Local Services Ads now charge for missed calls: what to check and fix
Key takeaways
- Since October 1, 2026, a missed business-hours LSA call can be charged as a lead if the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds.
- Example math: 120 LSA calls a month, a 70% answer rate and a $75 lead fee add up to about $1,350 a month in fees for calls nobody answered.
- Answer LSA calls within two rings, with a rollover group and an answering service or AI agent for overflow.
- Match October's charged calls to your own call log, and challenge spam, wrong numbers and out-of-area calls within 30 days.
- LSAs are moving into Google Ads as pay-per-lead Performance Max, and old reports don't carry over. Export your history now.
Yes. Since October 1, 2026, Google can charge Local Services Ads advertisers for a missed business-hours call when the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds, and for some follow-up calls. Answer LSA calls within two or three rings, audit October's charged calls, and challenge invalid leads within Google's 30-day window.
Since October 1, 2026, Google can bill you for a Local Services Ads call that nobody at your shop answered.
Here is how it works. A homeowner calls your LSA number during your business hours. Nobody picks up. If they stay on the line more than 20 seconds, Google can count that call as a charged lead. You pay the lead fee, and the job goes to whoever answered next.
Invoca's 2026 benchmark found that only about half of callers to home service companies reach a person. If your shop is anywhere near that, you are paying for a lot of calls that rang out.
The fix happens at the phones: answer every LSA call within two or three rings during business hours, with a rollover so no call just rings. The first step is a 30-minute look at the charged calls in your October lead report.
What Google changed on October 1
Google emailed LSA advertisers a notice dated around August 24, 2026. Search Engine Roundtable's write-up of Google's missed-call notice covers the details:
- Missed calls can be charged. A business-hours call that nobody answers can count as a valid lead if the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds.
- Some follow-up calls can be charged. If a first call didn't qualify as a lead and the same person calls back, the follow-up can become a charged lead.
- Answered calls follow the usual rules. If your team picks up, Google charges or doesn't charge the way it did before.
Two details are still open.
The threshold wording differs. Most coverage says "more than 20 seconds." Some says "20 seconds or more." That one second only matters if you are disputing a call that lasted exactly 20.
Google hasn't said when the 20-second clock starts. If it starts when the call reaches Google's forwarding number, your phone has rung for less than 20 seconds by the time a charge applies. Treat 20 seconds as the outside limit and answer well inside it.
What missed LSA calls cost you each month
Every number in this section is an example. Swap in your own from the LSA lead report.
Example: an HVAC company gets 120 LSA calls a month during business hours. The average lead fee is $75. Half of the callers who don't reach anyone stay on the line past 20 seconds.
At a 70% answer rate:
- 120 calls x 30% missed = 36 missed calls
- 36 missed x 50% who wait past 20 seconds = 18 charged missed calls
- 18 x $75 = $1,350 a month in lead fees for calls nobody answered
That is the fee alone. The lost jobs cost more. Say your CSRs book 60% of answered LSA calls and the average repair ticket is $450. Those 18 callers were worth about 18 x 60% x $450 = $4,860 in repair revenue.
Here is the same example shop at three answer rates. The 52% row is Invoca's average.
| Answer rate | Missed calls (of 120) | Charged missed calls | Lead fees for missed calls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90% | 12 | 6 | $450 |
| 70% | 36 | 18 | $1,350 |
| 52% | 58 | 29 | $2,175 |
Invoca's report found 52% of callers reach a person, with a range of 32% to 74% by sub-industry. PPC Land's coverage of Invoca's answer-rate data has the details. It comes from Invoca's own customer call data, not an independent study, so measure your own.
Answer every LSA call inside 20 seconds
A standard US ring cycle is about six seconds, so 20 seconds is three or four rings. If Google's clock starts before your phone rings, you have fewer. Set the target at two rings.
Build the coverage in layers:
- Ring the whole CSR team first. Put every booking CSR on one ring group for the LSA number, never one person's desk line.
- Roll over after two rings. Unanswered calls move to a second group: the dispatcher, the office manager, a service manager.
- Send the rest to overflow. An answering service or an AI agent picks up, takes the job details and books the call or hands it off.
- Staff the known gaps. The 7 a.m. rush, lunch, shift change and the last hour before close. Stagger CSR breaks so the phones are never empty.
Most business phone systems can set ring groups and rollover timers. Have Google's LSA forwarding number ring through to a tracking number used for nothing else, as described in our guide to home service marketing attribution. Then you can measure LSA answer rate on its own.
Check that the business hours set in your LSA account match the hours your phones are actually staffed. The rule applies to calls inside those hours.
Audit October's charged calls in six steps
- Export October's LSA leads. In the LSA dashboard, or in Google Ads if your account has already migrated, download every phone lead for October with its charge status, call time and duration. Menu names vary by account.
- Export your own call log for the same month. From your phone system or ServiceTitan, pull every call to the LSA number with its answered or missed status.
- Match the two. Line up each charged LSA lead with your log by time and caller number. Flag every charged lead that your log shows as missed.
- Check each flagged call against your listed hours. A charged missed call outside the business hours set in LSA doesn't fit the rule as Google described it.
