How Tracking Can Improve Local Service Ads Lead Quality

By Jordan Evans

Read it to me! Click the video below.

 

Local Service Ads (LSAs) can be a game-changer for service area businesses, driving high-quality leads directly to your phone or inbox. But simply turning on LSAs isn’t enough—you need to actively track and optimize their performance to get the most out of your ad spend. Without the right approach, it’s easy to fall into the trap of paying for poor-quality leads that don’t convert into jobs.

Let's use Michael as our main character — like many common stories we hear, he's an HVAC contractor who was thrilled with the surge of leads he saw from his LSA campaigns, only to realize that many were irrelevant or didn’t turn into paying customers. What went wrong? Michael wasn’t tracking or refining his LSA strategy.

To avoid Michael's mistakes and maximize your LSAs, it's crucial to focus on improving lead quality through strategic tracking and constant optimization. Here’s how.

 

Identifying and Solving Poor Lead Quality

For many business owners like Michael, the problem with LSAs isn't a lack of leads but the quality of those leads. Here are common issues that impact lead quality:

• Inconsistent Tracking: Michael wasn’t tracking important metrics, like which keywords were bringing in quality leads or the cost per lead versus the cost per actual job.

• Misaligned Service Offerings: Many of Michael's leads were for services he didn’t provide because his LSA profile wasn’t specific enough.

• Reputation and Reviews: Michael’s reviews weren’t great, which negatively impacted his rankings.

Without proper tracking and management, these problems can eat away at your ad budget without delivering the desired results.

 

Strategic Tracking and Optimization: The Key to Success

Michael turned his situation around by implementing a few crucial steps, and you can do the same by focusing on these areas:

1. Track Performance with Detailed Metrics

Rather than relying on lead volume alone, it’s essential to track specific metrics to assess lead quality. Michael started monitoring:

• Call-to-Booking Ratio: This helped him see how many leads were turning into actual jobs. By focusing on this, Michael adjusted his strategy to prioritize high-converting keywords.

• Cost Per Lead vs. Cost Per Job: He compared the cost of acquiring leads to the revenue generated from booked jobs. This highlighted which ads were delivering true ROI.

• Lead Relevance: By reviewing his calls and messages, Michael identified how many leads were for services outside his scope and adjusted his profile accordingly.

2. Align Your Service Listings

Review your LSA profile regularly. Are you listing the services you want more of in the summer or winter? Michael found that by fine-tuning his service categories for each season, he was able to filter out irrelevant leads, improving both quality and conversions.

• Actionable Tip: Update your service categories frequently to reflect your seasonality and highest-value services.

3. Optimize Your Reputation with Reviews

Reviews are a critical component of LSAs. Positive reviews not only boost your rankings but also make you more appealing to potential customers. Michael made it a priority to ask satisfied clients to leave detailed reviews that included specific job types (e.g., "furnace repair"). This, in turn, helped him rank for more relevant searches.

• Actionable Tip: Ask customers to mention your specific services in their reviews. Keywords in reviews can help you appear for high-value job searches. See how to get 100 5 star reviews in a year!

4. Fine-Tune Your Ads by Understanding Lead Sources

Leads can come in via phone calls, texts, or emails, but not all lead types are created equal. Michael analyzed his LSA performance and realized that while message leads were cheaper, they often had a lower conversion rate compared to phone calls. By adjusting his strategy, he balanced cost-effectiveness with lead quality.

• Actionable Tip: Analyze which communication channels generate the best leads and focus your efforts on the highest-converting options.

 

Advanced Optimization: Fine-Tuning for Peak Performance

In addition to the basics, Michael also fine-tuned his strategy to squeeze even more value from his LSAs. Here’s what he did:

Turn Off Direct Business Search

Michael noticed that many leads were coming from people searching for his exact company name. Since these were likely returning customers, he didn’t need to pay for these leads through LSAs. By turning off direct business search, he saved money and focused on new clients.

• Actionable Tip: Disable direct business search to avoid paying for leads you would have gotten organically. Find this button in your LSA profile beneath

Analyze Subcategory Performance

Not all subcategories bring equal value. After analyzing his LSA data, Michael turned off subcategories that weren’t delivering profitable leads, allowing him to focus his ad spend on high-performing services.

• Actionable Tip: Regularly review which subcategories generate the most valuable leads and deactivate underperforming ones.

Schedule Ads During Peak Hours

Running ads when potential customers are most likely to be searching can make all the difference. Michael experimented with different ad schedules and found that the best times for him were early morning, lunchtime, and just after work. These were the times when homeowners were most likely to book services.

• Peak Hours:

  • 6-8 AM (pre-work)
  • 12-2 PM (lunch break)
  • 5-7 PM (after work)

• Actionable Tip: Adjust your LSA schedule to focus on peak times when your target customers are most likely to be looking for services.

Use LSA’s Lead Management Features or Integrate with a CRM

Michael also improved his lead management by using the LSA platform’s "booked," "complete," and "archive" categories. By integrating a CRM like Housecall Pro, he was able to streamline job scheduling and track leads effectively.

• Actionable Tip: Use lead tracking features within LSAs or integrate with a CRM to streamline your operations.

 

Fine-Tune for Better Results

Local Service Ads can be an invaluable tool, but only if they’re managed with precision. By tracking key metrics, refining your service categories, improving your reputation with reviews, and optimizing your ad schedule, you can ensure that your LSAs bring in high-quality leads that turn into paying jobs.

Ready to improve your LSA results? Start tracking your performance today and make adjustments that ensure your leads are worth every penny.