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Advertising · Local Services Ads

Local Services Ads for HVAC

Above the ads, above the map, above everything — and you only pay when someone actually calls.

There’s a block that sits at the very top of a local search, above the regular ads and above the map. Badged businesses, phone numbers, ratings. The homeowner taps and calls straight from it.

The part that matters for a contractor: you pay per lead, not per click. Not when someone’s thumb slips, not when a competitor clicks your ad, not when a student is researching a school project. When an actual customer calls or messages you.

For an emergency trade, that’s the most efficient money on the page. It’s usually the first paid lever we turn on and often the only one a shop needs for the first few months.

Eligibility

Before anything else — can you even run it

Google verifies you before you’re allowed in. That means:

  • Current business registration
  • Current trade license
  • Current insurance certificate
  • A background check
  • A bond, where your state requires it

If any of those have lapsed, you can’t be enrolled until it’s fixed. We check this in the audit before you pay us anything, because there’s no point building a strategy around a channel you’re not eligible for. We’ve seen shops sitting on a suspended license from an insurance certificate that lapsed months ago and nobody told them.

Verification takes anywhere from three days to about three weeks, mostly depending on how fast your documents come back.

The honest version

One thing to stop saying

If somebody told you about the “green badge” and a Google-backed money-back guarantee for your customers — that’s out of date.

As of 20 October 2025 Google consolidated Google Guaranteed, Google Screened and License Verified into a single blue Google Verified badge, and discontinued the money-back guarantee that came with the old green one. Describing a Google-backed guarantee to a homeowner now is a misrepresentation.

We mention it because plenty of agencies and plenty of sales scripts haven’t caught up.

Our approach

How we run it

01

Verification handled end to end

We assemble and submit the documents, chase what’s missing, and manage the back-and-forth so it clears as fast as it can.

02

Linked properly to your Google Business Profile

The two have to match exactly. Mismatches are a common reason verification stalls, and it’s why the profile work and the LSA work are wired together rather than sold separately.

03

Service area set conservatively

Only towns you profitably reach. Google now charges for out-of-area leads and they’re harder to dispute away than they used to be, so a padded service area is a direct cost.

04

Weekly budget matched to capacity

LSA runs on a weekly budget. We set it against how many jobs you can actually take that week, not against a number that sounds ambitious.

05

Leads disputed every month

Wrong numbers, spam, out-of-area, someone selling you something, jobs you don’t do. Valid disputes come back as account credits. This is tedious and it’s real money, and it’s the thing most shops running LSA themselves never get round to.

06

Lead history exported

Google is reported to be folding LSA into Google Ads starting with US home services from August 2026 — the standalone dashboard retiring, pay-per-lead moving into a specialised Performance Max, and historical performance reports not carrying over. Reportedly about 14 days’ notice per account. We export your lead history ahead of any migration notice, because that history is the proof of what we produced. Treat the timeline as reported rather than certain until it shows up in your account.

Speed to lead

The thing that decides whether LSA works

Speed to lead is a scored ranking factor inside LSA.

Miss calls and your rank in the block drops, which means fewer leads, which means each job costs more. A missed call doesn’t just lose you that job — it makes every subsequent lead more expensive. And a large share of calls to a service business land outside normal working hours.

This is why we won’t run LSA for a shop with no after-hours coverage.

It’s a great ad in front of a phone nobody answers, and it will get blamed on the ads rather than on the phone.

The deliverables

What’s included

Eligibility check before you commit to anything
Google Verified verification submitted and managed
Profile linked and matched to your Google Business Profile
Service area and weekly budget configured to capacity
Monthly lead disputes filed
Lead history exported and retained
Monthly reporting on leads, cost per lead and booked jobs
Proof

How you’ll know it’s working

LSA is the easiest channel in this whole business to judge, because the unit is a lead rather than an impression.

You’ll see: leads received, what each cost, which were disputed and credited, and how many booked. Every lead has a recording attached, so you can listen rather than trust a count. If lead quality drops, you’ll hear it before you see it in a report.

We record your call volume before launch so the lift is measurable rather than assumed.

Why Talos

Five reasons

One client per market

One HVAC company per market — so we’re never running two clients against each other in the same block. We fight your competition, not build it.

We check eligibility before you pay

If your license or insurance won’t clear, you’ll know that in the audit rather than after signing.

Your budget is yours

On your card, direct to Google. We never hold it.

We won’t run it into an unanswered phone

60 days, or your money back

Our fee, not your ad spend.

FAQ

Straight answers

It varies by market and season — secondary metros are meaningfully cheaper than big ones, and emergency spikes in summer are real. We’ll give you a realistic range for your market in the audit rather than a number that flatters us.

You pay per lead here, per click there. LSA is higher intent and simpler. Search Ads give you more control and reach the planned-purchase buyer. Most shops should start here.

Three days to three weeks, driven mostly by how fast your documents come back.

You will, some. That’s what the dispute process is for, and valid ones come back as credits. We file them monthly.

Not for LSA — calls go straight to your phone. You’ll want one for Search Ads and for everything organic.

We’ll migrate you and, more importantly, we’ll have already exported your lead history — because that’s what doesn’t carry over.

Search your main service in your town on your phone and look at the very top of the screen

If there’s a badged block and you’re not in it, that’s the highest-intent placement in your market going to somebody else. We’ll send you a free audit: whether your license and insurance clear you to run LSA, who’s currently in the block, and what leads realistically cost in your market. Yours either way.