Google expands direct booking for Local Services Ads

Google is significantly expanding booking capabilities for Local Services Ads (LSAs), increasing support from around 20 Reserve with Google booking partners to more than 500.

The expansion means substantially more LSA advertisers can let potential customers book directly from their ads on Google Search and Maps, according to Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin.

What’s new. Starting now, advertisers whose Google Business Profile already has an active partner booking link will automatically have that booking capability enabled for their Local Services Ads.

There’s no additional manual linking required. Eligible customers can move directly from seeing the LSA to making a booking through the advertiser’s existing booking partner.

A big expansion. Google says Local Services Ads now support more than 500 Reserve with Google booking partners, up from just 20.

That dramatically increases the number of businesses that could potentially use direct booking through their ads without adopting a different scheduling provider.

Bookings become paid leads. Direct bookings generated through LSAs aren’t simply an additional interaction with the ad. Google says they will flow into LSA lead reporting as paid leads.

Advertisers can continue viewing and managing those booking leads from within their Local Services Ads profile.

Advertisers still have controls. Businesses that don’t want to use a particular booking provider can adjust their preferences.

Booking settings and individual partner links can be managed under Profile & Budget > Settings within the LSA dashboard, including the ability to disable a specific partner link.

The Google Ads migration. These settings won’t disappear as Google moves LSA accounts into Google Ads over the coming months.

Marvin said advertisers’ booking preferences will carry over as part of that migration, helping preserve existing configurations through the transition.

Why we care. Direct booking reduces the number of steps between seeing an LSA and becoming a lead. Expanding support from 20 to more than 500 booking partners could make that experience available to significantly more advertisers. But because those bookings are treated as paid leads, businesses should also monitor booking quality and costs rather than viewing the feature simply as a free conversion improvement.

Bottom line. Google is turning direct booking into a much more widely available Local Services Ads feature, automatically connecting existing eligible Business Profile booking links and letting customers go from an ad on Search or Maps directly to making an appointment.

Dig deeper. Ginny Marvin announcement