Case Study: How We Maximized Google LSA for Service Brands

Google Local Services Ads continue to be one of the highest-intent, highest-conversion channels for service-based franchise brands. By validating business trust signals and surfacing providers directly to ready-to-book customers, LSAs consistently drive efficient lead volume at scale. July through September remains the most active season for service brands leveraging Google Local Services Ads (LSA), and Q3-2025 delivered record-breaking growth for Location3 clients. Here are our peak season results and insights from this year across our portfolio of franchisors and franchisees actively advertising with Google Local Service Ads.

Year-over-Year Performance Highlights

• Booked Revenue: Tripled year-over-year, surging 201% signaling higher value per account and stronger ROI.
• Adjusted Growth: Removing the ad spend increases from more franchise locations launching campaigns, and increased budgets from preexisting accounts, local businesses saw a 53.6% revenue increase YOY.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Improved 34%, climbing from 8% to 11.65%, validating the impact of systemwide data sharing across franchise systems, and agile bid management changes at the location level.

Verification Challenges & Franchise Advantage

Local businesses continue to face hurdles in Google’s verification process, where background checks, licensure, and insurance verifications often slow down onboarding. However, franchise brands working with Location3 to implement Google’s Equivalency program for Franchise Systems experience a much smoother path. This program streamlines compliance for franchise networks, enabling local franchisees to go live faster and start generating leads without the typical location level approval delays. Strategic alignment within a broader media mix for our franchise owners also allowed us to shift between LSAs and other local ad tactics based on performance. This flexibility ensures that budgets are allocated where they drive the most impact. That strategic portfolio management perspective, combined with systemwide trend learnings and evolving consumer behaviors, positions our customers to adapt quickly and maintain competitive advantage in a dynamic search environment.

Optimization Drivers

• Responsiveness Matters: Accounts with 80-90%+ responsiveness consistently achieved better visibility and lead generation, and 220% more revenue generated. than accounts with 65% or less responsiveness status.
• Message Leads: Enabling message leads nearly tripled booked revenue per account, adding an average of $1,800 more compared to accounts without this feature.
• Visual Impact: Accounts with 4+ high-quality photos generated 529% higher booked revenue than locations with <4 photos.

Budget Utilization & Growth Opportunities

• Constrained Accounts: Franchise accounts with budget constraints on LSAs have inconsistent performance results due to the weekly budget constructs of LSAs versus daily budget pacing of PPC. This underscores untapped potential for expansion for many franchise locations to grow revenue more consistently through prioritizing LSA ads.
• Challenges: Fully utilizing allocated budgets can be impacted for enterprise clients with carved-out local territories. Expanding service areas is the most effective strategy but often faces operational hurdles since minimizing overlap is a priority.
• Corporate Barriers: Reluctance to enable message leads, limits revenue growth for some local franchise owners.
• Lead scoring is being built into our LOCALACT platform API, frequent feedback loops from our local customers will help to further train machine learning models effectively.

The Bigger Picture

Over the past 12 months, SERPs have undergone significant changes, with the advancement of Google’s AI Mode, AIO results, and rising Zero-Click search behavior reshaping customer journeys. Yet, for service brands investing in LSA, performance has not only held strong but improved dramatically. This underscores the resilience and ROI potential of Local Services Ads in an evolving search landscape. Key takeaways for Q4 and Beyond

• Invest in Message Leads: Lower cost per lead and higher conversion potential make this feature a must-have.
• Prioritize Responsiveness: Aim for 80%+ to maximize ranking and lead flow.
• Expand Service Areas Where Possible: Especially for accounts consistently hitting budget caps.
• Leverage Visuals: Maintain at least four high-quality photos to boost consumer trust and engagement.
• Assess as a Portfolio: Asses LSA performance in comparison with your local media mix of digital ad campaign tactics. Allocate sufficient budgets when Cost Per Results are strong in your vertical for your location.

As we move closer to the end of Q4 and prepare for 2026, we expect continued emphasis on AI-driven automation, budget efficiency, and cross-channel synergy. With Google’s evolving LSA ecosystem and consumer expectations rising, our proactive campaign optimization driven by our LOCALACT platform will remain a cornerstone of continued success. Interested in learning how we can help you turn Local Service Ads into real bookings and real revenue? Contact us today to speak with our team.