Local Services Ads: Review Your Lead-Response Process
A lead-response review should explain what happens after someone contacts your business. Begin with the records you have, identify where the process breaks down, and assign responsibility for fixing it.
Responsiveness matters, but there is no universal winning percentage
Google includes responsiveness in its Local Services auction guidance and says missed calls may affect it negatively. The guidance does not establish a universal 5% missed-call penalty or a guaranteed ranking for a 95% answer rate. Set an internal service standard your team can meet and measure it as an operational target.
Map the actual route of an inquiry
Record the destination number or inbox, responsible person, advertised hours, backup coverage, and escalation process. Check notifications in the interface your account currently uses. Account migration can change where leads are managed; consult Google's migration instructions before relying on an older tutorial.
For a recent reporting period, separate answered calls, missed calls, messages awaiting a reply, qualified inquiries, appointments, and completed jobs. Note what each timestamp means. Time to answer a live call and time to return a missed call are different measurements.
Fix a documented gap
If an unattended line is the problem, assess routing and backup coverage. If the team receives inquiries but lacks availability information, improve the handoff to scheduling. If advertised hours exceed the hours you can support, correct the schedule or arrange appropriate coverage.
An automated acknowledgment can explain the next step, but it is not proof that a person responded or a job was booked. Do not claim that a text-back erases a missed-call ranking effect. Keep automated messages accurate about when and how the customer can expect help.
Use feedback accurately
Google's automated-credit policy excludes credits for job types and geographic areas you do not service, with additional exclusions by category and region. Describe unwanted inquiries truthfully through the available feedback process, and keep confirmed credits separate from expected ones.
After completed work, invite honest customer feedback using a suitable link or QR code. Follow Google's review guidance, including its prohibition on incentives. Do not script ranking keywords or promise that a review quota will secure placement.
Check whether the operational change helped
Choose a review period appropriate to your inquiry volume and booking cycle. Compare response handling, qualification, appointments, and completed work using consistent definitions. Record staffing, demand, and measurement changes. Fewer missed inquiries is a useful operational result; a ranking change requires separate evidence and may have other explanations.