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Is Google charging you for missed calls? How Local Services Ads leads and credits work now
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Yes, sometimes. Since October 1, 2026, Google charges for a missed Local Services Ads call made during your business hours if the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds, voicemail included. Manual disputes have mostly given way to automatic credits within 30 days. Set honest profile hours, route unanswered calls to a person, and trim job types and service areas.
As of October 2026, an unanswered call can cost you the same as a booked one. If you run Local Services Ads (the pay-per-lead ads at the very top of Google, with the Google Guaranteed or Google Verified badge), the rules for what counts as a lead changed on October 1, and the way you get money back changed too. Here's what Google's own help pages say, in plain English, and what to do about it this week.
What changed on October 1, 2026?
Google now charges for some calls nobody answers. A missed call during your business hours is a valid, billable lead if the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds. Before, a call generally had to connect with you to count.
The change came with a rewrite of Google's "How leads work" page (updated around October 8), which also spells out how voicemail, phone menus and repeat callers are handled. Here's the whole thing in one table.
| What happened | Charged? | Per Google's help page |
|---|---|---|
| You answer, or call back and talk | Yes, if it's a valid lead | Judged on the conversation. Poor-quality, duplicate or invalid calls get credited. |
| Missed call in business hours, caller waits 20+ seconds | Yes | New since Oct 1, 2026. |
| Missed call that rings under 20 seconds | No | If they call back, that call is judged like an answered one. |
| Goes to voicemail or a greeting in business hours, caller stays 20+ seconds | Yes | Counts as connected whether or not they leave a message. |
| Phone menu ("press 1 for…"), caller hangs up without pressing | No | Even if the menu played for over 20 seconds. |
| Phone menu, caller presses a key and stays 20+ seconds | Yes | The 20-second timer starts at the first key press. Later presses don't reset it. |
| Missed call outside your business hours | No | "Business hours" = the hours on your Google Business Profile, inside your ad schedule if you have one. |
| Same customer contacts you again within 15 days | No | Same phone number or email, with contact inside 15 days. After 15 quiet days, it's a new lead. |
| Text message or email from a customer | Yes | Message leads are usually priced lower than calls, but not always. |
You're under a sink at 10:40 on a Tuesday. A caller lets it ring, hits your voicemail greeting and listens for 25 seconds before hanging up without a message. Under the new rules that's a charged lead, because it was inside your profile hours and they stayed on more than 20 seconds.
Can you still dispute a bad LSA lead?
Mostly, no. Google has moved to automatic credits. Its help pages now describe a system where every lead is screened when it comes in, and charged leads keep being reassessed for up to 30 days. Anything Google decides was poor quality, a duplicate or invalid gets credited to your balance.
- Where to look: the Charge Status column on your Leads page shows Charged, Not charged, In review or Credited.
- Timing: credits usually land within 30 days. The original charge still shows on your invoice, and the credit appears separately.
- What you can still do: rate the lead in the feedback survey. Google says it may occasionally credit leads you report this way, and that it uses your feedback to send you more of the leads you want.
- What's gone: credits for "job type not serviced" and "geo not serviced." If you get a call for a job you don't do, Google treats that as a settings problem, not a bad lead.
Since wrong-job and wrong-area leads no longer get credited, loose settings now cost real money. A plumber with "water heater installation" switched on but no installer license, or a service area drawn 20 miles past where you'll actually drive, pays for those calls.
How do you stop paying for calls you never answered?
Make sure your "business hours" mean "someone answers," and close the gaps where callers wait on hold or voicemail. This takes about 15 minutes.
What's happening to the LSA dashboard?
It's going away. Google is moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads as a special Performance Max campaign with pay-per-lead goals. You still pay per lead rather than per click, and your ads still show in the same spots on Search and Maps. What changes:
- Timing: the first U.S. home-service categories (including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control and moving) started moving in August 2026. Service-area businesses without a storefront, plus accounts with custom bidding or booking, follow in late 2026. Everyone else moves in 2027.
- Warning: the account admin gets an email 14 days before the move, and a reminder 7 days later.
- Budgets: your weekly budget becomes a daily average (weekly ÷ 7). Monthly spend is capped at that daily average × 30.4.
- Bidding: manual bidding (setting a max cost per lead) is going away.
- Leads: your lead history, messages and recordings carry over. Find them in Google Ads under Goals → Conversions → Leads.
- Profile sync: business name, address and hours come from your Business Profile and can't be edited in Google Ads. A big change to your name, address or primary category triggers a review that can pause ads for 24 to 48 hours.
- BBB badges: no longer supported. Google suggests adding at least six other callouts instead.
Is Local Services Ads still worth it?
It can be, if you can answer the phone. The model hasn't changed: you pay for leads, not clicks, and the ads sit above everything else. What changed is that slow pickup now costs you directly. Pull your own numbers from the Leads page (cost per lead, and how many of those leads you booked) before you raise or cut your budget. Don't go by anyone's industry average. To see what unanswered calls cost you across every source, not just LSA, try our free missed-call cost calculator.
Not everyone who sees your ad calls. Plenty of people tap through to your Business Profile and website to check you out first. That's where your reviews, real job photos and a clear list of services do the convincing. If you're a plumber, HVAC tech or roofer, these are the trades where LSA shows up most.
Questions trade pros ask
Am I charged if I answer a Local Services Ads call after it rings for 20 seconds?
No. Google says the 20-second rule only applies to calls nobody answers. An answered call is judged on the conversation itself, and if it turns out to be poor quality, a duplicate or invalid, Google credits it.
Does a voicemail count as a charged lead?
It can. During your business hours, a call that reaches voicemail or a greeting counts as connected, and it's charged if the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds, whether or not they leave a message.
Can I still dispute a bad Local Services Ads lead?
Google's current help pages describe automatic credits instead: every charged lead is reassessed for up to 30 days, and you can rate it in the lead feedback survey. If your Leads page still shows a dispute option for a lead, use it, but plan around the automatic system. Credits for "job type not serviced" and "geo not serviced" are no longer offered, so keep those settings tight.
What does Google count as my business hours for missed calls?
The hours on your Google Business Profile. If you also set an ad schedule, a missed call is only chargeable when it happens inside both your ad schedule and your business hours.
Will the same customer be charged twice if they call back?
Not within 15 days. Once a lead is charged, follow-up calls or messages from the same phone number or email aren't charged again as long as there's contact within 15 days. After 15 quiet days, a new contact can become a new charged lead.
When does my Local Services Ads account move into Google Ads?
Google is migrating Local Services Ads into Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals in phases: some U.S. home-service categories from August 2026, service-area businesses and custom setups in late 2026, the rest in 2027. The account admin gets an email 14 days before the move.
Sources
- How leads work (Local Services Help) Valid-lead rules, 20-second rule, IVR, voicemail, 15-day rule, charge statuses. Checked Oct 17, 2026.
- About automated Local Services Ads lead credits (Local Services Help) 30-day credits, no credits for job type or geo not serviced. Checked Oct 17, 2026.
- Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals (Google Ads Help) Migration timeline, budgets, reports. Checked Oct 17, 2026.
- Google Local Services Ads will charge for some missed calls starting Oct. 1 (Search Engine Land, Aug 25, 2026)
- Google Local Service Ads expands How Leads Work help document (Search Engine Roundtable, Oct 8, 2026)