up Google Local Services Ads integration.

• Set up Adjustable Capacity Planning (ACP), which helps you manage overflow capacity, and use it with GLSA to send more availability to Google. To learn more, see Adjustable Capacity Planning for CSRs.

No. The feature Open Capacity is not used throughout ServiceTitan. Therefore, we recommend switching over to Adjustable Capacity Planning (ACP). If the customer is on open capacity or has not set up ACP, we will go by default to the customer dispatch calendar and look at the availability based on the business units that are mapped back to the service types in the GLSA configuration page.

You can still use the Local Services integration. But you need to set up your business hours arrival window settings in ServiceTitan.

If you turn off the integration in ServiceTitan, ServiceTitan will not send any availability to Google and you will not receive instant bookings. However, this does not turn off your budget in Google, so you will still receive phone and message leads unless you pause your ad in Google. Learn about how to edit your ad here.

No, the integration will be part of the core platform for all packages.

You can request reviews on Google through any of the options listed here. Also, you can use ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro Reputation Management feature to request reviews and manage your online reputation.

The Local Services Ads instant booking jobs land on the bookings screen before being dispatched so you still have complete control over your dispatching.