December 5, 2024 • 25 mins
Are you ready for the 2024 holiday season? Don't let changes to Google Local Services Ads (LSA) leave you in the dark. This episode of the Google Business Buzz dives deep into the recent update to the LSA platform, how it differs from traditional Google Ads, and how to adapt your business strategy. This conversation between OMG National's Henry Heredia & Ajay Gaikwad unpacks the challenges and opportunities presented, specifically for the towing industry and more! Learn how Google is optimizing LSA for call volume during the holidays – don’t miss out! #GoogleBusinessBuzz #LocalServicesAds #HolidaySeasonMarketing #GoogleAds
1:54 Intro to Local Services Ads Update: How's it Working For You?
2:43 Local Services Ad Update: What To Know.
4:00 Key Change: Is the LSA now showing in the Google Local Pack?
6:30 Why The Changes? LSA's Integration With GBB
7:42 Adjusting for Shifts and Changes.
9:49 New Improvements and Modifications in Google Ads.
11:55 Additional Considerations. When to Optimize
14:07 New Changes During the Holidays.
15:55 More on Existing Versus New Accounts and Changes in the Methodology.
19:48 The Long-Term Strategy for Google Ads.
22:30 Understanding The Shifts and Future Adjustments
23:35 What Can You Expect in 2024? The future of local services Ads in the Next Year
25:06 Wrapping it Up - Looking Ahead for 2024 Holiday Season
25:06 Outro & Christmas Greetings!
Google Business Buzz Podcast
Brought to you by:
OMG National
www.omgnational.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hello and welcome to another Google Business Buzz.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm here with my brother, Jay,and we got another action-packed
, topic-filled episode for youguys.
How you doing, Jay?
How's everything going?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Henry, hey Henry, hey everyone.
I'm doing fantastic.
I'm excited for the holidays.
Spend some time with my family.
I hope everyone.
I'm doing fantastic.
I'm excited for the holidays.
Spend some time with my family.
I hope you're all doing wellalso.
Today, like Henry said, we'vegot a special one.
We're trying to share the giftof some insight, some knowledge
pertaining to this space, and Ithink it's going to be loads of
(00:59):
fun.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
And with the holidays coming,we definitely have to remind our
business owner audience toupdate your business hours,
please.
Making sure that those hoursfor Christmas Eve, Christmas Day
, New Year's Eve, New Year's Daymaking sure that those hours
(01:29):
are updated will allow Google todisplay it properly to users
that are searching People dolook for things to do on those
days.
And making sure that if youwant your ads to show, they're
properly displayed or if you'renot open for business on those
days, to take the ads down.
(01:51):
That way you don't overspend.
Am I missing anything there,Jay?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
No same disclaimer for paid advertising.
On Google Ads you can set thoserules.
Know if you're going through aprofessional marketing firm.
You can instruct them to startand stop your ads at certain
times.
Same with local services ads.
So make sure you're not burningmoney during the holidays, when
you're actually with yourfamily.
Make sure that those arealigned with proper times
(02:17):
absolutely absolutely so, jay.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Uh, so, jay, this morning we were awakened with
some news, courtesy of BarrySchwartz out there at Search
Engine Roundtable, Googleguaranteed Google screened.
Basically, local service ads isnow showing in the Google Local
(02:43):
Pack.
Ads is now showing in theGoogle Local Pack.
I'm even seeing it on theGoogle Maps app on my iPhone.
When I do accident attorneysnear me, I'm seeing Google
Screened showing top results.
This is different than theGoogle Ads location asset,
(03:06):
formerly known as the locationextension, also known as the map
ads.
This is very different.
These are the Google localservice ads showing up on top of
the Google map.
Now, the implications here arevery interesting and we're going
to get into those, but knowingthis is being rolled out and it
(03:28):
seems like it's being rolled outto certain markets slowly.
But, ajay, what do you thinkabout this?
That first, I'm seeing it on myend here in Florida.
You're in Idaho, you're notseeing it.
Why?
What is that about?
I?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
think, whenever Google makes changes, they tend
to phase them out slowly, testin some areas, hold it back in
others, and I think they do thatas a way of seeing how revenue
changes and making sure theyunderstand their own changes and
also testing to make sure thatthey're doing what they intend
to do, and so I think it's verycharacteristic of Google to roll
(04:06):
this out not all at once.
It's typically not how they dothings, and I think they want to
get it right.
Man, I think they're putting somuch money, so much
infrastructure behind localservices ads.
I know we've been harping on itevery pod and I think we've
been doing so because it's real,because it's the truth.
It's out there right now.
Google is putting money behindthis thing.
(04:27):
This is an area of growth forthem, and I think they're very
interested in getting it right.
There are a few things thatwe've seen that give credence to
that idea that I'm sure we'llexpand on.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Absolutely, Absolutely, Absolutely.
(05:01):
So in this update that we'reseeing, we were kind of seeing
the local service ads would onlyrun if you had a verified GBP.
Now I believe that date wasrolled back right, Ajay.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
No, 100%.
You're right.
