Local Services Ads is becoming a campaign type inside Google Ads, called Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals: it charges per valid lead, runs only on Google Search and Google Maps, and uses no keywords.
Facts on this page were checked against Google's pages on 2026-09-30.
The naming causes most of the confusion. "Performance Max" sounds like the broad, click-based product advertisers have run for years, and your Local Services Ads account is not turning into that. Google's own help page has a section titled "How do campaigns with pay-per-lead goals differ from standard Performance Max campaigns?" That section is the basis for the table below.
How do the three compare?
| Local Services Ads (before migration) | Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals | Standard Performance Max | Search campaigns | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where it's managed | Separate Local Services Ads dashboard | Google Ads | Google Ads | Google Ads |
| What you pay for | Valid leads | Valid, qualified leads: phone calls, messages, bookings | Clicks | Clicks |
| Where ads run | Google Search and Maps | Google Search and Maps only | All Google ad networks, including YouTube, Gmail and Display | Search results |
| Keywords | None | None. Keyword targeting isn't offered | Not covered in Google's comparison | You choose them |
| Targeting comes from | Categories, areas, Business Profile | Categories, areas, Business Profile, other settings | Not covered in Google's comparison | Your keywords, plus settings |
| Verified badge | Yes, for eligible businesses | Yes, for eligible businesses in select verticals | Not covered here | Not covered here |
| Headlines, videos, sitelinks | No | Don't apply | Yes | Headlines and sitelinks yes |
| Creating a new one | g.co/localservices | Not in Google Ads "at this time" | Yes | Yes |
The pay-per-lead column comes from Google's documentation. The standard Performance Max column follows Google's side-by-side (clicks, all networks). The Search column describes the well-known keyword and click model, and Google's page confirms only that these campaigns differ from pay-per-lead in offering keyword targeting.
What does pay per lead change in practice?
You pay when someone contacts you. Google says you're "charged only when a potential customer contacts your business directly through your ad," and for phone leads only when they're "valid, qualified phone leads that meet minimum call duration requirements." A click that never calls costs nothing. A lead you fail to convert still does.
That shifts the math from cost per click and conversion rate to cost per charged lead and close rate. Our cost article works that through.
What do you give up by having no keywords?
Control, and with it some of the work. In a Search campaign you choose the queries you want and exclude the ones you don't. In a pay-per-lead campaign, per Google, targeting is based on your categories, service areas and Business Profile, with your other settings. Google says the core ad content derives from your Business Profile.
In our reading, for a plumber who wants leads from anyone nearby searching for a plumber, that's often fine. For a business with narrow services, it puts weight on getting the categories and service types right, since those are your only levers. Google's limit is 1 to 10 categories, with service types switched on or off.
Which one should you use?
A fair answer needs two caveats. The first is that you may not have a choice today: Google says you can't create new campaigns with pay-per-lead goals directly within Google Ads "at this time," so new pay-per-lead campaigns still start at g.co/localservices. The second is that the products suit different situations, and we can't tell you which fits your account without your numbers.
Pay-per-lead tends to suit a local service where a phone call is the goal and you can answer it. Search campaigns suit businesses that want to choose their queries and can track conversions well. Standard Performance Max reaches across Google's networks, which matters more for businesses with products, video or a wide audience than for a local trade. Those are our readings of how the products work.
If you're unsure whether any paid channel fits, our nine checks are the place to start, and our worth-it test applies to Local Services Ads in particular.
Who can skip this?
Anyone who already runs Local Services Ads and only wants to know what happens at migration. The overview covers that directly. The comparison matters most if you're deciding whether to add Search campaigns beside pay-per-lead, or wondering why a "Performance Max" campaign appeared in your account.
One practical step helps all three. Your Business Profile feeds pay-per-lead campaigns directly, so its categories and service areas shape what you get. Our Business Profile prep list is a good place to begin.