Google is dismantling the wall between Local Services Ads and the rest of its advertising business. Starting in August 2026, Google is moving Local Services Ads into the main Google Ads interface as a new Performance Max campaign type built for pay-per-lead goals, according to reporting from Search Engine Journal. The separate Local Services Ads dashboard that plumbers, electricians, cleaning companies, and wellness studios have used for years will stop working entirely once an account migrates, and the rollout continues in phases through 2027. If your business runs on local lead generation, this is not a cosmetic redesign. Bidding, reporting, and how you manage services all change.
The short version: Local Services Ads is becoming a Performance Max campaign type inside Google Ads, with the same pay-per-lead billing and the same Search and Maps placements, but with manual bidding removed, one combined Target CPA instead of per-service targets, and no transfer of historical performance data. The first wave of migrations begins in August 2026 with a limited group of U.S. advertisers, expanding to more accounts through late 2026, with non-U.S. accounts and remaining categories following in 2027.
How the New Local Services Campaigns Will Work
Despite the Performance Max name, which usually signals a much broader, more automated campaign type spanning Search, Display, YouTube, and Shopping, these new Local Services campaigns keep a narrower footprint. They remain keywordless and continue to appear exclusively on Google Search and Google Maps, in the same positions Local Services Ads occupy today.
Same Reach, Same Billing Model
The billing structure isn't changing either. Advertisers will keep paying for valid leads, meaning calls, messages, and bookings, rather than clicks or impressions. Google has been explicit that reach and placement stay consistent; what's moving is the management layer underneath it.
One Dashboard, One Lead Manager
After migration, Local Services campaigns and lead responses are managed entirely inside Google Ads through a new Lead Manager, which replaces the existing Local Services Ads inbox. There's no more toggling between two separate Google products to run one local campaign.
The Migration Timeline: August 2026 Through 2027
Google is rolling this out in three distinct phases rather than flipping a switch for every advertiser at once.
Phase One: A Limited Group Starting August 2026
The first phase, beginning in August 2026, covers a limited group of U.S. advertisers. According to Search Engine Journal, that initial group spans pet care, home services, wellness, and education businesses, with Google's own help documentation listing specific home and storefront categories including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control, and moving.
The wellness inclusion matters for the hospitality and wellness brands One Media Society works with directly. A boutique fitness studio or wellness practice running Local Services Ads today should expect to be an early candidate for this migration, not a late one.
What's Coming in Late 2026 and 2027
The second phase, later in 2026, expands to service-area businesses without physical storefronts and to accounts using custom bidding or booking configurations. The final phase, in 2027, brings in non-U.S. accounts and any remaining business categories. Account administrators will get a notice 14 days before their account migrates, a follow-up reminder seven days later, and confirmation once the migration completes.
What Actually Changes for Advertisers
The reach and billing model staying constant is the reassuring part. The management mechanics changing underneath it is where advertisers need to pay attention.
One Campaign-Level Target CPA Replaces Per-Service Targets
Today, advertisers can set different Target CPA amounts by service category within one Local Services account. After migration, Google calculates a single campaign-level Target CPA across all categories, and vertical-level Target CPA is deprecated entirely. A contractor running plumbing and HVAC leads under different targets today will see those collapse into one blended target unless they split the work into separate campaigns, a decision that trades bidding precision for less conversion data per campaign.
Manual Bidding Goes Away
Advertisers who currently set a maximum cost per lead through manual bidding will lose that option. Every migrated campaign runs on Google's automated bidding, which is consistent with where Google Ads has been pushing advertisers across every product for several years now.
Historical Reports Don't Transfer
This is the detail most likely to catch agencies and in-house marketers off guard. Lead histories transfer into Google Ads, but historical performance reports do not, and access to the original Local Services Ads dashboard ends once migration completes. Anyone who needs year-over-year comparisons, client reporting, or internal benchmarking should download those reports before their account gets the migration notice, not after.