They pushed that date forwardreally to give people more time
to get their Google businessprofiles verified, up and
running and good standing, andso there's actually two
different dates there.
There's one for it seems likeexisting accounts in some cases
that have been running for awhile are given even more grace,
(05:38):
and that newer accounts alsohave a different date now, but
the point is it's not November21st anymore.
It seems like Google is goingto enforce this come early
December at the soonest.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Okay, so I mean that's interesting.
That's a very interestingupdate.
Why do you think they announcedsomething publicly with a
different date, only to roll itback?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I think I I think there are maybe I mean, even
with working with an agency man,even with working with people
that know what they're doinggoogle business profile issues.
Correct me if I'm wrong, henry,I mean, you're really the
expert here, um, but googlebusiness profile issues are not
always easier or fast to fix andso, depending on what's going
(06:27):
on, if you're having issues withthat verification, it can take
some time, and so and and thoseare for the people that are in
the best situation for this, thebest spot, people that have
guys like me and henry and astrong team behind them even
then it can take some time.
Now imagine, henry, if, if, um,some of our viewers are not
with an agency and you knowthey're trying to figure this
out on their own.
They're running into issues.
(06:48):
They got to present Google thisdocumentation.
It's this big mess and back andforth it can take weeks, right,
and so I think Google is tryingto walk a fine line between
adding more trust into theirsystem basically having people
be who they say they are on maps, on lsa, and have that all be
(07:08):
verified and also not being tooharsh and too aggressive to
where they're penalizing people,um, too rapidly, I guess,
especially because it's aroundthe holidays, you know people
are want to be with theirfamilies and want to slow down a
bit.
It's been it's been a crazy year.
Not everyone can afford to slowdown.
I understand that.
It's been a tough year in in asense, depending on on who you
(07:30):
are.
But again, I think it's about.
I think it's about walking thatbalance, walking that fine line
.
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
very interesting.
Yeah, yeah, I, I agree with you, and I agree with you because
of something we were talkingabout earlier before we recorded
.
So, the LSA layer right, it'svery much focused on local
service providers, right, theGoogle screen being the
(07:59):
professional part of that, withlawyers, uh, etc.
When, when we do googleguaranteed, we have, uh, the
hvac, the, the plumbers, theroofers, which which are are
right, these are our main kindof customer, local service
customers area.
Like they, they service an areawith a specific set of services
(08:24):
, right, and they aren't asknowledgeable about google ads
as I would say a big, you knowbrand, like you know brand,
smart or best buy, right, aservice, not a service provider,
but a physical location that istrying to generate brand
(08:44):
awareness and also foot trafficto their location.
So when you say that they'regiving lenience, right, they're
giving lenience to this specificadvertiser which is a small
business owner, which isspecifically a service provider
in an area.
Then it leads me to anotherthing we were talking about that
(09:06):
the LSA layer is part of theGoogle Ads ecosystem, right,
local service ads is part ofGoogle Ads, but it's a
simplified version for thatroofer, that plumber, that HVAC
provider.
That being said, still notsimple because they put a lot of
(09:28):
roadblocks for the advertiser.
Not everybody can get on it,which is the benefit and what
attracts people to this layer?
Right, it's exclusive to peoplethat can only provide uh, you
know, background checks, thatcan do insurance, that can do
(09:48):
all of the necessarydocumentation and and many
people can't right that that arethat are still out there trying
to create, you know, businessfor themselves.
When we think about how LSA ischanging with Google Ads and
we've talked about how LSA andGBP are combining, and also
(10:12):
we've talked about howrestaurants and GBP have their
foodgooglecom layer, which iscompletely different than
regular Google Maps, but you canstill get to the food places on
Google Maps.
It's almost indistinguishablethe foods layer from the Google
(10:33):
Maps layer.
But if you go to foodsgooglecom, it's going to show you
something super different, justspecific to food, similar to
travel.
You can go and get hotels, youcan book flights on Google
without leaving Google.
That's what they want you to dowith LSA that into the GBP
(10:57):
layer, where once it was theGoogle Ads that was showing that
location extension, thelocation asset, but now it's
going to be exclusive tobusiness owners that can provide
this additional layer ofverification.
For Google that also extends tothe user right, because it leans
(11:21):
for more confidence, moreexpertise, more authority, more
trust.
So they're using their ownalgorithms and applying it to
different layers.
But I do think that, at the endof the day, what Google wants
is to provide their users withthe best possible experience,
(11:44):
and if that means giving upadvertising dollars because the
business is not responsive tothe messages and the phone calls
that they get, because thebusiness is getting bad reviews
because the business isn'tabiding by Google guidelines,
right, basic best practices, ifthat's all you got to do, then
(12:07):
Google's going to reward you andeven possibly reduce the price
for the ads.
So they're willing to giveadvertisers a break if they're
good at customer service.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
That's such a key point, I want to really really
stretch it out to everyonelistening.
What we're saying is that it'sso hard to get two folks in the
same market right From an agencyperspective.
