Search “fence company near me” and you’ll see two kinds of ads at the top of Google. They work very differently, and knowing the difference can save you a lot of money.

Google Local Services Ads (LSA)

Local Services Ads are the boxes at the very top with a business name, star rating and a Google trust badge. To show up, your business goes through Google’s screening (licenses, insurance and background checks, depending on your trade and area).

  • You pay per lead, not per click. You’re charged when a homeowner calls or messages you through the ad.
  • Reviews and responsiveness matter. Your rating, review count and how fast you answer affect how often you show up.
  • Less control. You pick services and areas, but Google decides most of the rest.

Google Ads (search ads)

Regular Google Ads appear just below LSA and look like search results marked “Sponsored.”

  • You pay per click, whether or not the person calls.
  • Much more control: which searches, which towns, which hours, what the ad says and which page it sends people to.
  • Tracking is on you. Without call and form tracking you won’t know which clicks turned into jobs.

Which should you use?

For most home-service contractors, start with Local Services Ads if they’re available for your trade: they put you at the very top and you only pay for real leads. Add Google Ads when you want more volume, want to target specific high-value jobs, or LSA isn’t available for what you do.

Either way, three things decide whether ads pay off:

  1. Speed to lead. Reply in minutes, not hours. Slow responses cost you jobs, and with LSA they can cost you placement too.
  2. Reviews. Keep a steady flow of new Google reviews on your Google Business Profile.
  3. Tracking. Know what each lead cost and which ones became jobs. Tools like CallRail make that easy.

Fillay sets up and runs both, tracks every call and form, and has a real person follow up on each lead — so you’re paying for jobs, not just clicks.

How we make money: you pay Fillay for our service. Some links on this page may be referral links, which means the software company may pay us if you sign up. It never changes our recommendation, and we’re happy to run whatever tools you already use.

See all the tools we set up and run