Google Local Services Ads for HVAC: answer fast and pay for good leads

If someone picks up, ring time doesn't matter: even after a long ring, Google judges the lead by the conversation. The twenty-second rule is only for calls nobody answers.

Voicemail doesn't get you off the hook. If a call reaches voicemail or a recorded greeting in your business hours, Google treats it as a connected call and charges it once the caller has been on the line more than twenty seconds, whether or not they leave a message.

A phone menu changes the count. If callers have to press a key to reach the right person, the twenty seconds start at their first key press, and a caller who hangs up without pressing anything isn't charged. Later key presses in a longer menu don't restart it.

Business hours means the hours on your Google Business Profile. If your ad schedule is different, an unanswered call is charged only when it comes in inside both your ad schedule and those hours. So if your profile shows hours when nobody can pick up, missed calls in those hours can still be charged.

If you miss a short call and the customer calls back, the callback is judged like an answered call, and you're charged once, on the first call that counts. After a lead is charged, more calls or messages from the same number or email aren't charged again as long as you've been in touch within fifteen days. After fifteen quiet days, the next contact is a new lead.

Google orders Local Services Ads in an auction that weighs your bid, how likely your ad is to bring a lead, and your profile quality. Your responsiveness to customers feeds the second, and Google says missed calls may count against it.

Profile quality covers your rating, number of reviews, average response time, photos and verification checks, and Google says higher-quality profiles may rank higher and pay less per lead. So a missed call can cost you twice: you may pay for the lead, and slow answers can leave your ad below another shop's.

Message leads are timed too. Once you've had two or more message leads in the last ninety days, your ad may show an estimate of how fast you reply, from “a few minutes” to “one day”, worked out from your business hours if you've set them.

Google says message and booking leads give customers more ways to reach you, especially at night and on weekends when you can't pick up, or when a customer doesn't expect an answer right away. You hear about a new message lead by email or text (text alerts are United States only), and you can answer from the lead page or by replying to the alert.

Turning them on is an operating choice, so set a plan first: who replies to message leads, and how fast in business hours and after. Google recommends replying to every lead as soon as it comes in, and says a consistently fast response time could improve your ranking.

Booking leads, in the United States and Canada, let customers book straight from your ad. Google points shops that use one of its integrated CRM partners to the booking feature, so ask your field service software provider whether it's one.

Each lead in your account shows a charge status: Charged, Not charged, In review or Credited. For shops in the United States and Canada, Google keeps reviewing charged leads for thirty days and credits the ones it decides were low quality, duplicate or invalid. Credits usually reach your account balance within that window, and the original charge still shows on your invoice.

If a lead was junk, rate it in the lead feedback survey (Rate this lead, on the Leads page). Google uses that feedback to send you more of the leads you want and may occasionally credit a lead you report. In the United States you can listen to a call's recording in your lead inbox before you rate it.

Google no longer credits leads for a job type you don't do or an area you don't serve, so keep your service areas, categories and job types to the work you actually want. Narrowing them can also cut the number of leads you get.

A short routine covers most of it: