Local Services Ads charge reviews need market-specific rules

What changed

What the guidance covers

Google’s Local Services Ads guidance explains what qualifies as a valid lead and how leads are assessed. It is an operational reference for auditing charges, not evidence of a newly launched charging policy. The source is undated.

Outcome does not determine refundability

A booking being cancelled or an enquiry failing to become a sale does not automatically make the lead refundable under the described guidance. A disappointing commercial outcome is therefore not, by itself, evidence that a credit should be expected. Reviews should begin with the lead facts and the applicable assessment criteria.

Check the relevant credit process

The page states that its credit process excludes healthcare, tax specialists and EMEA. Teams should confirm the relevant market and business category before applying a general expectation about credits to a reconciliation or client discussion.

Keep the lead evidence, assessment rationale and applicable market guidance together in the review record. This makes the decision easier to explain and avoids treating a rule from one context as if it applied everywhere.

A useful internal review separates the charge decision from the commercial outcome: what happened at the enquiry stage, why the lead is considered valid, and what followed afterwards. That distinction helps the team discuss disputed charges precisely without treating every lost sale as evidence of an invalid lead.

Why it matters for advertisers

Lead charging can be misread when sales outcome and lead validity are treated as the same question. The documented exclusions make market and category part of any defensible charge audit.