Local Services Ads Statistics 2026: Cost Per Lead and Benchmarks
Local Services Ads cost a blended $53 per lead in February 2026 across 888 home services contractors: $51 for HVAC, $57 for plumbing and $39 for electrical. That is about half the $104 blended Google Ads cost per lead the same firm measured in January 2026. You pay per valid lead, not per click, and Google credits leads it judges invalid.
What does a Local Services Ads lead cost in 2026?
A blended $53 per lead in February 2026, according to SearchLight Digital’s Local Services Ads benchmark. The study tracked $6.72 million in spend across 888 home services contractors and 126,650 leads, measured before lead credits. Electrical was cheapest at $39 a lead. The average book rate was 43.9 percent and the average cost per paying customer $233.
| Trade | Cost per lead | Accounts | Book rate | Average ticket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical | $39 | 112 | 43.4% | $1,434 |
| HVAC | $51 | 409 | 44.0% | $2,110 |
| General or all trades | $54 | 464 | 43.9% | $1,831 |
| Plumbing | $57 | 230 | 44.5% | $1,714 |
| Drain and sewer | $59 | 23 | 39.5% | $1,521 |
| Blended, all contractors | $53 | 888 | 43.9% | $1,826 |
SearchLight notes that the $53 national figure can hide leads near $30 in smaller markets and above $90 in competitive metros. Book rate matters as much as price: in its example, a $60 lead that books 48 percent of the time costs $125 per booked appointment, while a $40 lead that books 30 percent of the time costs $133.
How do other 2025 and 2026 sources compare?
99 Calls analyzed 3,367 leads and $176,892 in spend from its US contractor campaigns in the first quarter of 2026. The Media Captain published figures in August 2025 from more than 100 clients. The numbers are shown side by side, not averaged.
| Trade | SearchLight, Feb 2026 | 99 Calls, Q1 2026 | The Media Captain, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC | $51 | $76.45 | $80 |
| Plumbing | $57 | $56.90 | $69 |
| Electrical | $39 | $35.70 | Not published |
| Roofing | Not published | $65.80 | $162 |
| Damage restoration | Not published | $194.00 | Not published |
SearchLight and 99 Calls are close on plumbing and electrical, but both smaller datasets put HVAC well above SearchLight. Roofing disagrees most: SearchLight has no roofing row, and The Media Captain’s $162 for 2025 is more than double the $65.80 99 Calls reported for early 2026. Check any roofing figure against your own lead data.
How Google charges for leads and issues credits
You pay for valid leads, not clicks. Google’s help page on how leads work says you set an average weekly budget. A single week can run over it, but spend never passes the monthly maximum, which is the weekly budget times the average number of weeks in a month, and the ad stops showing once it gets there. Message leads are typically priced lower than calls. Google counts these as valid leads:
- You answer a call, or call the customer back and speak with them.
- You miss a call during business hours and the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds. With a phone menu, the 20 seconds start after the first key press.
- You receive a text message, email or voicemail from the customer.
- You receive a booking request (United States and Canada only).
Repeat contact from the same number or email is not charged again if there has been interaction within 15 days. Google filters spam and duplicates, then reviews charged leads over 30 days and automatically credits those it judges poor quality, duplicate or invalid. You can also report a lead through its feedback survey. Automatic credits are not offered for health care, tax specialists or accounts in the European Economic Area.
Google gives no figure for how much spend comes back. The Media Captain reported in 2025 that businesses typically get 6 to 7 percent of their Local Services Ads spend back in credits, and that more than 90 percent of the leads it sees arrive by phone rather than form fill.
Local Services Ads are moving into Google Ads
Google is moving Local Services Ads into a Performance Max campaign type with pay-per-lead goals inside Google Ads. Select US home service advertisers, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical and roofing, move first from August 2026, broader groups follow in late 2026 and the rest in 2027. Pay per lead billing, placement on Search and Maps, and keywordless targeting stay. Weekly budgets become daily budgets (weekly divided by 7, with monthly spend capped at the daily budget times 30.4), manual bidding is retired, and old performance reports do not carry over, so download them first.
What decides where a Local Services ad ranks
Ads are ordered by an auction that weighs your bid and your profile quality. Google’s ranking help page lists:
- Bid. The most you will pay for a lead, though you may pay less. Google recommends the Maximize Leads bid mode.
