Local Service Ads Come To Ireland!

Finally Google have announced that Local Services Ads (LSAs) are coming to selected European countries, one of which is Ireland! This ad format has been live in the USA for the last couple of years. Their introduction to Ireland could be a game changer for local SMEs and independent tradesmen alike all over the country.

What are Local Services Ads?

To describe this ad format, we’re first going to describe a search engine problem. Let’s say you wake up on Friday morning to find that your washing machine is broken and is slowly but surely flooding your lovely Dublin home. You search for a washing machine repairman. However, a Google Ads advertiser up in Donegal is bidding on the search term ‘washing machine repairman’ nationwide and their ad pops up first. By the time you read through their website only to belatedly find out that they don’t actually serve Dublin, the water has risen two inches.

Dramatic, I know, but this in a nutshell explains the need for Local Services Ads.

LSAs allow local service providers across numerous industries to reach customers in their catchment area. Customers who, like in the above example, are actively searching for them on Google. 

This ad format utilises both the service provider and customer’s Google Maps locational information to provide the closest providers possible. This delivers highly relevant results to the user rather than the demonstrated negative user experience in the above scenario.

Furthermore, LSAs come with a Google Guarantee so if the customer is not satisfied with the job the service provider carried out, then Google can reimburse the customer. You can see this badge pictured below. It’s a reassurance element designed to increase customer confidence and improve conversion rates.

On the advertiser’s side, LSAs will always show up at the very top of the search engine results page, above all other adverts and organic listings. If you want your ad to be prominent and to attract the highest amount of clicks possible, then LSAs are the way to go. The true beauty of LSAs for advertisers however is the pay-for-lead model. Costs are incurred when leads are delivered, rather than on Google Ads in which costs are generally incurred for every click received, regardless of user behaviour post-click. 

This ad format has been successfully running in the USA for years now, hence the expansion to the following 10 European countries: Ireland, France, UK, Germany, Austria, Belgium Italy, Netherland, Switzerland and Spain.

See below an example of a Local Services Ad:

The industries in which service providers can advertise is limited to: appliance Repair, Carpet Cleaning, Electricians, Garage Door Installation and Repair, House Cleaning, Lawn Care, Movers, Pest Control, Plumbers, Roofers, Water Damage Restoration, Window Cleaning, Window Repair, Junk Removal and Tree Service.

Are you a local service provider interested in running an ad campaign using this format? Contact us today to take the next step.