Typically, you don't want totake on competitors in the same
spot, but sometimes it happensvery rarely and so we found this
one case recently of two folksin a similar area, very similar
(12:44):
ads, similarly configured.
You know, obviously nothing'sthe exact same, but criminal and
DUI attorneys in South Florida,similar job types, similar
budget.
What was the difference betweenthese two?
Ad quality?
One had poorer responsiveness,one had less reviews and was
working on reviews lessfrequently.
(13:04):
And what we found, which wasfascinating, you'd expect that
whichever one is doing betterwould probably be spending more
because they're ranking higher,and so the winning bid is
probably going to be moreexpensive.
It's going to be expensive tostay in that spot.
What we found was actually thatthe one who was ranking better
was spending less per lead.
(13:24):
Now, because we don't have toomany of these situations we're
not saying this is going to bethe case in every interaction,
but I think Google gets a lot,of, a lot of bad press from
small businesses, right, and inthis case, what we found was
that Google was actuallyencouraging, incentivizing,
gamifying, the skill, thecustomer service.
(13:46):
They were incentivizing theadvertiser who was doing better
by making his leads a little bitcheaper.
I think that's amazing becauseit speaks to what you said,
henry, which is that Google willnot always do the most
profitable thing.
They're trying to blend inreally and truly the better user
experience, and if you can helpthem, as an advertiser, give an
(14:09):
excellent user experience,they'll cut you a break on the
money, because to them it's moreimportant that the person doing
business with your firm has agood taste left in their mouth
after the interaction that thatperson, the end customer, would
turn back to a Google result ora Google answer again.
That's really the key pointhere the lifetime value of a
(14:30):
user.
For Google, that's moreimportant than anything else.
And what is that contingentupon?
That's contingent upon thequality of that interaction and
how happy you feel walking awayfrom interacting with the Google
advertiser, and so that was akey realization that I feel like
we don't talk about as much inthis space.
But go ahead, henry.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
No, bingo, bingo.
You said it right.
They are willing to gamify thisright, but it's because the
user, the lifetime userexperience, is going to keep
that user coming back.
If they mess with that userexperience and they lose the
(15:10):
user to a chat gpt, to a bing,to a yahoo, to an apple, you
know that's, that's revenue thatthey're losing.
So it's they're.
They're willing to give uprevenue in the short term
because this is a long term gameand that's how they've made
their money.
Um, definitely, with tweaksalong the way.
(15:30):
You know they've started withthat organic search and the
algorithm was very easy tomanipulate.
Not so much anymore.
Same with Google ads very easyto manipulate in the beginning.
Now it's, you know, tough.
You really got to know whatyou're doing so you don't
overspend, so you don't misspend.
You know there's so much,there's so many levers to pull
(15:53):
on on that end that it's kind of, you know, important to put
that into the hands of aprofessional right.
I mean, technically, as aUnited States citizen, I can
defend myself in court if I hadto, but I would never do that
(16:13):
because I'm not a lawyer and Iwould prefer to hire the
services of a lawyer if ever.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So I need to see an episode of the Buzz with Henry
defending himself in court.
No, I agree with you, man, andthis lends itself great to
another point we're talkingabout is we've been, we've been
saying this all throughout ourprevious episodes and and it's
the truth on the surface thatlocal services ads is this new
platform.
That's how we're, that's howwe've been pitching it.
That's kind of its story, right?
(16:40):
Oh, it's new, it's up there,it's exciting, really and truly,
henry, when you look at it.
You raised a great point whenpeople were trying Google ads on
their own 5, 10 years ago, 15years ago, and they were burning
money.
Google ads, at the end of theday, delivers a click in most
cases, a click that you'rehoping will turn into whatever
it is.
You're really truly.
After All, lsa runs on the sameexact infrastructure.
(17:03):
It uses the same billinginfrastructure, same account
access infrastructure, and I'mtold that it really, in the back
end, lsa is just running acampaign, a Google Ads campaign,
that we can't see.
So, really, this is built totop existing ads infrastructure.
What am I trying to say here?
Local services ads, all it is isjust a rebranded it's certainly
(17:25):
innovative Google Ads.
They're taking the same thingthat you know they're dressing
it up, they're giving it a coolUI and they're skipping right to
the end of what do people want?
What do these local serviceproviders that Henry is talking
about, the appliance repair guylistening to this, the plumbing
firm?
You know?
What do they all want?
They probably want calls.
And what if we can skip outthis awkward middleman of clicks
(17:48):
and get them right to the end,right to that finish line, and
that's all local services ads is.
If you think about it, it's justa cleaner way to get calls,
it's simpler, it's easier and itshows in ways that you can
understand it and that you cansee the value.
So it's really genius, and Ithink this has us redraw our
definition of local services ads.
Yes, technically, localservices ads is a newer platform
(18:11):
, really and truly, with theasterisk.
It's the same thing, justrebranded, improved and kind of
ads 2.0, if you will.
This is all the same stuff.
We've been talking about itlike it's different and I think,
really and truly, we shouldstart talking about it as under
the same umbrella, under the adsumbrella.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I totally agree.
