Local Paid Search · PPC Services & Paid Social Media

The Three Local Paid Surfaces.

Google Ads — search ads above and below organic results, plus Performance Max. The high-intent surface for "[service] near me" and "[service] [city]" queries.

Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) — pay-per-lead, Google-verified badge ads that sit above the map pack. Different economics (pay-per-lead, not pay-per-click), different optimization. See LSA Management →

Meta (Facebook + Instagram) — demand-creation + retargeting layer. Doesn't replace Google search; complements it. The lower-intent capture that pays back through retargeting + lookalike audiences. See Meta Advertising →

Why Cost-Per-Booked-Job Is the Only Metric That Matters.

Most paid programs optimize toward clicks, then conversions (form fills, calls), then sometimes ROAS. The problem: a "conversion" isn't a booked job. Form fills include unqualified leads; calls include wrong-numbers and tire-kickers; ROAS calculations rarely include the cost of leads that didn't convert to booked work.

Cost-per-booked-job ties the paid spend to actual revenue. It requires closing the loop — CRM integration, offline conversion import, qualified-lead tagging. Most agencies skip this because it's harder. The math: if you don't know your cost-per-booked-job, you can't optimize toward it, and you're flying blind on whether the program works.

Conversion Tracking — Where Most Programs Break.

Broken conversion tracking is the most common failure mode in local PPC. Conversion events tied to the wrong outcomes. Call tracking not integrated. Offline conversions not imported. GA4 wired wrong. The algorithms optimize toward whatever's being tracked — if tracking is broken, optimization is broken.

Every PPC audit we run finds tracking issues. Most find significant tracking issues. See PPC Audit → Fixing the tracking is usually the highest-leverage first move — the algorithm starts optimizing correctly once it knows what to optimize toward.

Geo-Targeting Precision.

National PPC targets demographics. Local PPC targets geography. The precision matters. Targeting "Los Angeles" vs. "LA County minus the Eastside" vs. "5 miles around your shop" produces dramatically different cost-per-booked-job math because the lead qualification varies by geographic proximity.

The mistake most local programs make: targeting too broadly to "get volume." Volume isn't the goal — booked jobs are. Precise geo-targeting drops volume but raises lead quality and lowers cost-per-booked-job.

LSAs — The Highest-Visibility Local Paid Slot.

Google Local Services Ads sit above organic search AND above the map pack. They're the most visible paid placement for service businesses — and they pay per lead, not per click. The economics work very differently. LSA badge tier (driven by review velocity, response rate, dispute history) determines visibility.

For service businesses that qualify, LSA is non-negotiable. Most LSA accounts are unoptimized — bad lead disputes, missing reviews, bad service-area setup. The optimization opportunity is enormous and most agencies don't run LSA seriously.

When to Run Paid Alongside SEO.

SEO is the asset; paid is the tap. Paid lands tomorrow; SEO compounds over 6-12 months. The right play for most local businesses is both — paid for immediate flow, SEO for the moat. The bundle (Total Takeover) runs them together with one budget allocation and one team.

Deeper dives on specific topics.

Detailed knowledge pages on the local-paid topics operators ask about most. Each one operator-grade depth.