LSA Will Never Be the Same...Here's Why That's Good

Meet the new name

Local Services Ads is moving into Google Ads, and its new name is Performance Max for pay-per-lead goals.

Learn that name. You're going to hear it a lot.

What stays: you still pay for leads, not clicks. Your ads still show on Search and Maps, in the same spots (though expect this to change almost immediately).

What changes: the LSA dashboard goes away. Your leads, messages and call recordings move over. Your old reports don't.

When: some trickles started in August. More businesses follow in late 2026. Everyone else in 2027.

So why Performance Max?

The easy answer is control. Google wants to run everything. That's part of it.

In my personal opinion: Advertisers could not care less where their ads show. YouTube, Display, Search, Maps. Doesn't matter. Put my ad in front of people who want to buy my stuff. That's it.

That's the entire point of Performance Max. All of advertising is heading toward AI deciding who sees your ad, how it ranks and which leads count. Performance Max is Google's pitch for that world:

Give us your money. We'll figure out where to put it.

Right now the pay-per-lead version only shows on Search and Maps. But look at the name it's moving under. That tells you where this is headed.

In theory, beautiful. In practice?

How close are we to that promise?

Open LinkedIn. You've seen the posts. I gave Performance Max $50K and it lit it on fire.

They're not all wrong.

Performance Max is built to help Google learn. It hunts for searches nobody is bidding on yet (blue ocean keywords). Long, specific phrases that turn into booked jobs. That's gold for Google, and it can be gold for you too. But Google does its learning with your money.

Advocate for yourself

This is why a good ad manager matters more now, not less. Not someone who sets it and forgets it, or someone who is constantly tinkering without a real long-term plan. You need to ensure you take in the recommendations Google is giving you, while understanding where these recommendations are coming from, and what their goal is.

Here's what that looks like:

• Leads you actually want. Someone reviews every lead, flags the junk through Google's lead feedback, and reviews service areas and service types when the wrong calls come in.
• Targets that match your margins. Each campaign gets one Target CPA. If plumbing and HVAC need different numbers, they need separate campaigns.
• A budget you can plan around. Weekly budgets become daily. The monthly cap is your daily budget times 30.4. Someone should check that math still fits your month.

What to do this week

1. Screenshot every live ad. Get the photos, reviews and any featured professional.
2. Save your reports before you migrate. Google says a download page is coming. Until then, screenshots.
3. Match your Business Profile hours to when someone really answers.
4. Running more than one vertical in one campaign? Plan the split now.

Bottom line

LSA will never be the same...that's good. Means it's growing up. But growing up comes with growing pains.

Our team spent 12 years combined at Google. If you want someone in your corner for the move, email us at eric@leadwisehq.com.

Sources

• Anthony Higman on X (Oct. 18, 2026)
• Search Engine Roundtable: Google Ads To No Longer Show Featured Professionals, Headshots Are Optional (Oct. 19, 2026)
• Google Ads Help: Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals
• Local Services Help: How leads work
• Google Ads Help: About pay-per-lead goals for Performance Max campaigns