That's 100% right.
And it's like, okay, you saidit, the LSA advertiser the small
, local service providerbusiness small, medium-sized
business they're looking forphone calls, phone calls from
very interested people, peoplethat are high intent, and that
is what you get with LSA, right?
High intent, phone calls,messages, bookings, With Google
(18:54):
Ads.
Now you have to think about it,as how can we use this for
local traffic, for localbusinesses?
Right, google Ads is stillimportant.
The display network, theperformance max campaigns
there's a lot to be done.
But now think about it for aphysical location, a storefront
(19:18):
that you're trying to providefoot traffic for.
That you're trying to get intothe purview of somebody that's
driving by using Google Maps.
When you're using your GoogleMaps app to get to a place A to
B, you'll see little map markersthat are square.
That's a Google ad.
(19:39):
Right, you come to DunkinDonuts?
Right, if you need a coffee,come to Starbucks.
So that's how Google ads ispivoting for that local business
.
Right, that is a hybridlocation maybe sends out
deliveries or sends out serviceproviders, but can also receive
(20:02):
clients and customers at theirlocation.
Also, e-commerce right,e-commerce is super important.
Coming up with the holidays,it's more important than ever.
Right, you need to have thoseGoogle ads set up if you want to
sell your product to peoplethat are interested, to people
that are looking for gifts fortheir family, for their friends.
(20:25):
So, definitely, now is the timeto have that already set up.
You should have been talkingabout this with your marketing
and advertising firm about amonth ago, but if you don't have
it set up yet, you still got amonth.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
It's time to work on it.
You don't have it set up yet.
Come work with omg national.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
We won't do you that dirty well, let's go well well
in advance no man, but I I wantto.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
I want to hit on that , though.
It's like the folks who arelooking for calls and some of
them I, you know local servicesads is too expensive.
The ticket-to-entry-based costper lead is too expensive.
I want to be respectful aboutthis, but also truthful about
this.
But with what I see acrossthousands of people is that,
frankly, you have no choice.
(21:12):
If you're looking for calls andyou know Google is pushing LSA,
you know Google is backing it,you know that LSA is offering
calls.
This is where the market ismoving and we may not be there
at the final iteration yet Now.
It may take another 10, 5 years, but sooner or later that will
be really the place to go forcall volume, if it isn't already
(21:35):
, and I know it is for manyindustries.
But let me give you an exampleTowing right just released
nationwide very recently, and sofor our automotive and towing
base, very important, just likeall of our customers, super
important, super.
Take pride in servicing thesefolks just as much as everyone
else, but clearly an area ofexpertise for us.
(21:56):
You can get on the top ofGoogle literally via LSA and get
as many calls as you want.
You know why?
Because there will be limitedto no competition at this at
this moment in time.
Why?
Because everyone who trieslocal services ads when it's
dropped for a new industry is anearly adopter.
(22:17):
When you're an early adopter,you run your market.
Think about how powerful itwould have been to be on the
ground floor of Google ads.
You know, many, many years ago,those clicks would have all
been cheaper.
You would have been having afield day.
And now that same budget thatwould have gotten you 10 phone
calls or 10 form fills orwhatever you were looking for
back then, that same budget willmaybe get you one or two today.
Right, things are gettingexpensive and competitive, and
(22:40):
so my point is that it doesn'treally matter what people think.
We love to think that our saymatters.
We can have this politicallycorrect discussion or we can
have a discussion about thetruth.
This is where Google is movingtowards, this is where the calls
are, this is where the actionis going to be.
And the truth.
This is where Google is movingtowards, this is where the calls
are, this is where the actionis going to be, and you're going
(23:00):
to get left behind if you'renot here, so if you're not
seeing the signs already fromthe intermingling of GDP and LSA
.
If you're not seeing the signsfrom what we discussed at the
top of this podcast, from localservices ads taking itself and
now showing in the maps layer,if you're not seeing the signs
of the dollar shifting, then Idon't know what it'll take to
convince folks at this point.
I just don't want people leftbehind years from now thinking,
(23:22):
man, I should have listened toJay and Henry five years ago.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Hey hey, you know what they say the best time to
plant a tree was five years ago.
So you have to act now.
Early bird gets the worm.
Let's bring out all the sayingsright.
The truth of the matter isright now, for towing
specifically, as we saw for manyother industries in the past
(23:48):
right, the early adopter, theperson, the advertiser that's
always there, the onlyadvertiser there, is going to
get all the phone calls, andwith towing, it's an emergency
service.
Everybody has a car.
Everybody ends up needing atowing provider at some point.
So you want to be on top.
You need to be on top and we'revery good at getting our
(24:13):
clients there.
We know exactly how to do this.
We are Google premier partnersand you know, jay, here is the
LSA master.
We're very lucky to have them.
Um, but with that, you know, wewant to say happy holidays,
Merry Christmas to everybody.
Uh, jay, merry Christmas to youand your family.
Um, it's been a pleasure to doanother year of podcasting with
(24:34):
you to everybody.
