Google Sent Me a 14-Day Notice About My Local Services Ads. What Do I Do?

By Own The Box Marketing · September 8, 2026 · 6 min read

What Does That 14-Day Notice Actually Mean?

Your Local Services Ads account is being moved into Google Ads. On 19 July 2026 Google announced that Local Services Ads are being folded into Google Ads as Performance Max campaigns with a pay-per-lead goal. The standalone Local Services dashboard closes and management moves into the main Google Ads interface.

You get 14 days notice, then a reminder at 7 days. Then it happens.

Most roofers are used to working against a weather deadline. This one just arrives by email.

---

Is Any of This Optional?

No. The notice is an announcement, not a request. Roofing is one of the nine US categories in the first wave, which started in August 2026:

• Plumbing
• HVAC
• Electrical
• Appliance repair
• House cleaning
• Lawn care
• Roofing
• Pest control
• Moving

Later waves pick up service-area businesses without storefronts and accounts with custom bidding or booking setups in late 2026, then non-US accounts and remaining categories in 2027.

---

What's the One Thing That Can't Wait?

Exporting your performance history. Google has confirmed that previous campaign-level metrics do not migrate. That means past impressions, clicks, weekly spend, and ad-level performance reports stay behind in a dashboard that's closing.

For a roofing business this stings more than it does for most trades, because roofing demand is lumpy in a way you can only see across years. The hail event two Augusts ago. The stretch after the big March windstorm when your cost per lead halved because everyone in the county was searching at once. That pattern is your planning tool, and it exists in exactly one place.

Everything else on this list can be done after the switch. This one can't.

---

What Does a 14-Day Plan Look Like?

You don't need all 14 days. You need about two hours, spread out so you don't forget the second half.

---

What Changes Once It's Done?

Three things, and none of them requires a decision from you on day one.

1. Your budget is now daily, not weekly. Google divides your historical average weekly budget by 7. Monthly spend caps at that daily figure times 30.4, which is just the average number of days in a month.
2. Manual bidding and per-service target CPA are being phased out, replaced by a single campaign-level target CPA. If you've been bidding differently on full replacements versus repairs, that dial is going away.
3. Lead credits work automatically. This one catches people out because a lot of published advice is stale. Manual lead disputes were removed in mid-2024. There's no form and no case to file. Charged leads get an automatic machine-learning review within roughly 72 hours, credits land within about 30 days, and the lever you still control is the "Rate this lead" feedback control. Marking a bad lead very dissatisfied with a reason attached is what triggers the review.

That third point is worth repeating because it changes what "managing your leads" actually means. It isn't paperwork anymore. It's ten minutes a week rating the junk so the credits get applied instead of sitting there.

---

What Doesn't Change?

• Your reviews. Since 11 July 2025, Local Services Ads reviews and Google Business Profile reviews have been one pool, managed through your Business Profile. They're untouched by the migration, and they matter more than they used to, because your rating and review volume feed into how often your ads show.
• Your Google Verified badge. Tied to screening, not to the dashboard.
• Your obligations. Google screens and verifies every provider itself, and nobody can get you approved. If you go through screening, the criminal background check comes to you personally by email and you complete it yourself. No agency can do that part for you.

The deadline came out of the blue, which is also where most roof leaks come from.

---

If You Haven't Gotten a Notice Yet

Then you have more time, not less to do. Export your reports this week anyway. The whole task is one login and about an hour, and the alternative is finding out on a Tuesday in September that two years of numbers you assumed were permanent aren't.

And if you don't run Local Services Ads at all, none of this applies to you. That's a real answer. This migration touches a specific set of nine categories in the US, and plenty of roofing businesses win work without ever buying a lead.

If you'd like to know whether Google and the AI answer engines can find your roofing company in the first place, the free AI Visibility Check gives you a straight read in a couple of minutes. And if reviews are the thing you keep meaning to get organized, Rhody Reviews sends the ask automatically once the job's closed out and the customer's standing in a dry kitchen.

Sources

1. Google Business Profile Help. Manage your business information. https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177
2. Google Ads Help. Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max pay-per-lead campaigns. https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/17213585
3. Google Local Services Help. Understand the screening and verification process. https://support.google.com/localservices/answer/6226575