Business Profile Syncing and the End of BBB Callouts
Business names, physical addresses, and standard hours will now sync directly from Google Business Profile instead of being managed separately in two places. Google is also dropping support for Better Business Bureau callouts and recommending advertisers line up at least six alternative callouts before migration. Significant changes to a business's name or address can trigger a 24-to-48-hour verification review that temporarily pauses the campaign, so this isn't the moment to also overhaul your Business Profile listing.
Why Google Is Folding a Standalone Product Into Google Ads
Local Services Ads has operated as its own product since it expanded nationally years ago, with its own dashboard, its own onboarding, and its own support workflow separate from the rest of Google's advertising stack. That separation always created friction for agencies and multi-location businesses managing both Local Services and standard Search or Performance Max campaigns, since performance data, budgets, and reporting lived in two places that didn't talk to each other.
Folding Local Services into Performance Max also fits a pattern Google has followed across its ad products for several years: consolidate campaign types, push advertisers toward automated bidding, and reduce the number of manual levers available. Smart Shopping became Performance Max. Expanded text ads became Responsive Search Ads. Now Local Services Ads becomes a Performance Max variant. In each case, the stated rationale is simplification and better automation. The practical effect is also less granular control for advertisers who relied on manual adjustments to manage cost per lead precisely.
What This Means for Agencies Managing Multiple Accounts
Agencies running Local Services campaigns for several clients at once will feel this migration differently than a single-location business owner managing their own account. Reporting workflows built around exporting data from the standalone Local Services dashboard will need to be rebuilt around Google Ads reporting instead, and any client-facing dashboards or automated reports pulling from the old system should be audited well before a client's migration notice arrives. Agencies that get ahead of this will be able to reassure clients the transition is routine. Agencies that don't will be explaining a reporting gap after the fact.
What Local Wellness and Home Service Brands Should Do Before Migration
A few concrete steps make this transition materially smoother, particularly for smaller, founder-led businesses without a dedicated in-house paid media team.
Export historical Local Services Ads reports now, even if your migration notice hasn't arrived yet. Review whether your business runs multiple service categories under meaningfully different acquisition costs; if plumbing leads and HVAC leads have very different close rates and customer values, decide before migration whether a single blended Target CPA works for you or whether splitting into separate campaigns is worth the tradeoff in bidding signal strength. Line up alternative trust callouts to replace BBB references. And treat the 14-day advance notice as the start of a checklist, not a deadline to react to.
This kind of platform-level shift is exactly the sort of change we cover in more depth in our complete guide to wellness brand marketing, and it sits alongside the broader move toward AI-driven automation we tracked in our hospitality marketing playbook. Local paid search remains one of the highest-intent channels available to service and wellness businesses. It's just getting a new home inside Google Ads.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Google moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads?
The migration begins in August 2026 with a limited group of U.S. advertisers across pet care, home services, wellness, and education categories. It expands to more U.S. accounts later in 2026, with non-U.S. accounts and remaining categories following through 2027.
Will my Local Services Ads reach or cost-per-lead billing change?
No. The new Performance Max pay-per-lead campaigns keep the same Search and Maps-only placements and the same billing model, where advertisers pay for valid leads like calls, messages, and bookings rather than clicks.
What happens to my historical Local Services Ads reports?
Lead histories transfer into Google Ads, but historical performance reports do not, and the original Local Services Ads dashboard becomes inaccessible after migration. Advertisers should download any reports needed for client work or internal comparisons before their account migrates.
Can I still set different bid targets for different services after migration?
Not within a single campaign. Google calculates one campaign-level Target CPA across all service categories after migration, and per-service Target CPA is deprecated. Advertisers who need different targets by service can create separate campaigns, though each will have less conversion data to work with.
If your business relies on Local Services Ads or any form of local paid search to bring in leads, now is the time to get ahead of this migration rather than react to Google's notice email. One Media Society is a Miami, Florida-based marketing agency that helps hospitality, wellness, and home-service brands manage exactly this kind of platform transition, and our work with Miami-area service businesses gives us a close view of how these changes play out for local advertisers specifically.