Ajay, merry Christmas to youand your family.
It's been a pleasure to doanother year of podcasting with
you.
We're ending 2024 here.
We're going to continue in 2025.
Real hard, let's get it.
Let's get it Very excited.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Super, super excited and super grateful to have spent
so much time with you guys.
I hope when we're we're beingpushy, if it comes across that
way, it's all for the better.
We don't want to see you guysleft behind.
We don't want to see yourbusinesses hurt.
We want to bring you the kindof what we feel is the truth,
even if it's sometimes a bituncomfortable.
Um, because that's the way thisspace works.
You gotta, you gotta go wherethe money's going.
(25:11):
So, with that, merry Christmaseveryone, and thank you for
another awesome year.
Look forward to the next one.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Thank you everybody, bye, bye.
Hello and welcome to another Google Business Buzz.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm here with my brother, Jay,and we got another action-packed
, topic-filled episode for youguys.
How you doing, Jay?
How's everything going?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Henry, hey Henry, hey everyone.
I'm doing fantastic.
I'm excited for the holidays.
Spend some time with my family.
I hope everyone.
I'm doing fantastic.
I'm excited for the holidays.
Spend some time with my family.
I hope you're all doing wellalso.
Today, like Henry said, we'vegot a special one.
We're trying to share the giftof some insight, some knowledge
pertaining to this space, and Ithink it's going to be loads of
(00:59):
fun.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
And with the holidays coming,we definitely have to remind our
business owner audience toupdate your business hours,
please.
Making sure that those hoursfor Christmas Eve, Christmas Day
, New Year's Eve, New Year's Daymaking sure that those hours
(01:29):
are updated will allow Google todisplay it properly to users
that are searching People dolook for things to do on those
days.
And making sure that if youwant your ads to show, they're
properly displayed or if you'renot open for business on those
days, to take the ads down.
(01:51):
That way you don't overspend.
Am I missing anything there,Jay?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
No same disclaimer for paid advertising.
On Google Ads you can set thoserules.
Know if you're going through aprofessional marketing firm.
You can instruct them to startand stop your ads at certain
times.
Same with local services ads.
So make sure you're not burningmoney during the holidays, when
you're actually with yourfamily.
Make sure that those arealigned with proper times
(02:17):
absolutely absolutely so, jay.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Uh, so, jay, this morning we were awakened with
some news, courtesy of BarrySchwartz out there at Search
Engine Roundtable, Googleguaranteed Google screened.
Basically, local service ads isnow showing in the Google Local
(02:43):
Pack.
Ads is now showing in theGoogle Local Pack.
I'm even seeing it on theGoogle Maps app on my iPhone.
When I do accident attorneysnear me, I'm seeing Google
Screened showing top results.
This is different than theGoogle Ads location asset,
(03:06):
formerly known as the locationextension, also known as the map
ads.
This is very different.
These are the Google localservice ads showing up on top of
the Google map.
Now, the implications here arevery interesting and we're going
to get into those, but knowingthis is being rolled out and it
(03:28):
seems like it's being rolled outto certain markets slowly.
But, ajay, what do you thinkabout this?
That first, I'm seeing it on myend here in Florida.
You're in Idaho, you're notseeing it.
Why?
What is that about?
I?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
think, whenever Google makes changes, they tend
to phase them out slowly, testin some areas, hold it back in
others, and I think they do thatas a way of seeing how revenue
changes and making sure theyunderstand their own changes and
also testing to make sure thatthey're doing what they intend
to do, and so I think it's verycharacteristic of Google to roll
(04:06):
this out not all at once.
It's typically not how they dothings, and I think they want to
get it right.
Man, I think they're putting somuch money, so much
infrastructure behind localservices ads.
I know we've been harping on itevery pod and I think we've
been doing so because it's real,because it's the truth.
It's out there right now.
Google is putting money behindthis thing.
(04:27):
This is an area of growth forthem, and I think they're very
interested in getting it right.
There are a few things thatwe've seen that give credence to
that idea that I'm sure we'llexpand on.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Absolutely, Absolutely, Absolutely.
(05:01):
So in this update that we'reseeing, we were kind of seeing
the local service ads would onlyrun if you had a verified GBP.
Now I believe that date wasrolled back right, Ajay.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
No, 100%.
You're right.
They pushed that date forwardreally to give people more time
to get their Google businessprofiles verified, up and
running and good standing, andso there's actually two
different dates there.
There's one for it seems likeexisting accounts in some cases
that have been running for awhile are given even more grace,
(05:38):
and that newer accounts alsohave a different date now, but
the point is it's not November21st anymore.
It seems like Google is goingto enforce this come early
December at the soonest.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Okay, so I mean that's interesting.
That's a very interestingupdate.
Why do you think they announcedsomething publicly with a
different date, only to roll itback?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I think I I think there are maybe I mean, even
with working with an agency man,even with working with people
that know what they're doinggoogle business profile issues.