- Sort what's left into two piles. Pile one: real homeowners who needed a job you do, in your service area. Pile two: spam, wrong numbers, job types you don't offer and callers outside your area.
- Count pile one by hour and day of the week. This is your staffing map. If 14 of 20 missed calls landed between 7 and 9 a.m., the fix is a second person on the phones at 7.
Pile one is a phone problem, and the rollover above fixes it. Pile two is what you challenge with Google.
Challenge the charges that don't qualify
Google's help pages describe a 30-day window to challenge a charged lead. Since 2024, Google has credited many invalid leads automatically, and some accounts show a lead rating where a dispute button used to be. Use whichever your account offers, with a short reason such as spam, wrong number or outside your service area.
Timing matters. If the window runs 30 days from each lead, calls from the first days of October are already past it by early November. Work from the newest calls back, and make this a weekly job from now on.
Example: pile two holds 6 of your 18 charged missed calls at $75 each. That's $450 a month worth claiming. The other 12, $900, only go away when someone answers the phone.
Choose who answers the overflow
| Option | Works best for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Second in-house group | Shops with 1 to 3 CSRs and other office staff | It pulls dispatch off the board at the busiest hour |
| Live answering service | Steady overflow and after-hours calls | Agents who take messages instead of booking jobs |
| AI voice agent | Overflow and after-hours volume | High-ticket calls need a fast handoff to a trained CSR |
The AI vendors moved quickly. About five days after missed-call billing began, Invoca released AI voice and messaging agents that book into ServiceTitan and Salesforce Field Service. Jobber has sold its AI Receptionist since August 2025, and Housecall Pro sells CSR AI.
Measure your answer rate by hour before you buy any of them. Use AI for overflow and after-hours, and get the big calls to a person fast. For an HVAC company, that's the no-heat call on a January morning. For a plumbing company, it's the burst pipe and the water heater replacement.
Prepare for LSAs moving into Performance Max
According to Google Ads Help on the LSA move to Performance Max, existing LSA campaigns are being migrated automatically to a Performance Max campaign type built for pay-per-lead goals and managed inside Google Ads. Ads still show only on Search and Maps, in the same positions. Your historical LSA reports don't carry over.
Third-party coverage says the rollout began in August 2026 with US home service advertisers and continues in phases into 2027. Agencies disagree on who is in the late-2026 wave, and I couldn't confirm it from Google. Expect a notice about 14 days before your account switches.
Before that notice arrives:
- Export your LSA history. Leads, charged and credited totals by month, and cost per lead by job type.
- Write down your current setup. Service areas, job types, budget and business hours.
- Plan for one Google Ads view. LSA and Search budgets will sit side by side and compete for the same dollars.
- Give it two weeks. Performance can be unstable for up to two weeks after the switch, so don't judge it on week one.
- Send booked jobs back to Google. Performance Max optimizes on the signals you feed it. Offline conversion uploads moved to Google's Data Manager in 2026, per the Google Ads Developer Blog on offline conversion changes. Confirm your ServiceTitan, CallRail or CRM connection still uploads booked and sold jobs.
Track LSA answer rate every week
Add one number to your Monday report: LSA answer rate during business hours.
LSA answer rate = answered LSA calls ÷ all LSA calls during business hours.
Example: 108 answered out of 120 calls is 90%. Put charged missed calls and their dollar total next to it, and set a target, such as 95%, with one manager's name on it.
Before you raise LSA budget for a heat wave or the first freeze, add phone coverage for those weeks. Our home service marketing plan walks through timing the budget around your peaks.
I'm Zachary Ellison. I've worked with a home service business as it grew from 1 to 11 locations, and it's now franchising nationwide (more about me). Phone coverage is one of the first things I check in any home service account, because every ad dollar runs through it. You can see how we work with home service companies, or start with a free marketing assessment of your LSA account and call log.
Questions owners ask
Does Google charge for missed calls on Local Services Ads?
Yes, since October 1, 2026. A business-hours call that nobody answers can be charged as a lead if the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds, and some follow-up calls can be charged too. Calls outside your listed business hours aren't covered.
How long does a caller have to stay on the line before Google charges a missed call?
Most coverage of Google's notice says more than 20 seconds, while some reports say 20 seconds or more. Google hasn't said when the 20 seconds start counting, so aim to answer within two rings.
Can I get a refund for a charged missed call?
You can challenge leads that don't qualify, such as spam, wrong numbers, job types you don't offer or callers outside your service area, within Google's 30-day window. Depending on your account, that is a dispute option or a lead rating. A real homeowner you didn't answer counts as a valid lead under the new rule.
Are Local Services Ads becoming Performance Max?
Yes. Google is migrating LSA campaigns automatically to a Performance Max campaign type built for pay-per-lead goals and managed in Google Ads. Ads still show only on Search and Maps, and coverage says the rollout runs in phases into 2027.
Will my LSA data carry over after the move to Performance Max?
No. Google says historical LSA reports don't carry over, so export your leads, charges, credits and cost per lead by job type before your account switches. Accounts get a notice about 14 days ahead.