If your business uses Local Services Ads in the United States, the Local Services Ads migration can affect more than where you sign in. Google says selected home and storefront service advertisers began moving into Google Ads in August 2026. Historical campaign reports will not transfer, and budget and bidding controls change after migration.
Quick answer
Before your Local Services Ads account moves, export its historical reports, confirm who receives Google’s notices, document lead-routing and dispute workflows, compare the converted daily budget with your current weekly plan, and test every CRM handoff. Do not wait for migration day: Google says administrators receive advance notices, but each account’s timing is controlled by Google’s phased rollout.
TLDR: protect these five things
- Export historical reports because they will not carry into Google Ads.
- Confirm the account administrator and backup owner can receive migration notices.
- Record current services, locations, budget, schedule, photos, and lead settings.
- Map calls, messages, and bookings from receipt to qualified outcome.
- Avoid changing several bidding or routing variables immediately after migration.
Start with Google’s own migration notice and create a dated evidence folder. Never send passwords or customer records to a reviewer.
Jump to the migration comparison and assign an owner to each row.
What is changing?
Google is moving eligible Local Services Ads into a specialized Performance Max campaign with pay-per-lead goals. Ads remain focused on Search and Maps, campaigns stay keywordless, and advertisers continue paying for valid leads rather than ordinary clicks. Management moves from the separate Local Services dashboard into Google Ads.
The operational differences matter. Google says historical performance reports do not migrate, weekly budgets are converted into daily averages, manual maximum-cost-per-lead bidding is no longer supported, and vertical-level target CPA controls may need separate campaigns.
| Area | Before migration | After migration |
|---|---|---|
| Reporting | Export spend, leads and outcome history | Rebuild a comparable baseline in Google Ads |
| Access | Confirm administrator and backup owner | Review Google Ads roles and billing access |
| Budget | Record the weekly amount and seasonality | Validate the converted daily average |
| Leads | Document call, message and booking routing | Test delivery, ownership and response time |
Decision takeaway: preserve the evidence first, then compare the migrated setup against it. On a phone, swipe within the table to see every column.
Export the records you may need later
Download reports covering spend, impressions, charged and disputed leads, service categories, locations, and available lead details. Keep the export date and date range in the filename. If your team uses a dashboard, save its definitions too; “lead” may mean something different in advertising, the inbox, and the CRM.
Do not retain personal data without a business need. Limit access and follow your documented retention policy.
Verify access before the dashboard changes
Google says the listed account administrator receives notices before migration. Confirm that mailbox is monitored and that the responsible person can access both Local Services Ads and the connected Google Ads account. Review payments access separately from campaign access.
Create a simple owner list: account administrator, billing owner, lead-response owner, CRM owner, agency contact, and backup approver. If an outside provider helps, grant scoped access instead of sharing credentials.
Reconcile the budget and bidding setup
Google converts the average weekly budget into a daily average by dividing it by seven. That does not make every day’s spend identical. Compare the new value with your original plan, monthly cap, service-area economics, and staffing capacity.
If different service categories previously had different target CPA amounts, document them. Google says a unified campaign-level target may be applied unless separate campaigns are used. Separation can improve control, but it also divides data; make the decision from lead quality and operational capacity, not preference alone.
Test the complete lead path
Test one call, one message, and one booking path where available. Record whether the lead reached the correct inbox or phone, whether an owner was assigned, how quickly it was acknowledged, and whether the CRM captured the source. Continue through valid, qualified, booked, won, or rejected.
Useful rejection reasons include spam, duplicate, wrong location, wrong service, job seeker, vendor, unreachable, and unqualified. This prevents a rising lead count from hiding falling business value.
For a broader measurement foundation, use our Google Ads lead-generation guide and demand-led pacing checklist.
If you need a second set of eyes before the account moves, request a focused migration verification. The deliverable is a redacted export inventory, access-owner map, routing test record, and list of discrepancies to resolve; no campaign changes or credentials are required.
What should you avoid after migration?
Do not change the budget, service scope, routing, target, creative, and follow-up process simultaneously. Google notes that performance may take time to stabilize. A controlled change log makes it possible to see whether a technical issue, operational delay, or campaign adjustment caused a result.
A 14-day migration runbook
When the first notice arrives, export reports and confirm owners. Seven days before the move, freeze the baseline and complete lead-path tests. On migration day, compare access, services, locations, budget, schedule, and routing with the saved state. During the following two weeks, monitor delivery and qualified outcomes while limiting unrelated changes. Escalate broken access or lead delivery immediately; record performance variation without declaring a trend too early.
If your migration notice has arrived, Rightjob Solutions can perform a bounded migration-readiness review covering exports, access, lead routing, measurement, and conversion risks. Book a consultation; bring screenshots or exports with personal data removed, not passwords.
Frequently asked questions
Is every Local Services Ads account moving now?
No. Google describes a phased rollout beginning with selected U.S. home and storefront service advertisers, expanding to additional groups later and other countries in 2027.
Will my old reports appear in Google Ads?
No. Google says previous campaign performance reports will not carry over, so export the history you need beforehand.
Will Local Services Ads start charging per click?
Google says the migrated campaign keeps the pay-per-lead model and continues serving on Search and Maps.
Should I change my budget immediately?
First verify the converted daily average and business capacity. Change it only with a documented reason and a way to compare qualified outcomes.
Can an agency migrate the account for me?
Google controls the migration date. A properly authorized provider can help document, verify, and manage the setup, but should not promise control over rollout timing or performance.
