The 30-second version
Local Services Ads charge you per lead, not per click, and a share of those leads are junk: spam, solicitors, misdials, people who never wanted what you sell. Google used to make you dispute them one at a time. It no longer works that way. Google now credits low-quality leads automatically: it screens each lead when the customer first makes contact, does not charge for the ones it judges invalid, and keeps reviewing charged leads afterward, crediting them if they later turn out to be low quality. What it no longer credits at all are leads for a job type or an area you do not serve. Your job has shifted from filing disputes to two things: keeping your service settings exact, and rating your leads so the system learns. Here is how it works now and the ten-minute weekly habit that still pays.
Why a share of LSA leads are junk
LSA sits at the top of the search results with a verification badge, which means it catches everyone, not just qualified buyers. A homeowner two counties away taps it. Someone looking for a service you do not offer taps it. A marketing company “reaching out to local businesses” taps it. Your existing customer taps it instead of calling your cell.
None of that is your fault and none of it is a real lead. Per-lead billing over-captures by design, and Google’s crediting system exists to correct for that.
How LSA lead credits work now
According to Google’s Local Services help center, crediting is automated for all advertisers, and no action is needed to turn it on. In Google’s words, leads are assessed when the customer first makes contact, invalid or low-quality ones are not charged, and charged leads “may be issued credits automatically if later determined to be low quality.” Some poor leads are credited within the first 24 hours while screening finishes.
In most cases credits post to your account balance within 30 days. The original charge still appears on your invoice; the credit shows up separately, which is why so many contractors think they were never credited.
Credits are not available everywhere. Google lists health care verticals, tax specialists and advertisers in the EMEA region as excluded.
What Google no longer credits
Google states that it “no longer supports credits for” two categories that used to be the bread and butter of manual disputes:
Job type not serviced. A caller who wanted work you do not offer.
Geo not serviced. A job address outside your service area.
That change moves the responsibility onto your account settings. If your service types and service area in Local Services are loose, every wrong-service and out-of-area lead is now yours to pay for, with no credit coming. Tight settings are the only defense.
Rate every lead: the feedback that replaced disputes
The Leads page has a “Rate this lead” option that opens Google’s Lead Feedback Survey. Rating a lead does two things. It feeds the automated system that decides which leads get credited, and Google gives a bonus credit for leaving the feedback. The survey is the closest thing to the old dispute button, and it is the part most contractors skip.
Be accurate, not creative. Mark the real leads as real and the junk as junk. The system learns from the pattern, and honest ratings are what make the automated credits work in your favor over time.
Make it a ten-minute weekly habit
The habit is the same as it always was, aimed at a different target. One recurring slot per week, same day, same time. Open the Leads page, rate every lead from the past week, and mark the real ones as booked or archived. Then spend two minutes on settings: does your service list match what you actually do this season, and does your service area match where you actually drive? Those two checks matter more now than any rating, because Google will not credit what your settings say you serve.
Whoever answers your phones can own the ratings; they already know which calls were nonsense. If you are setting up LSA from scratch, our LSA guide for roofers covers the account configuration side in detail.
The other lever: answer your phone
While you are in the weekly review, look at your answer rate, because Google does. LSA ranking is not just review count and proximity; responsiveness is a ranking input. Contractors who let LSA calls roll to voicemail get shown less, which means the missed call costs you twice: the job you did not get and the placement you traded away.
The fix is boring and absolute: every LSA call gets answered by a human during business hours, and message leads get replies within minutes, not days. Pair a clean answer rate with steady reviews and a tight profile, the same fundamentals that drive the map pack, and your cost per real lead drops from both directions: better placement bringing more leads, and tight settings plus honest ratings keeping the junk off your bill. It is the single most skipped task we find in home services accounts.
Common questions
Can I still dispute an LSA lead? Google’s current help pages describe automated crediting and the Lead Feedback Survey, not a manual dispute form. Rating the lead is how you flag it now.
Why don’t I see the credit on my invoice? Because the original charge stays on the invoice. Credits post separately to your account balance, in most cases within 30 days.
Will Google credit a lead for a service I don’t offer? No. Google no longer credits job-type-not-serviced or geo-not-serviced leads. Keep your service types and service area exact so those leads do not reach you in the first place.
Is LSA worth running with this much junk? For most trades we work with, yes. Ten minutes a week of rating leads and checking settings is not much overhead for an exclusive-lead channel at the top of the page. Unmanaged LSA is a slow leak.