Correct me if I'm wrong, henry,I mean, you're really the
expert here, um, but googlebusiness profile issues are not
always easier or fast to fix andso, depending on what's going
(06:27):
on, if you're having issues withthat verification, it can take
some time, and so and and thoseare for the people that are in
the best situation for this, thebest spot, people that have
guys like me and henry and astrong team behind them even
then it can take some time.
Now imagine, henry, if, if, um,some of our viewers are not
with an agency and you knowthey're trying to figure this
out on their own.
They're running into issues.
(06:48):
They got to present Google thisdocumentation.
It's this big mess and back andforth it can take weeks, right,
and so I think Google is tryingto walk a fine line between
adding more trust into theirsystem basically having people
be who they say they are on maps, on lsa, and have that all be
(07:08):
verified and also not being tooharsh and too aggressive to
where they're penalizing people,um, too rapidly, I guess,
especially because it's aroundthe holidays, you know people
are want to be with theirfamilies and want to slow down a
bit.
It's been it's been a crazy year.
Not everyone can afford to slowdown.
I understand that.
It's been a tough year in in asense, depending on on who you
(07:30):
are.
But again, I think it's about.
I think it's about walking thatbalance, walking that fine line
.
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
very interesting.
Yeah, yeah, I, I agree with you, and I agree with you because
of something we were talkingabout earlier before we recorded
.
So, the LSA layer right, it'svery much focused on local
service providers, right, theGoogle screen being the
(07:59):
professional part of that, withlawyers, uh, etc.
When, when we do googleguaranteed, we have, uh, the
hvac, the, the plumbers, theroofers, which which are are
right, these are our main kindof customer, local service
customers area.
Like they, they service an areawith a specific set of services
(08:24):
, right, and they aren't asknowledgeable about google ads
as I would say a big, you knowbrand, like you know brand,
smart or best buy, right, aservice, not a service provider,
but a physical location that istrying to generate brand
(08:44):
awareness and also foot trafficto their location.
So when you say that they'regiving lenience, right, they're
giving lenience to this specificadvertiser which is a small
business owner, which isspecifically a service provider
in an area.
Then it leads me to anotherthing we were talking about that
(09:06):
the LSA layer is part of theGoogle Ads ecosystem, right,
local service ads is part ofGoogle Ads, but it's a
simplified version for thatroofer, that plumber, that HVAC
provider.
That being said, still notsimple because they put a lot of
(09:28):
roadblocks for the advertiser.
Not everybody can get on it,which is the benefit and what
attracts people to this layer?
Right, it's exclusive to peoplethat can only provide uh, you
know, background checks, thatcan do insurance, that can do
(09:48):
all of the necessarydocumentation and and many
people can't right that that arethat are still out there trying
to create, you know, businessfor themselves.
When we think about how LSA ischanging with Google Ads and
we've talked about how LSA andGBP are combining, and also
(10:12):
we've talked about howrestaurants and GBP have their
foodgooglecom layer, which iscompletely different than
regular Google Maps, but you canstill get to the food places on
Google Maps.
It's almost indistinguishablethe foods layer from the Google
(10:33):
Maps layer.
But if you go to foodsgooglecom, it's going to show you
something super different, justspecific to food, similar to
travel.
You can go and get hotels, youcan book flights on Google
without leaving Google.
That's what they want you to dowith LSA that into the GBP
(10:57):
layer, where once it was theGoogle Ads that was showing that
location extension, thelocation asset, but now it's
going to be exclusive tobusiness owners that can provide
this additional layer ofverification.
For Google that also extends tothe user right, because it leans
(11:21):
for more confidence, moreexpertise, more authority, more
trust.
So they're using their ownalgorithms and applying it to
different layers.
But I do think that, at the endof the day, what Google wants
is to provide their users withthe best possible experience,
(11:44):
and if that means giving upadvertising dollars because the
business is not responsive tothe messages and the phone calls
that they get, because thebusiness is getting bad reviews
because the business isn'tabiding by Google guidelines,
right, basic best practices, ifthat's all you got to do, then
(12:07):
Google's going to reward you andeven possibly reduce the price
for the ads.
So they're willing to giveadvertisers a break if they're
good at customer service.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
That's such a key point, I want to really really
stretch it out to everyonelistening.
What we're saying is that it'sso hard to get two folks in the
same market right From an agencyperspective.
Typically, you don't want totake on competitors in the same
spot, but sometimes it happensvery rarely and so we found this
one case recently of two folksin a similar area, very similar
(12:44):
ads, similarly configured.
You know, obviously nothing'sthe exact same, but criminal and
DUI attorneys in South Florida,similar job types, similar
budget.
What was the difference betweenthese two?
Ad quality?
One had poorer responsiveness,one had less reviews and was
working on reviews lessfrequently.
(13:04):
And what we found, which wasfascinating, you'd expect that
whichever one is doing betterwould probably be spending more
because they're ranking higher,and so the winning bid is
probably going to be moreexpensive.
It's going to be expensive tostay in that spot.
What we found was actually thatthe one who was ranking better
was spending less per lead.
