Google Ads vs Google Local Services Ads

Both run on Google, but they charge differently. LSA charges per lead. Google Ads charges per click. Here is what published data shows about cost per lead and cost per paying customer.

Takeaways

• SearchLight (February 2026): LSA averaged $53 per lead and $233 per paying customer.
• In the same data, Google Ads averaged $104 per lead and $472 per paying customer blended, and $149 per lead and $804 per paying customer for non-branded campaigns.
• Contractors get roughly 6 to 7% of LSA spend back as dispute credits, according to industry data cited by SearchLight.
• Google is moving LSA into Google Ads as a pay-per-lead version of Performance Max starting August 2026 (AdGenius).

Source: https://searchlightdigital.io/google-local-service-ads-cost-per-lead/ ↗

Source: https://adgenius.com/research/google-local-services-ads-cost-benchmark/ ↗

Cost per booked job / paying customer represents paying customers in these sources. The sources may use different definitions of a lead.