- Likelihood of a lead. Your responsiveness (missed calls can count against you), the service, time and location of the search, how relevant your services and business bio are, and whether you accept message and booking leads.
- Profile quality. Rating, number of reviews, average response time, high quality images and completed verification checks. Google says higher quality profiles may rank higher and pay a lower cost per lead.
Google publishes no minimum review count or star rating. The ad shows reviews from your Google Business Profile, per the Local Services Ads overview.
The Google Verified badge
Local Services Ads now carry one Google Verified badge, which Google says "shows customers that your business is verified by Google." Google’s badge help page describes the change as a single badge for all advertisers and says Local Services Ads ranking won’t be affected. The British Pest Control Association reported in September 2025 that from October 20, 2025 the single badge replaced Google Guaranteed, Google Screened and License Verified by Google.
The money back guarantee tied to Google Guaranteed has ended. Per Google’s badge help page, reimbursement covered only services booked before December 7, 2025, with requests due within 30 days of the service being completed.
New advertisers must pass screening: background checks plus licenses and insurance where they apply, with requirements that vary by trade and local law. Google treats HVAC, electrical and plumbing as urgent categories with an extra level of screening that includes background checks on service professionals. Verified status and the badge carry over when an account moves to Google Ads.
Local Services Ads vs Google search ads cost
LocaliQ’s home services benchmark uses medians from 3,211 US search campaigns run April 1, 2024 to March 21, 2025 (page updated July 15, 2026) and puts the median search cost per lead for home services at $90.92. In the table below the search figures come from 2024 to 2025 campaigns and the Local Services Ads figures from 2026, except The Media Captain’s 2025 roofing figure.
| Trade | Search ads cost per lead | Local Services Ads cost per lead |
|---|---|---|
| HVAC, air conditioning | $127.74 | $51 |
| HVAC, heating and furnaces | $129.02 | $51 |
| Plumbing | $129.02 | $57 |
| Electrical | $93.69 | $39 |
| Roofing and gutters | $228.15 | $65.80 (99 Calls, Q1 2026) or $162 (The Media Captain, 2025) |
The table mixes companies, years and methods, so treat the gaps as direction, not precision. SearchLight’s own comparison is closer: Google Ads for 816 contractors and $14.9 million in spend in January 2026, against Local Services Ads in February 2026.
| Metric | Local Services Ads | Google Ads, branded | Google Ads, non-branded | Performance Max | Google Ads, blended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per lead | $53 | $34 | $149 | $72 | $104 |
| Book rate | 43.9% | 55.3% | 37.6% | 32.2% | 41.7% |
| Cost per paying customer | $233 | $104 | $804 | $447 | $472 |
| Average ticket | $1,826 | $2,398 | $2,516 | $2,521 | $2,465 |
On those numbers Local Services Ads leads cost 49 percent less than blended Google Ads and 64 percent less than non-branded search, and cost per paying customer was 51 percent lower than blended. The trade off is a 26 percent smaller average ticket, which SearchLight attributes to more service and repair calls. Branded search, people looking up a company by name, beat Local Services Ads on both cost per lead and cost per customer.
How to use these numbers
Compare channels on cost per booked job, not cost per lead. The Google Ads ROI calculator turns cost per lead and book rate into cost per job. See also Google Ads vs Local Services Ads, Google Ads cost in 2026, Google Ads benchmarks and HVAC marketing statistics.
Sources
All figures are third party data. RYN Digital does not publish client outcome statistics.
- SearchLight Digital, Google Local Service Ads cost per lead by trade (February 2026 data)
- 99 Calls, LSA cost per lead by industry for service contractors (Q1 2026)
- The Media Captain, Local Service Ads stats and cost per lead data (August 2025)
- LocaliQ, 2025 search ad benchmarks for home services (updated July 15, 2026)
- Google Local Services Help, How leads work
- Google Local Services Help, About ad rankings
- Google Local Services Help, Local Services Ads overview
- Google Local Services Help, About Google Verified badge
- Google Local Services Help, Business screening and verification requirements
- Google Ads Help, Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max
- British Pest Control Association, Google Local Service Ads consolidates its ad badges (September 8, 2025)