Booked jobs from the panel above the map,
and only for leads that were real.

More than most operators expect. Google's screening documentation states that all businesses must pass its screening and verification process, that the process varies by category and location, and that it may include background, business registration, insurance and license checks along with minimum review requirements. In specified categories and locations, background checks reach the business, the business owner and the field worker roster, including subcontractors who enter customers' properties. Establish which apply to you before promising anyone a launch date. Territory-level readiness is covered in the A.R.C. Report.

Usually a document rather than a decision. Google publishes requirements for uploading license or insurance documents, and a certificate naming a different legal entity, or one expiring inside the review window, is a rejection rather than a request for clarification. Check the paperwork against the published requirements before submitting rather than after. The other common cause is a field worker roster that does not match who actually attends jobs. Getting the operational answer right first is the same principle we apply on lead handling.

No, and conflating them is common because they appear near each other. Local Services is a paid panel with its own screening, its own auction and its own billing — Google's getting started documentation covers it separately. The map results and your profile listing are earned rather than bought and behave differently, which is why we report and manage them apart. Those surfaces are covered on our local SEO and profile optimization pages.

By auction, and bid is only part of it. Google's ad rankings documentation states that provider listings are displayed and ranked based on an auction taking into account bid and overall profile quality, and that your bid is the maximum you are willing to pay for a lead though you may end up paying less. The profile quality half accrues from how you actually operate rather than from a setting, which is why bidding harder has limits here. Google's own performance guidance is a better checklist than folklore. Related: review program.

Two things, in order. Query the charges, and tighten the setting so it stops recurring — a service area set at launch to match ambition rather than dispatch reality will keep producing them indefinitely. We review every charged lead against four questions: was it a real person, was it a service you offer, was it inside your area, and did it reach your phone. That review is our operating practice rather than a platform policy we are quoting. Google's performance documentation covers the settings side. Matching territory to capacity is a demand question too.

Yes, and on most accounts we review this is the largest single loss — larger than every questionable lead combined. A missed call is a lead you paid for in full and never had a chance at, and it is not the platform's fault. We report the count every month even though it is a finding about your operation rather than about the advertising, because nothing else on the account moves the number as much. Google's performance guidance treats responsiveness as material. What happens to the call afterwards is CRM work.

Potentially, yes. Google's screening documentation notes that from time to time you may be asked to repeat one or more checks in order to continue participating. So treat it as a standing condition rather than a launch milestone: track insurance and license expiry dates, and update the field worker roster when the crew changes. An operator whose coverage lapses can find the channel switched off without any campaign setting having changed. The same detection-over-time thinking is on website maintenance.

Usually yes, because they answer different moments and sit differently on the page. Local Services bills per lead and appears above the map results; search text ads bill per click and compete in a separate auction — Google covers the paid search side in its best practices documentation. Running both means measuring them separately rather than letting one absorb credit for the other, and reconciling both against booked work. That accounting discipline is set out on our paid search page.

Leads charged, leads queried and why, calls unanswered, and booked work reconciled against the charges. Lead volume alone is the cost line rather than the result, so a report showing volume rising without quality beside it is describing an increase in spending. Reconciling reported activity against work that reached the business follows the same discipline as paid search, and Google's conversion tracking documentation covers what the platform is and is not counting on the paid side.

Where your category qualifies, it is usually the highest-intent traffic in the whole plan — someone in the panel is looking to book, not to browse. It is the wrong channel where your category is not eligible in your location, where the paperwork cannot yet support screening, or where the phone is not reliably answered, because a pay-per-lead channel punishes an unanswered phone harder than any other. Eligibility varies, so check Google's own overview for your category. An honest read of where your demand sits is what the A.R.C. Report is for.