(13:24):
Now, because we don't have toomany of these situations we're
not saying this is going to bethe case in every interaction,
but I think Google gets a lot,of, a lot of bad press from
small businesses, right, and inthis case, what we found was
that Google was actuallyencouraging, incentivizing,
gamifying, the skill, thecustomer service.
(13:46):
They were incentivizing theadvertiser who was doing better
by making his leads a little bitcheaper.
I think that's amazing becauseit speaks to what you said,
henry, which is that Google willnot always do the most
profitable thing.
They're trying to blend inreally and truly the better user
experience, and if you can helpthem, as an advertiser, give an
(14:09):
excellent user experience,they'll cut you a break on the
money, because to them it's moreimportant that the person doing
business with your firm has agood taste left in their mouth
after the interaction that thatperson, the end customer, would
turn back to a Google result ora Google answer again.
That's really the key pointhere the lifetime value of a
(14:30):
user.
For Google, that's moreimportant than anything else.
And what is that contingentupon?
That's contingent upon thequality of that interaction and
how happy you feel walking awayfrom interacting with the Google
advertiser, and so that was akey realization that I feel like
we don't talk about as much inthis space.
But go ahead, henry.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
No, bingo, bingo.
You said it right.
They are willing to gamify thisright, but it's because the
user, the lifetime userexperience, is going to keep
that user coming back.
If they mess with that userexperience and they lose the
(15:10):
user to a chat gpt, to a bing,to a yahoo, to an apple, you
know that's, that's revenue thatthey're losing.
So it's they're.
They're willing to give uprevenue in the short term
because this is a long term gameand that's how they've made
their money.
Um, definitely, with tweaksalong the way.
(15:30):
You know they've started withthat organic search and the
algorithm was very easy tomanipulate.
Not so much anymore.
Same with Google ads very easyto manipulate in the beginning.
Now it's, you know, tough.
You really got to know whatyou're doing so you don't
overspend, so you don't misspend.
You know there's so much,there's so many levers to pull
(15:53):
on on that end that it's kind of, you know, important to put
that into the hands of aprofessional right.
I mean, technically, as aUnited States citizen, I can
defend myself in court if I hadto, but I would never do that
(16:13):
because I'm not a lawyer and Iwould prefer to hire the
services of a lawyer if ever.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So I need to see an episode of the Buzz with Henry
defending himself in court.
No, I agree with you, man, andthis lends itself great to
another point we're talkingabout is we've been, we've been
saying this all throughout ourprevious episodes and and it's
the truth on the surface thatlocal services ads is this new
platform.
That's how we're, that's howwe've been pitching it.
That's kind of its story, right?
(16:40):
Oh, it's new, it's up there,it's exciting, really and truly,
henry, when you look at it.
You raised a great point whenpeople were trying Google ads on
their own 5, 10 years ago, 15years ago, and they were burning
money.
Google ads, at the end of theday, delivers a click in most
cases, a click that you'rehoping will turn into whatever
it is.
You're really truly.
After All, lsa runs on the sameexact infrastructure.
(17:03):
It uses the same billinginfrastructure, same account
access infrastructure, and I'mtold that it really, in the back
end, lsa is just running acampaign, a Google Ads campaign,
that we can't see.
So, really, this is built totop existing ads infrastructure.
What am I trying to say here?
Local services ads, all it is isjust a rebranded it's certainly
(17:25):
innovative Google Ads.
They're taking the same thingthat you know they're dressing
it up, they're giving it a coolUI and they're skipping right to
the end of what do people want?
What do these local serviceproviders that Henry is talking
about, the appliance repair guylistening to this, the plumbing
firm?
You know?
What do they all want?
They probably want calls.
And what if we can skip outthis awkward middleman of clicks
(17:48):
and get them right to the end,right to that finish line, and
that's all local services ads is.
If you think about it, it's justa cleaner way to get calls,
it's simpler, it's easier and itshows in ways that you can
understand it and that you cansee the value.
So it's really genius, and Ithink this has us redraw our
definition of local services ads.
Yes, technically, localservices ads is a newer platform
(18:11):
, really and truly, with theasterisk.
It's the same thing, justrebranded, improved and kind of
ads 2.0, if you will.
This is all the same stuff.
We've been talking about itlike it's different and I think,
really and truly, we shouldstart talking about it as under
the same umbrella, under the adsumbrella.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I totally agree.
That's 100% right.
And it's like, okay, you saidit, the LSA advertiser the small
, local service providerbusiness small, medium-sized
business they're looking forphone calls, phone calls from
very interested people, peoplethat are high intent, and that
is what you get with LSA, right?
High intent, phone calls,messages, bookings, With Google
(18:54):
Ads.
Now you have to think about it,as how can we use this for
local traffic, for localbusinesses?
Right, google Ads is stillimportant.
The display network, theperformance max campaigns
there's a lot to be done.
But now think about it for aphysical location, a storefront
(19:18):
that you're trying to providefoot traffic for.
That you're trying to get intothe purview of somebody that's
driving by using Google Maps.
When you're using your GoogleMaps app to get to a place A to
B, you'll see little map markersthat are square.
