Local Services Ads to Performance Max: A 2026 Migration Checklist

The short answer

Local Services Ads to Performance Max is Google's automatic move of every Local Services Ads account into a specialized Performance Max campaign with pay-per-lead goals, managed inside Google Ads. You still pay per valid lead, the ads still show only on Google Search and Maps, and targeting stays keywordless. The change is in management: daily budgets, one campaign-level target CPA, a new Leads page and historical reports that stay behind. Prepare before your migration date.

The ads stay the same. The controls move. Get ready for both.

Start with what a lead costs and where it goes

Pay-per-lead pricing makes Local Services one of the clearest channels a local business can judge. Every charged call or message has a price, a location and an outcome you can follow into the front desk or the CRM.

For a home services brand, a preschool network or a multi-location clinic group, that clarity is the asset to protect during the move. Before migration day, know four numbers for each location:

• Average weekly spend and charged leads
• Cost per charged lead by service category
• The share of leads that became booked jobs, tours or visits
• How many leads you disputed, and how many were credited

Those numbers become your baseline once the old dashboard closes.

What changes when Local Services Ads move to Performance Max

Google's help page lays out the changes clearly.

Google also says monthly spend is capped at the daily average budget multiplied by 30.4, BBB callouts are retired in favor of at least six structured callouts, and business name, address and hours sync one way from your Google Business Profile.

When your account moves

Google is migrating accounts in phases:

• August 2026: select U.S. home and storefront services, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control and moving.
• Late 2026: service-area businesses without storefronts, professional services, and accounts with custom bidding or booking setups.
• 2027: accounts outside the U.S. and the remaining categories, including healthcare services.

Google's supported verticals page also lists preschool in its Phase 1 directory, so childcare groups have good reason to check their timing now. The account administrator receives an email 14 days before the migration date and a reminder 7 days later, so make sure that inbox belongs to someone who acts on it.

9 steps for a clean Local Services Ads to Performance Max migration

1. Name a migration owner for every profile

Groups with many locations can hold several Local Services profiles, each with its own admin. Build one tracker with each profile, its admin email, its expected phase and its owner. Search Engine Journal's recap of a CallRail webinar makes the same point for agencies: give every account an owner and a date.

2. Export your reports before the dashboard closes

Google says historical performance reports stay in the old dashboard, which redirects to Google Ads after migration. Download them, or take screenshots while the download page is still pending, and save them by location. Past leads, message history and older call recordings carry over to the new Leads page.

3. Rebuild budgets as daily numbers

Your weekly budget becomes a daily average budget, divided by 7. Daily spend can run higher on busy days, while monthly spend stays within the daily average times 30.4. Share that math with finance and each location manager, so a busy Monday reads as planned.

4. Decide on one campaign or one per service

Google retires category-level target CPA and applies one unified campaign-level target. If plumbing and HVAC, or cleanings and emergency visits, need different targets, Google's guidance is to set up separate campaigns for each vertical. Split where lead values truly differ, and keep the rest together so bidding has enough leads to learn from.

5. Set the target CPA from lead value

The new campaign settings default to Maximize conversions, with bidding targets you can adjust. Start from what a booked job or visit is worth and the share of leads that book. For example, if a booked job is worth $600 in gross margin and one in three leads books, the break-even cost per lead is $200. Google says to allow up to two weeks for performance to ramp back to stable levels, so judge results after that window.

6. Protect your call tracking

CallRail's Meagan McLoughlin advised checking the preferred campaign phone number after migration, keeping Google Business Profile and Local Services numbers distinct, and using a dedicated static number for Local Services instead of one from a website tracking pool. Separate numbers keep every call tied to its true source.

7. Clean up your Business Profile before the move

Business name, address and hours sync from your Google Business Profile into the campaign. Google says significant changes to the name, storefront address or primary category trigger a verification review that typically takes 24 to 48 hours, and the campaign may pause during it. Make big profile corrections well ahead of migration and outside your busy season.

8. Replace BBB callouts and refresh photos

BBB callouts retire with the move. Choose at least six structured callouts, such as business hours, specialties or accepted payment methods. Then review your photos on the Assets page, which holds up to 100 additional business photos.

9. Keep your own lead records

Use the Leads page to rate leads with the feedback form and download them into your CRM. Search Engine Journal's recap notes that call recordings, transcripts and qualification tags give you independent evidence when you dispute a poor-fit lead, while credits have become harder to get. Your records also show which locations earn more budget.

A 30-day migration plan

1. 01Week 1: Build the profile tracker, confirm admin emails and export every report.
2. 02Week 1: Record weekly budgets, targets, charged leads and booked outcomes as your baseline.
3. 03Week 2: Fix Business Profile details, assign static tracking numbers and pick new callouts.
4. 04Week 3: On migration day, check the daily budget, target CPA, service types, service areas, ad schedule and lead phone number.
5. 05Week 4: Compare charged leads, cost per lead and booked outcomes with the baseline, location by location.
6. 06Ongoing: Rate every lead, download leads into the CRM weekly and adjust targets from booked results.

How SalesX approaches local lead generation at scale

Local Services now lives in the same Google Ads account as Search and Performance Max, which makes location-level control even more valuable. SalesX funds each location against its own demand and tracks calls and forms as distinct conversions, so bidding learns from booked intent.

SalesX's published Midwest Dental case study reports that patient lead volume increased 17% across the location portfolio, that Google Ads spend decreased 15% year over year while lead volume grew, and that cost per acquisition fell 27%. These are historical, client-specific outcomes from a Google Ads program, shared as context.

The bottom line

The Local Services ads your customers see stay the same, and the controls behind them get stronger. Export your history, set targets from lead value and keep tracking numbers clean. Brands that prepare now start the new year with clearer data and a better cost per booked job.

Sources and further reading

• Google Ads Help, Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals
• Google Ads Help, Supported business verticals for Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals
• Google Ads Help, About campaign settings for Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals
• Search Engine Journal, Local Services Ads To Performance Max: What To Audit Before Migration

Related reading

• Google Ads Location Assets: A Setup Guide for Multi-Location Brands
• Google Ads Business Name Requirements: A Guide for Multi-Location Brands
• Performance Max management
• Midwest Dental case study
• Request a free X-Audit