Google Ads vs LSA — how is everyone actually using these?

Question

Here's where I'm at: I run both Google Ads and Local Services Ads (LSA) for my business. On paper, that sounds like I've got it figured out. In practice, it feels a bit like throwing money at two different machines and hoping one of them spits out jobs. I don't always know which one a new customer came from, and I'm honestly not confident my settings on either are dialed in the way they should be.

Obviously the LSA is something I pay for on an individual basis. I just feel like I never get any jobs out of these. Does this hurt me to kill these ads all together?

Then google ads I have no idea. I feel like I get a lot of leads from google in general but I don't know how much of that is my website vs the ads.

How do you guys approach these?

roger · Answer

LSA is easy to track because it uses a Google forwarding number, and you can clearly see which customers came from those leads directly in your dashboard.

For Google Ads vs. your website, you need to set up proper tracking. On my end, I still use Jobber forms to collect leads, but now Jobber gives you options to better identify where each lead is coming from.

One option is to create multiple forms so you can tell the difference based on which form was submitted. Another option is to track the source of the form submission so it gets added to your lead source automatically.

In my case, I modify the URL using UTM parameters, like:

?utm_source=web&source=website

?utm_source=yelp&source=referral

You can customize these however you want—Google Ads, Yelp, Facebook, etc. That way, when a client submits the form, Jobber already shows you exactly where the lead came from.

Also, keep in mind that form performance depends on the source. Simpler forms usually convert better—especially on platforms like Facebook, where people don’t want to fill out long forms.

If you feel like your forms url are too long, you can create simple forwarding links like yourdomain.com/yelp that redirect to the correct tracked URL. You can do the same for every source you want to track.

pestfreecanada · Answer

I hired a marketing company that tracks all this for me and we review a report every few months. Keyword searches are another thing to pay attention to. These can be changed or new words added as needed to make sure people are finding you when they are looking for their service. The key that I found was to make yourself stand out somehow, set your standards higher and make sure you can communicate that well.

I didn't know anything about Google ads before this and I am admittedly still very unsure what it all means but I do know that some leads have come in that I have closed. I have a good situation where 1 lead can easily turn into $600-1000 so paying $150-300 a month, even to get 2-3 leads is really good for me.

readysetorg · Answer

I'm with you on this in that I'm not a google ads expert, yet I do pay for advertising there. I just assume I need to be paying for ads to keep my team busy and to stay at the top of the list when customers are out there seaching.

Sorry I don't have much advice for you. Mainly commenting to follow this post :)

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Google Ads vs LSA — how is everyone actually using these?

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