That's a Google ad.
(19:39):
Right, you come to DunkinDonuts?
Right, if you need a coffee,come to Starbucks.
So that's how Google ads ispivoting for that local business
.
Right, that is a hybridlocation maybe sends out
deliveries or sends out serviceproviders, but can also receive
(20:02):
clients and customers at theirlocation.
Also, e-commerce right,e-commerce is super important.
Coming up with the holidays,it's more important than ever.
Right, you need to have thoseGoogle ads set up if you want to
sell your product to peoplethat are interested, to people
that are looking for gifts fortheir family, for their friends.
(20:25):
So, definitely, now is the timeto have that already set up.
You should have been talkingabout this with your marketing
and advertising firm about amonth ago, but if you don't have
it set up yet, you still got amonth.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
It's time to work on it.
You don't have it set up yet.
Come work with omg national.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
We won't do you that dirty well, let's go well well
in advance no man, but I I wantto.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
I want to hit on that , though.
It's like the folks who arelooking for calls and some of
them I, you know local servicesads is too expensive.
The ticket-to-entry-based costper lead is too expensive.
I want to be respectful aboutthis, but also truthful about
this.
But with what I see acrossthousands of people is that,
frankly, you have no choice.
(21:12):
If you're looking for calls andyou know Google is pushing LSA,
you know Google is backing it,you know that LSA is offering
calls.
This is where the market ismoving and we may not be there
at the final iteration yet Now.
It may take another 10, 5 years, but sooner or later that will
be really the place to go forcall volume, if it isn't already
(21:35):
, and I know it is for manyindustries.
But let me give you an exampleTowing right just released
nationwide very recently, and sofor our automotive and towing
base, very important, just likeall of our customers, super
important, super.
Take pride in servicing thesefolks just as much as everyone
else, but clearly an area ofexpertise for us.
(21:56):
You can get on the top ofGoogle literally via LSA and get
as many calls as you want.
You know why?
Because there will be limitedto no competition at this at
this moment in time.
Why?
Because everyone who trieslocal services ads when it's
dropped for a new industry is anearly adopter.
(22:17):
When you're an early adopter,you run your market.
Think about how powerful itwould have been to be on the
ground floor of Google ads.
You know, many, many years ago,those clicks would have all
been cheaper.
You would have been having afield day.
And now that same budget thatwould have gotten you 10 phone
calls or 10 form fills orwhatever you were looking for
back then, that same budget willmaybe get you one or two today.
Right, things are gettingexpensive and competitive, and
(22:40):
so my point is that it doesn'treally matter what people think.
We love to think that our saymatters.
We can have this politicallycorrect discussion or we can
have a discussion about thetruth.
This is where Google is movingtowards, this is where the calls
are, this is where the actionis going to be.
And the truth.
This is where Google is movingtowards, this is where the calls
are, this is where the actionis going to be, and you're going
(23:00):
to get left behind if you'renot here, so if you're not
seeing the signs already fromthe intermingling of GDP and LSA
.
If you're not seeing the signsfrom what we discussed at the
top of this podcast, from localservices ads taking itself and
now showing in the maps layer,if you're not seeing the signs
of the dollar shifting, then Idon't know what it'll take to
convince folks at this point.
I just don't want people leftbehind years from now thinking,
(23:22):
man, I should have listened toJay and Henry five years ago.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Hey hey, you know what they say the best time to
plant a tree was five years ago.
So you have to act now.
Early bird gets the worm.
Let's bring out all the sayingsright.
The truth of the matter isright now, for towing
specifically, as we saw for manyother industries in the past
(23:48):
right, the early adopter, theperson, the advertiser that's
always there, the onlyadvertiser there, is going to
get all the phone calls, andwith towing, it's an emergency
service.
Everybody has a car.
Everybody ends up needing atowing provider at some point.
So you want to be on top.
You need to be on top and we'revery good at getting our
(24:13):
clients there.
We know exactly how to do this.
We are Google premier partnersand you know, jay, here is the
LSA master.
We're very lucky to have them.
Um, but with that, you know, wewant to say happy holidays,
Merry Christmas to everybody.
Uh, jay, merry Christmas to youand your family.
Um, it's been a pleasure to doanother year of podcasting with
(24:34):
you to everybody.
Ajay, merry Christmas to youand your family.
It's been a pleasure to doanother year of podcasting with
you.
We're ending 2024 here.
We're going to continue in 2025.
Real hard, let's get it.
Let's get it Very excited.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Super, super excited and super grateful to have spent
so much time with you guys.
I hope when we're we're beingpushy, if it comes across that
way, it's all for the better.
We don't want to see you guysleft behind.
We don't want to see yourbusinesses hurt.
We want to bring you the kindof what we feel is the truth,
even if it's sometimes a bituncomfortable.
Um, because that's the way thisspace works.
You gotta, you gotta go wherethe money's going.
(25:11):
So, with that, merry Christmaseveryone, and thank you for
another awesome year.
Look forward to the next one.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Thank you everybody, bye, bye.
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