Google now charges for some missed calls on Local Services Ads. Here's what to check.

If you run Google Local Services Ads (the "Google Guaranteed" or "Google Screened" listings at the top of the search page), your bill has worked differently since October 1, 2026.

In late August, Google emailed US Local Services advertisers a notice headed "Upcoming changes to lead charge policy". A call you miss during business hours can now be charged as a lead once the caller has stayed on the line for more than 20 seconds. Before October 1, a missed call with no voicemail cost nothing unless you got back to the customer and spoke with them or left them a voicemail.

Most of what's known comes from the notice itself, as reported by Search Engine Roundtable, PPC Land and Search Engine Land, plus a clarification from Google's Ads Liaison. Here is what it says, what it doesn't, and five things worth checking.

What changes

• The 20-second line. A missed call during business hours becomes a valid, charged lead when the caller waits more than 20 seconds.
• Phone menus. If callers have to press a key to reach you ("press 1 for service"), the 20 seconds start at the key press. A caller who never presses a key isn't charged.
• Follow-ups. If the first call wasn't charged, a later call between you and that customer can be. Google's Ads Liaison says you're charged only once for follow-ups within 15 days of the first contact.
• Ranking. Google's ranking page already says missed calls may hurt your "responsiveness", which affects how often your ad shows. That hasn't changed, but now a miss costs money as well as visibility.

What isn't clear yet

• "Business hours" isn't defined in the notice. The likely reading is the hours in your Local Services profile (for accounts moved into Google Ads, the hours on your Business Profile). Note that the ad schedule defaults to "all day".
• Voicemail. A caller who leaves a voicemail was already a charged lead. Whether a caller who reaches voicemail and hangs up after 20 seconds counts isn't addressed.
• Outside the US. Reporting so far covers US advertisers, and the notice itself names no countries. Treat other countries as unconfirmed.
• Google's own help pages. On October 3, Google's help page on how leads work still described the old rule: a missed call with no voicemail counts only if you get back to the customer and speak with them or leave a voicemail. Until that page changes, the August notice is the only official word.

Five things to check

1. Call your own line during your busiest hour. Time how long it rings before someone, or something, picks up. If it regularly goes past four or five rings, you'll be paying for calls you never hear.

2. Make your profile hours match the hours someone actually answers. If your Local Services profile says 7 to 7 but the office phone goes unanswered after 5, those two hours are now the most expensive of your day.

3. Decide what happens at ring four. A second phone that rings in the truck, a rollover to a teammate, an answering service or an AI receptionist. Be clear about what each one does: answering doesn't avoid Google's charge (a caller who gives details to an automated system is already a valid lead), but it gives a charged call the chance to become a booked job instead of a lost one. The charge is fixed; what you get for it isn't.

4. Don't try to route around it. Google's rules treat sending callers to a different number to avoid paying for a lead as a policy violation. The press-a-key exception is named in the notice, but a menu built only to dodge charges could draw scrutiny.

5. Watch your credits. Google now credits leads it judges low quality automatically, usually within 30 days, and the original charge stays on the invoice. Rate your leads in the app as well: Google can add a bonus credit for that feedback.

The bigger picture

A large share of home-service calls already go unanswered, especially after hours and in peak season. 99 Calls, an LSA agency, measured live-answer rates of about 43% for HVAC and 28% for roofing across 36,498 calls. Until now, that cost showed up as jobs that went to the next shop. From October 1, part of it shows up on the Google invoice too.

The shops that come out ahead won't be the ones that find a loophole. They'll be the ones that answer.