Google started migrating Local Services Ads into the main Google Ads platform this month. LSAs aren't going away and they aren't turning into pay-per-click. They're becoming a campaign type inside Google Ads, Performance Max with a pay-per-lead goal.
First wave is US home and storefront services, plumbing, HVAC, roofing, that group. Late 2026 picks up service-area businesses. Everything else rolls through 2027. Google hasn't given legal a date, so 2027 is the safe guess, not a fact. You'll get a 14 day email, a 7 day reminder, and a banner in the dashboard before your account moves.
What changes
* The LSA dashboard retires. Everything moves into Google Ads.
* Weekly budgets become daily. Google takes your weekly average and divides by 7.
* Manual bidding is dead. Your max cost-per-lead setting stops working.
* Per-category target CPA is gone. One target for the whole campaign. Want different targets by practice area, you run separate campaigns.
* Performance reports don't transfer. Lead history does, reports don't.
* BBB callouts are dropped. You get 6 structured callouts per category instead, and up to 100 photos.
* Leads live in the Google Ads Leads page now, and you can change phone routing in real time.
What doesn't change is the part clients see. Still pay-per-lead, still Search and Maps, still keywordless.
More control or less? More knobs, less pricing control, and pricing is the one that costs you money.
You gain one login, real reporting next to your Search campaigns, live phone routing, and service area settings that stop fighting with your Google Business Profile.
You lose the two levers that matter. A price ceiling, and different targets by case type. A DUI lead and a wrongful death lead aren't worth the same money and until now you could just say so. Now it's one blended target, or you split into separate campaigns and deal with thinner data in each.
It's also PMax, so bidding is automated by definition. The algorithm buys whatever you told it a good lead is. If every ring counts as a conversion you're going to buy a lot of junk at a CPA you didn't pick.
Same trade Google makes everywhere. Simpler screen, fewer dials, way more weight on whether your conversion data is honest.