What they are and where they appear
They are the results with the green badge that appear at the very top of a search for a local service, above the paid search adverts and above the map. For the searches where they show, they take the attention before anything else gets a chance.
They work on a pay per lead basis rather than pay per click, which means you are charged when somebody contacts you rather than when somebody looks.
The verification is the hard part
License checks, insurance documents, background checks on the business and sometimes on individuals. It takes weeks, it is bureaucratic, and it is where most applications stall and get abandoned.
That friction is also the reason the product is worth having. Your competitors face the same wall, and a good number of them never get over it.
Paying per lead changes how you manage it
The thing to watch is lead quality rather than cost per click. You will get charged for calls that were never going to turn into work, and the mechanism for disputing those exists but has to actually be used.
Someone needs to review leads weekly and dispute the ones that qualify. Accounts where nobody does this quietly overpay for months.
Reviews drive the ranking inside the product
Where you appear among the Local Service Ads is driven heavily by reviews, responsiveness and how close you are to the searcher. Reviews collected through the product itself carry particular weight.
So this sits next to the profile work rather than apart from it. The two feed each other.
Answering the phone is a ranking factor here
The product measures whether you pick up. A business that misses calls gets shown less, which is a brutally direct feedback loop and a fair one.
If calls go to voicemail during working hours, fix that before spending anything here. It is the cheapest improvement available and it affects the map pack too.
Which Kansas City businesses it suits
Home services mostly: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, cleaning, locksmiths, and the categories Google has opened it to. If your trade is on the list and you can clear verification, it is usually worth testing.
If your category is not eligible, nothing here applies and we will say so on the first call rather than after an application.
How it fits with everything else
It does not replace the map pack and it does not replace search adverts. It sits above both and takes the top slice of attention, while the map still catches people who scroll past the badges.
Running it alongside Google Ads in Kansas City and the local SEO in Kansas City work is what covers the whole page rather than one band of it.
What to have ready before applying
Your license details, proof of insurance, the business registration, and the personal details for whoever has to clear a background check. Gathering these before you start removes most of the delay.
Also worth sorting first: who answers the phone during working hours, and whether your business profile already has a decent number of reviews. Both affect your placement from day one.
We will tell you honestly whether your category is eligible in Kansas City before any of this, because finding out after three weeks of paperwork is a waste of your time and ours.
Local Service Ads questions we get asked
Usually two to six weeks depending on your trade and how quickly the license and insurance documents come back. Background checks are the slow part and they are outside anybody's control, including ours.
It varies by trade and by how many competitors are verified in Kansas City. It is set by Google rather than bid by you in the way search adverts are, and we will give you the current range for your category before you commit.
Yes, and you should. Wrong number, out of area, or a service you do not offer all qualify. It needs doing weekly, because the window is limited and nobody comes back for it later.
No. It sits above search adverts and covers different intent. Most businesses that can qualify run both, because the badge results and the search results catch different people on the same page.
A great deal. Review count, rating and how fast you respond all affect where you appear among the badge results. It is one of the few places where review work has an immediate and visible effect on paid placement.
You get shown less. The product tracks whether you answer, so a business that regularly misses calls drops in the ordering. Fixing call answering is the first thing to do before spending here.
Want to sit above the map?
We will map where you rank across Kansas City and show you the gaps.